(previous chapter)
I have to admit my memory gets hazy right here because the journey happened so fast, but at some point I was picked up by a woman named Sam, who gave me a ride back to Union, South Carolina. The ride offer was to Spartanburg, but I wanted to see if I could see Dale again on my way home. Sam, familiar with hitchhikers, Rainbow, and a Ren Fair participant herself, was more than happy to help.
She dropped me off at the McDonald's in Union, but gave me her number in case I couldn't find Dale. I had forgotten how big of a place Union was, and it took quite awhile to get to the end of town that had the road to go out to Dale's, so the sun was already going down at that point and I was feeling rushed to find where Dale lived, or set up camp. I couldn't remember exactly which roads to go down, and the number I had for him in my phone wasn't going through. It didn't matter - as I found out latter the next day, I'd saved the wrong number anyway. I ended up just setting up camp in the woods not far from where Dale and I met.
The next morning, I tried again to find a way to reach Dale, but was unable. In the end, I hiked back to the McDonald's and called Sam, who came and got me and took me to Spartanburg. She took me out to eat a late breakfast before dropping me back off on the interstate.
It didn't take long from there to catch a ride out of Spartanburg, but then things get hazy again. At some point, I caught a ride with two guys who worked on cell phone towers. They dropped me off at a truck stop in Charlotte, North Carolina and told me they had a friend who would be passing through the next day who was going all the way to Ohio. I tried to contact them about their friend while eating at Subway at the truck stop, but their friend didn't seem completely reliable, so I resolved that I would set up camp that night, then hitch out as usual the next morning.
There were already a group of home bums spanging one of the intersections near the truck stop. It seemed like they were having trouble, so I offered the rest of my sub and asked directions to get me set straight, as the intersections between interstates was a little confusing.
I walked down to right by where I'd be hitching out on I-77 and, with the sun setting, hid myself in the cover of trees beside the interstate. There wasn't much depth, and I didn't feel like I would really be hiding with my tent up, so I hopped a fence to get in deeper, setting up camp sandwiched between the interstate and some industrial building.
Once again, my ride out came early in the morning. Mostly jumps of only 2-3 exits up, I caught a few rides that day, then the next, ending with some guy who picked me up because he had just had a sermon in church about how "Wisdom lies not from the East, the South, or the West, but from the North" and my sign said "North". He took me to some truck stop in middle-of-no-where, North Carolina.
It was getting late at that point, so I figured I wasn't going to get anymore rides that day. There was a good field with some cover that I was planning to lay a tarp down in for the night, but I figured I fly a sign until it got too dark; I was starting to see a lot of Ohio license plates and had a really good feeling.
At first, I would make O-H-I-O with my arms whenever I saw an Ohio license plate, but the people either ignored me or shook their heads. I eventually put "Ohio" on the back of my sign and began alternating which side I was flying. A trucker finally stopped when I was just about ready to call it quits for the day, when I was flying the "North" side.
"How far north are you going? I'm going to Ohio."
"I'm going to Ohio," I indicated the other side of my sign.
I rode through with him all the way to Jacksonville, Ohio. It was already night at that point, but I felt like I was home. I walked up a hill beside HW-50/32, laid out my tarp, and went to sleep.
The next morning, I was on my feet again. I wanted to make it home as soon as possible. Before long though, I looked up and suddenly noticed bad storm clouds and that the weather was about to change quick. Being so close to home, I called my grandma to see if she could come get me. Luckily, she was picking up my cousin in Wellston that day. I didn't have time to make it back to Jackson to wait around, so took refugee under the overhang of a church beside the highway until I got picked up.
From there, we went to get my cousin, then went back home. I got dropped off at the library, then contacted one of my friends and went over to his house for the night, which we spent on acid. The drugs amplified the sensation of being out of sync with normal life - even my normal life - after being on the road, and it became apparent I'd need an adjustment period to re-normalize.
(next chapter)
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