Day 86: August 28th 2009, ?? to Lamesa (8 mi)

Before I start on what went down today I have a couple of notes I have been meaning to wrote. First, my skate tickets in Austin. One was dismissed and the second, I had to perform 8 hours of community service sorting recycling at Ecology Action Center of Austin and it was awesome. The work they do there is great and I was proud to do what I did. Second, on the skate between Roscoe to Snyder I stopped at a gas station in a town called Hermleigh and while I was changing a woman came up and gave me $10. She told me that her son travels around alot and she understood, so I had to give my thanks. Finally the mileage in parentheses is the mileage I have skated or walked not including any hitchhiking I did. So here is what went down today...

Lightning. Howling coyotes. A shrieking hog that probably got taken down by the same coyotes. A mooing longhorn. Those are some of the sounds I heard last night. 3 cars passed on the overpass above me last night. Its not as lonely as I would like, but Im getting closer. I can feel it.

7 am, again on the road. Empty, rough roads and I only had a half liter of water left when I woke up. Late night thirst can be as intense as skating midday thirst. No need to skate and waste precious energy and sweat. Ill just take my time and walk with my new genius technique. The first sign I got to said 16 miles to Gail. Hopefully, I thought, the water would last me until then. But I walked and the sun came out and I walked on this desolate road, and I walked some more. The roads didnt get any better. It seemed like they had been newly paved, no smooth tire tracks to ride. 8 oclock, 9 oclock, 10 oclock and still no sign of Gail. Not even from the high hill overlooking the west. It was beautiful, breathtaking. This was the landscape I longed for. I was in awe. But it was deadly. I ran out of water quick although I tried hard to ration.I started stressing, but I kept finding leftover water as trash on the side of the road. The hot sun turned them as hot as piss and they were only a couple of small sips each time, but it was water nonetheless. 1145 and I was in desolate land. No more water. And the next sign that came said 10 miles to Gail. Fuck I thought, I have been walking for more that 3 hours and I only covered 6 miles. This sucks. I tried holding my empty water bottle up and pointing to it when ever the rare occasion that a car passed, as if to say need water, but nobody even bothered to slow down. So I tried a new tactic. I thought, everytime somebody pulled up, I had the bag on my back, so I gave it a shot, hoping it wasn't my last option. And just like that a white Honda Civic passes me going in the same direction, then turns around and asked if I needed a ride. I would not refuse. But before I get into what happened, I would just like to share some thoughts.

When I began this journey I had every intention to make it a pure skate. I realize that this is not that case anymore and it makes me sad. Texas roads have beat me down once again. Maybe this journey is a different kind of adventure. I want to skate, I want to badly. I love the feeling of travelling on my board but I can't on these fucking shit roads. Even Ghana and Egypt have better highways than this shit. I suck at walking. Today while walking in the middle of the desert, I realized that I am indeed crazy. As a matter of fact, somthing in me told it to myself, without me even meaning to say it. "Omar, you are a crazy motherfucker". Mackenzie told me, 'Dont force things"

He was getting married tomorrow and was driving from Albany, Texas to Lamesa where his soon to be wife was awaiting him. Lamesa was where she was from and where the wedding would take place. He was 23 and they met in Angelo State. There first date as he so concisely put it was 'awkward'. Three years later he was getting ready for their wedding. It just happened and he couldn't be more excited. There is a difference between pushing for things to happen and forcing them to. I stay away from the latter. When we got to Lamesa at about 110, Mackenzie told me he was taking me out to lunch and he wouldn't take no for an answer. We got off at Barron Hall, I think it was, where the reception would take place. Inside, his fiancee Lacy, her mother Joy and some others were setting up for the big day. They were such kind, nice people and even though they saw me as dirty, sweaty and as haggard as I was looking, none of them even looked at me with nothing less than a genuine smile. I helped set up a little and when lunchtime came we went to eat some Mexican food. This was the only shot I managed to get of both of them. I thanked Mackenzie for being so kind, and even though he told me that I was more than welcome to stay, I thankeded him again and said that I must be on my way. May they have a happy and blessed marriage. Congratulations to both of them, their families and friends.

Goddamn shitty Texas roads. So damn rough it hurts to walk on them. I have two fucking blisters on my right foot and and old one on the left foot has appeared again after recovering from a nasty fungal infection in Tyler. I left Lamesa in search of a good place to camp. Woo! For once, the shoulder was smooth and the road was rough. So I came up with a rhyme I sang while cruising.
"Rough, rough road oh cant you see, here I am feeling free, there's no way you can stop me, no way just let me be."
And so I kept singing my song for about 2 miles until I found an old abandoned farm house. A bat flew out as soon as I walked in. Then I noticed a giant hive of honeybees, this far south, probably Africanized killer bees. Aggressive motherfuckers. I went around back and set up camp next to the shed. I hope the road stays smooth to Seminole.

P.S. Heres one for you Pepsi. I found an empty Jungle Joose can laying out in Lamesa. I thought only you, Meghan and Sarah Whaley drank that nasty shit, but I guess not.