Day 2 (continued)

Alright so back to the lecture at hand. Perfection is perfected so imma let 'em undastand...

I made my way back to the road and decided that in order to make up for the time and energy I spent on the tracks I tried to leg it double quick. Zig-zagging between the left and right shoulders depending on which side of the road had more room to breathe.

Moving along highway 30 is a much different experience than the one that I had on the tracks. There is the speed and the cavalcade of swerving cars and the gusty rush of huge logging/shipping trucks. The chaos of all that metallic traffic was something that was hard to get used to compared to the serenity I was soaking up not an hour before.

But it is not the speed or fear or potential for instantaneous death that is the hardest part. For me, the thing I find most frustrating is the noise. On the road I could not even hear the fall of my own footsteps as I trudged up a hill. It was all about going forward, head down, mind cluttered, feet still motoring on, ever forward. It is counter-intuitive to the peace I am hoping to give and get while out on this mission. I liked the thinking I got to do on the tracks. I liked the quiet and the space. The birds, bugs, fallen trees, standing trees, soft breeze, even the bits of trash I saw were better.

Along the road the litter is all plastic bottles, fast food bags, plastic grocery bags, snuff containers, cigarette butts, coffee cups and lids. A never ending stream of trash, tossed out the window by one person, eventually to be picked up by another. Maybe I am being overly romantic but on the tracks the discarded items seemed to become part of the landscape. Faded bits if broken glass, rain beaten shotgun casings, smashed seashells between the rocks, a silver crumpled unidentifiable beer can from some half thought out, less than half successful duck hunting expedition.

You might be wondering: "Instead of waxing and philosophizin' about the piles of trash on the side of the road why not pick some up and do some good while you are already there?" A fair point, I concede. And in truth I had considered picking up garbage as a part of this adventure. Maybe I will get a chance to in the future. But overloaded that I am at the moment with stuff, I can hardly bend over to tie my shoes, let alone stoop down again and again for every cigarette butt I see.

I know, I know. Excuses Ex-Schmuses.

Anyway, with my concentration less in tune with where I am and about 95% on where I am going, I trudged onward. I went about ten more miles and with nothing more interesting than being mooed at by an ornery cow (which was pretty cool actually) and I found myself at about 6 o'clock in the evening nearing exhaustion. No signs for any towns had been seen in all that time I had been walking. I was looking forward to the opportunity to use some of my camping gear I have been carrying around with me so I began to scan the forests along side the road for a nice place to bed down for the night.

By that time my feet and shins were burning like dry ice from going up and down three huge hills. My mania for finding a place to stop was starting to make me panic. After saying a prayer to help me find my way an old private logging road almost immediately appeared on the right. I crossed the street tried to ignore the signs that were shouting at me in big stupid letters: NO CAMPING - NO TRESPASSING - VIOLATORS WILL BE FED TO THE BIG DOG FROM "THE SANDLOT". Too tired to continue, I made my choice, slipped past the gate, up a short hill and collapsed into a dark flat wooded area...

The Railroad Tracks

Alright it has only been over 24 hours and a lot has happened since my last blog post. I am not sure if I am going to get to everything tonight so here it goes:

Lets go back to yesterday. Back to a time when my feet were less sore and I was more eager with the way this journey was going. I had just left the Community College outside of Astoria and had decided to take the railroad tracks east. It was exactly the kind of thing I was looking forward to when I had this trip in my mind. A nice calm walk alone through someplace I have never been or ever will go again. My steps crunching the gravel between the wooden planks and reinforced steel rails. Sun shining on a cool day. Birds talkin' to me as I stroll by. Ducks running for fear that it is more than a camera I might be brandishing. Beautiful scenery all around. Easy thoughts drifting in and out of my head as I cleave my way to some unknown destination.

Here are some pictures I took as I made my way down the clearly abandoned railroad tracks:



















I moved along like this for about 40 minutes/3 miles. It was about as perfect a part of this journey as I could have imagined. Until I came to one of those obstacles I have heard so much about....

I was not happy. In bold, with italics.

