Sam’s Day
Today I (Sam) woke up and almost immediately headed over to the nearby gas station to get some breakfast. I ordered a burger from Dairy Queen as well as some cheese curds for the road. I met a man named Major there, who had apparently met James yesterday. Major was hitchhiking from Colorado to Amarillo to find a job. We spoke for a little over an hour before he went outside to look for a ride. I remained in the gas station to finish my food and then headed off on my way at around 1pm, a very late start. On the way, I stopped at a truck stop with a food truck and ordered an Al Pastor burrito. I also had a conversation with a trucker who was transporting an entire load of onions to Amarillo. I ate my burrito at the truck stop and then continued on my way to the next gas station, Clines Corner. It got pretty cold as I approached, so I threw on my flannel fleece. The Clines Corner was pretty cool. It was labeled as a “Travel Center”, which seems to mean a place that is a hybrid of a truck stop/convinience store. There was some music playing outside and I sat on a bench while eating some chocolate and a burrito for dinner. I went to the corner of the Clines Corner to set up my tent and got a pretty good night of sleep.
The challenge today was probably leaving Dairy Queen so late. It can be difficult getting started on the walking day knowing that there would be guaranteed night walking.
10/14/22
James’ Day
I (James) woke up in the middle of the night, as it was so cold that I was having trouble sleeping. I tried going back to sleep but it was a fairly restless night from then on. In the morning the temperature had dropped to 40 degrees. I started packing up the tent around 8am and then headed inside. I got a Subway sandwich for breakfast and enjoyed it while letting my devices charge in an outlet by the bench I was sitting on. After a while, I decided to get going, I refilled my water, bought some food for the road, and was fortunate to also find an adjustable wrench that I could use to remove my front tire from the stroller. I was on the road around 11am. I was too lazy to fix the tire and decided to just suck it up and push the stroller anyways. I was very tired physically and took frequent 5 minute breaks whenever there was a guard rail on the side of the road. My feet were also very sore, as the soles of my shoes were absolutely destroyed at this point. Eventually, pushing the stroller on the flat tire was becoming unbearable. I made it to a rest stop and fixed the tire. I walked a few more miles, until the service road finally came back. At this point, I would be off the interstate all the way to Albuquerque, which was a big relief after having walked on it for the past two days. I made it to a rest stop where I had a nice Subway sandwich for dinner. I then walked about 2 more miles before finding a bunch of storage sheds. I picked out one that I liked, headed inside, and pitched my tent inside the shed for extra warmth.
10/14/22
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