2005-07-11-1937Z


Got discouraged during the night when I woke up surrounded by 20 or 30 huge cattle, who were eating everything they could find and trampling the rest underfoot. How the fuck is anything going to grow here? So I didn't wait for G that morning, just started out to COS as soon as I could get my ass off the ground and got my stuff planted and watered. It's probably dying already because it hasn't rained a bit. Anyway, my feet and back started complaining after the first couple of miles; by the time I reached the General Store and added another gallon to my 5-gallon bucket I was already hurting pretty bad. I'd forgotten than in this climate I sweat all over and develop a rash on my butt, which hurts like hell after walking a while. Plus my feet itch and blister being trapped inside shoes with no ventilation.

While still on the dirt part of Sunshine Road, the black cop from Columbus stopped and chatted with me (I don't know his name, but due to the demographics out here, "the black cop" is sufficient to uniquely identify someone). It turns out that the place where my land is located is considered open grazing area; the farmers don't have to fence in their cattle, instead I as landowner have to fence them out if I don't want them there. Wonderful. And nothing grows there because the land was being farmed year after year, depleting the soil until it wasn't worth shit. That's when they started selling it for housing.

By the 8th mile I could only walk a few hundred feet at a time, at most, between rests. Not that there's any place to sit down except on the edge of the breakdown lane, which isn't very safe. So at this point, mile marker 24, I lay down in some straw which had been spilled all along that stretch of Highway 11, at the bottom of the ditch that runs along the road. After maybe an hour, some Mexican-American ladies stopped and asked me if I needed help; I said I could use a ride into Columbus. They said to hop in the back, which I gladly did. They stopped a couple of times along the way and changed drivers, and when I got out at the gas station in Columbus it was all guys in the cab. I thanked them profusely but didn't offer any money because I had only a little cash left and wouldn't be able to get more until Monday morning. I felt a little bad about that, but not enough to lose any sleep over...

The library was open late that day, as they're showing movies in the computer room on Saturday afternoon and evening. Halle Berry is hot as Catwoman. Watching her strut was the only worthwhile thing about the movie, however. So I saw some of my old buddies and spent some time catching up on local gossip. And this afternoon I'm going to start catching up on my work, which I've been neglecting during the travel time. Looks like I'm heading to D.F. on Saturday. Rereading what I just typed, it looks so disjointed and scattered, which matches my thought patterns at the moment. Dunno if it's the heat, the change in diet, or the continued lack of sex, but something is messing up my brain.

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