I did not mention this but but I was stymied the previous day about a mile out of Astoria by a similar situation. Unused railroad bridge is out. Then it was not that big a deal. It had been raining most of the day and I was looking forward to going back and getting a hotel anyway. But for the same thing to happen again...

Fool me once, shame on someone. Fool me twice, what an idiot.

So I had a choice. I could sit on the edge of the tracks and wait for a train that would clearly never come. Or maybe for the Dukes boys to swing over in the General Lee to jump the fucker. Either case seemed unlikely so it was time to double back, for the second day in a row.

So I am pretty down on the railroad tracks thing. I hope to give them a try again, but I don't know...

Lunchtime

I stopped at a local community college for lunch and have a chance to put a few words down so I think I will.

So far I feel like I have been doing more bloging than walking. Maybe my objective will change to bloging across America. I also noticed that the word Bog and Blog are pretty darn close to each other.

When I leave here I have a choice:

Road or Railroad Tracks.

I would put it to a vote but I do not have the time or inclination, so I think I am going to go for railroad. I am going to be super safe. No earbuds. No cellular phone calls.

Weather finally starting to clear. Going to stow my coat back into my pack and take down the garbage bags. Hopefully for good.

During lunch I saw a family of 4 deer bounce through the grounds here searching for safety in the forest.

Yesterday I found a penny and picked it up.

I just yawned.

Bye. :)

Day 1

I had a great first day:

• The weather was all over the place. It hailed three times. The sun came out to say hello frequently. It northwest hazy drizzled a little bit. Looks like more of the same for tomorrow.
  

• I made it to the top of Astoria Column. It is a cool structure, my favorite part was the sepia toned nineteen century artwork on the outside.
  

• I took a pictures of the Goonies house

• I bivouacked in a convenient baseball dugout waiting for the rain to fade away.

• I saw two bald eagles, or, one bald eagle twice and neither time were they being chased by crows.
  

• I gave a fistful of change and a magic rock to a street beggar.

• I ate a lunch of peanut butter and Barbies favorite bread and an apple in the middle of the forest.

Things I learned: I learned how to keep the rain out by securing a hefty bag to my backpack well enough so it did not fly off for a whole day. Even in wicked devil winds.

I learned that no matter how fuggin' death metal face it makes you look, it is probably a bad idea to go into a store with soaking wet black trash bags strapped to your back.

I learned that I like hail better than rain for its handy rubbery bouncy, non glue-like tendencies.

I learned that with a huge backpack on, going down hill is more problematic than going uphill.

I learned the path I am going to take tomorrow from the path I tried to take today.

Injury Report: I got a side ache today and I could not stop laughing. I could not remember when the last time was I had a real life side ache. It was the funniest thing to me. Remember that feeling when the P.E. instructor asked you to run around the track four times at the middle school for the first time? I do.

I also have a scrape on my index finger. I have no idea how it got there.

I was pretty darn tired when I got to the hotel room for the night. I threw my stuff down on the floor and immediately ran a bath. Is there any ailment that sliding into a bath and laying for an hour can't cure? No, no I don't think that there is. Women have known this for years. Baths are a marvel. The girlyer the foofier the better. Sea salts? Bubles? Lotions? Scented candles? A copy of O Magazine nearby? A glass of Belatore in a flute? A loved one to rub the aches and pains out of your spirit and flesh... Hell yeah!

Of course I did not have any of those things but the hot water... And I felt instantly better just sitting and dunking my ears under the surface, closing my eyes and listening to myself breathe in and out.

For the last two and a half years I lived in a house without a bathtub. I am not to going to make that mistake again I can tell you...

If I could ask one thing for the people who read these words, or everyone in the world for that matter. It would be that when you get home today from work or play or if you did not leave the house, toss your belongings on the floor, rip your clothes of as soon as possible and start running a bath immediately.

I guarantee it will make you feel better...

