Day 959

It has been two hard days of traveling, everything I have is wet. Usually this time of year rain is very scarce in the plains. But I knew when I saw those clouds with tops up to thirty thousand feet or better that I was in for a storm. The wind caused the rain to beat me hard from the side on the highway, so I tried the ditches but that was not much better and made the walking very difficult. I dropped my pull sled after the soaking I got yesterday and just kept what I could. There was not a lot left after I gave most of my cans to the Canadians. Most of what they had was powdered stuff (milk and eggs), as well as dry cereals, rice and oatmeal. He said they had not thought about cans. I told them about how long can stuff lasted and that beans was the best source of protein they could find out side of meat (just one bad side affect is all, but when you alone who cares). I warned them about watching for the date it was processed. When they ran out of safe food to can they stopped but a few still kept canning after the drop dead date until they were forced to stop. Drop dead date, I can’t believe I phrased it that way, how ironic.

The Canadians turn out to be nice people after all, we spent most of the next day talking and getting to know each other, which was good, almost made me feel human again. They, like I did not want to talk about the past, so we just mostly sat around and shared ideas. They hoped in California to find enough land to grow what they needed and build house or find an empty one. He told me he had a soil testing kit so he could make sure the ground was safe and they had bought enough seeds with them to start. He said they use to have a green house before and raising plants was kind of a hobby that would pay off for them if they could find a warmer climate and good ground. I told him it sounded like a good idea. They asked about me and I told them I was just reliving my childhood and seeing the country one last time, just walking my remaining life away. The young lady seem to warm up to me and tried to speak to me in her broken English at times. When we parted, she looked at my walking stick and asked about the symbol I had on it. I told her someone special gave it to me. And I put it there to remind me of once upon a time when we thought we could change the world. We said our good byes and after he shook my hand she reach up and gave me a kiss on my gray whiskered cheek and said “you good man”. I watched as they road out of sight and prayed they would have a safe journey. It has been a long time since I thought of the word good applying to me.

Well I’m wet, smell like an old dog and I’m bone tired, so I will put up my writing stuff and try to sleep in this leaky tent. I have stake it down by a patch of trees so I should get some shelter from the wind and rain. I hope it stops by in the morning. If it does I should be able to make it most of the way through Sioux Falls tomorrow. It is a good size city so more than likely I will see more people. I just hope I don’t run into any fools. Looks like my old plastic bag is worst for ware, but maybe it will keep this paper dry until I can fine another one.

Go to day 963