Don drove me up that morning with a quick stop at the Corner House to give me some of Bobbye’s house tea, which he knew I really liked, and some muffins. I got back to Shenanigans at 10:30am under clear blue skies but with no one else to talk to. I stood in the parking lot after Don drove off alone and a little sad.
It was very similar to when Space left except magnified a bit. I just sort of meandered down the road in silence looking around with no one to point things out to. About a mile or so down I reached a rock with stairs on the back of them going to a lookout over the valley below. I sat up there for a bit and met a guy from Kansas who was trying to make a big life decision so together we had a moment and talked a bit about each of our quests.
Once he left I sat there for a bit longer then got ready to go when I ran into another guy at the bottom of the rock. He was a cyclist and was also going coast to coast. I hung out with him for a long while and traded stories of things we’d seen and experienced and took each other’s pictures for our websites.
After meeting both of them my spirits were lifted a bit and I went from sad to nostalgic. Five miles down from Shenanigans at the bottom of the mountain was the Corner House, so I stopped in and had one more lunch with Don. After that I just walked and walked and walked.
Not a whole lot happened that day. I was anxious to make a lot of distance to make up for the many days hanging out at Russell Cave and the Cox’s. Once I got into Winchester, though, it was about 4pm so I figured I’d stop in at the library a bit and check up on things for an hour.
Around five I set off again back into country roads. Within two hours I was well out of town and the sun was heading for bed so I figured I should too. I started looking for a nice patch of woods to bed down in when some people from a house shouted out to me asking if I needed any water. I actually really did this time, but at the same time I was feeling in need of company as well, so I hung out with them a bit sipping water and telling them about what I was doing.
The water was soon a beer and the short stay on the porch was soon turned into an offer to stay in an extra room. I settled in my things, showered, and hung out some more. It also happened to be that it was Ingrid and my one year anniversary that day, so I gave her a call and chatted with her for a bit. Afterward, Marquetta, the girl whose house it was, offered to get me some dinner, so the four of us piled into Ronnie’s car and got some beef stew and chips for me and more beer for them.
At this point I had been talking with the three of them and had a little better of an idea of what I was getting myself into and I was getting wary. Marquetta had a boyfriend who lived with her and I heard several times that he had cheated on her. I talked a lot with Wayne, Marquetta’s brother, and asked him if he thought it’d be a problem with the boyfriend if I stayed there and he said no, but even if it is forget about it. At that point I should have known to move on, but the sun had set and I still liked having the company so I kept on hanging out with them.
They had some friends, Steve and Maggie, a few hundred feet down the road so we went down to hang out with them for the night. I had a great time over there. Mostly I hung out with Steve playing video games and listening to MP3s; recommending music to each other. At one point, though, Ronnie, the one who had originally invited me in for water, started feeling left out so I went on the front porch and talked over some things with him to see why he was feeling so excluded.
Anyway, that was the gist of the night, and after a bit it got out of hand. After several chats with Ronnie to cheer him up I discovered that Marquetta had gone back home. Wayne was telling me that I should go back with him to his place, but my pack was in Marquetta’s house and I was definitely not going anywhere without it. When I got back to her place all the lights were off and all the doors were locked. I wandered around tapping on windows trying to wake her, or figure out a way to get in, for about a half an hour. Then the boyfriend came home.
Right off all the lights came on and a fight started. I don’t like cheaters at all and the argument they were having was pretty much a redundant merry go round of each one not having any idea what the other was saying and being defensive about it while they yelled. The guy, as I’d suspected, was a bit of a meat head so I stayed away from knocking and interrupting because I knew they didn’t know what they were fighting about and it would just turn on me. I’m also not very big on fighting. I’ve been in only a few fights through out my life and can hold my own somewhat, but mainly I don’t know what I’m doing, don’t like it, and can see no point in fighting over anything really.
After about another half an hour of them fighting I finally came to the conclusion that I would have to interrupt them to get my stuff and head off, half drunk, into the dead of night. On the first knock they didn’t hear me due to their excessive yelling, so I knocked louder. As I’d thought the anger turned its head toward me. He answered the door and Marquetta quickly went in front of him. I asked for my pack and he asked to know why I was knocking on his door at 4am. I knew the explanation was not going to be heard since I’d already told him. Marquetta was also angry with me. She had taken the initiative to get my pack out of the house by throwing it all over her backyard. Grabbing my arm she stormed over to some dark corner of her lawn where everything I owned was laying across nice thick dewy grass. Her boyfriend was quickly following but sort of in that way that dogs would follow me barking, but really not want to come too close.
Once I was shown the pack they both stormed back into the house and I was left to repack my things and head off. It took me only about five or ten minutes then I stumbled off down the road to a nice patch of woods no more than two or three hundred yards down. It was many a valuable lessons learned. Always listen to your instincts. Even if you simply suspect something might go wrong always bring your pack with you, and the big lesson, don’t be stupid. To these thoughts I passed out quickly.