You shall see things

"You seek a great fortune, you three who are now in chains. You will find a fortune, though it will not be the fortune that you seek. But first... first you must travel a long and difficult road, a road fraught with peril. Mm-hmm. You shall see thangs, wonderful to tell. You shall see a... a cow... on the roof of a cotton house, ha. And, oh, so many startlements. I cannot tell you how long this road shall be, but fear not the obstacles in your path, for fate has vouch-safed your reward. Though the road may wind, yea, your hearts grow weary, still shall ye follow them, even unto... your salvation" The Blind Seer

Here we go!

Even before I head out I have a weary heart. My heart is the thing I suspected myself of following when I set out to begin. After listening to the wind and rain beat on the window of this hotel room all night, I am feeling a mite worried.

I am starting off after I have eaten breakfast and have taken a shower. Through Astoria I will go and see what this town has to offer. I am going to need the charity and help pf many wonderful people along the way. I hope I can draw this goodness and assistance to me.

I have faith, I have confidence, I am a believer in humanity, in the Lord, in the world, in the Universe.

Thank you for everyone who has helped me so far. You guys are amazing. Pray and hope for the best as I take my first steps.

Love you all,

Aaron

Baby on a Train

A tear filled goodbye on the train station platform with my friends and family. It was a bittersweet moment if there ever was one. I was glad that I was doing something, heading out toward my starting point, but torn up that I was going to be away from my loved ones or who knows how long..

The train ride down to Portland was an interesting one. In between a number of with Barbie on the way I noticed a few things that were amusing to me.

I was the last person to board so I did not exactly get my very first pick of seats on the train. I ended up next to a snarling young woman, probably Filipino, slouching in her chair balancing a tiny baby girl, all folded up like a piggy in a blanket on her lap. As the woman dozed and slept the small child stared at me with the hairy eyeball. In all seriousness this little baby had the longest eyelashes I have ever seen. Whenever I would smile at the child she would wiggle and squirm in place for a few seconds before laying still. Alternating between sleepy and wakey until settling down to sleep like her mother. The woman and the baby did not say one word to me through the entire trip to Portland. I hope they have a beautiful life together.


There was a couple across teh aisle from me. A young pretty girl was sitting next to a doughy goofy looking guy. She was talking and carrying the conversation and he sat there with a grin on his face like he had just won the lottery. He was peddling as hard as he could to keep up his end and I was rooting for him. Hoping that maybe these tow would get together. A boy and a girl meeting on a train is a romantic tale that stretches back nearly as far as this country is old. I sent him as much positive energy as possible until she used the dreaded "boyfriend" word. You could practically hear the air go whistling out of his tires in about two tenths of a second. A sad but not completely unexpected ending to a once hopeful situation.

Along Puget Sound I saw a man in a rowboat standing up, as the boat rocked under his feet, swinging his arm over his head in big sweeping shoulder waves, trying to get the attention of the passengers of the train. As soon as I leaned into the window and started to wave back he had an "Oh shit" moment as a fish took his line and bent his pole tip nearly down into the water. Barely keeping his balance the shock of catching a fish was enough to knock him nearly into the drink. Before the train passed out of sight, I managed to catch a glimpse of him regaining his balance, picking up his pole and reeling in a a shimmering silvery fish of indeterminable flavor. How cool is that? Well done sir.

At the end of the train ride I had planned on taking a bus over to Astoria. This would have included a three hour delay at the station and then another two hour ride on an old bus. But this morning my best friends in Oregon read the previous blog post and decided to meet me at the station, chauffeuring me over to Astoria, buying me dinner and getting me on my way a lot sooner than I had planned. For this I am so very grateful... Thank you!

Tomorrow I set out to see what America has to offer. I am fearful and excited at the same time. Time for bed.

Almost There

Hi Everybody!

Just wanted to check in here to let people know that the trip is still happening and that it has been delayed for one day. Or two depending on your view of things. I leave tomorrow at noon on the train from Tacoma to Portland. Cause, you know, nothing says "Walking across America" like a three hour train ride.

Then from Portland I am going to be getting on a bus to head west to my starting point. The journey to Astoria by train and bus will take almost all of the day Sunday. So it will be Monday when I dip my toes into the Pacific Ocean and turn inland to begin the adventure.

Until then kiddie dees, siyanara!

Aaron