Tin roofs, dreams, stars, and letters

    Sometimes in life you just need things to be simple. A little while ago it was just Parker, Finn, and I on the RS40. The other boats had run to town leaving us to take care of any fishermen who'd happen to wander in. We quickly used all our ice packing a few boats and there was nothing else we could do but wait for the Deer Harbor to get back. We had a whole day off. A complete day of doing nothing but whatever we wanted. I spent a lot of the day in my sleeping bag reading "You Can't Win" (I highly suggest it). With no one yelling, no sound of an engine or boom, and no schedule weighing on our minds. We turned on the generator a few times to cook and watch movies, but other than that is was blissfully quiet. That is, except for the soft pitter patter of rain on the tin roof. If you can find me something more relaxing than that, something that'll put me at ease quicker or sound sweeter to my ears, I'd kneel at your feet. Under that roof, relaxed, we talked of train hopping and traveling. About Parkers dog and his friend's wedding and how big it was going to be. How excited he is to see all his friends in one place again. Intermittently we would doze off on foam atop plywood. Not beds made for kings and queens, but we aren't kings or queens so no worries. Some people get so entitled. They just make themselves unhappy by always wanting more, never being satisfied. The truth of it is, I mean the key to happiness, is just in loving what you've got. Even if it's just some foam on some plywood under a tin roof being drummed by thousands of tiny raindrops. Don't get me wrong though, if you're in a tight spot get out of it. Don't settle for shit. Some of the truest words I'd ever heard Max had told me, right there a few weeks ago. 'If nothing else, every man deserves two pillows'. 

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Boat dreams. By dreams I mean when you fall asleep and see yourself in strange places doing strange things that, at the time, seem perfectly logical. But I also mean dreams in the sense of goals you aspire to obtain. Both occur on a boat. When you get on a boat you have the strangest dreams. Mine can be so vivid they'll wake me. I don't remember what I dream, but I know it's intense. They leave an affect on you when you wake. Like you just came back from another world. You see, the dreams are so vivid sometimes that you aren't sure they were altogether a dream. They're the dreams that come with deep sleep. The kind of sleep that comes after the deprivation of sleep and a long hard day. And then you have time to daydream. And you dream of all the places you'll go once the season is over. All the sandy beaches you'll dig your toes into, all the books you'll read, and all the plums you'll devour. Your imagination runs wild, so wild. At least, mine does.

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The stars in Alaska are wild. When I'm lucky enough to get a clear night... It's not even dark enough until around 11 to see them. And God do they blaze. I walked out on deck after we'd finished all the work and shut off the deck lights. I hopped down the totes close enough to the hydros on the upper deck. I'd just had an incredible dinner of fried halibut cheeks and was on my way to the barge to try and read some chapters of the book I was currently on. I knew it was futile, every night I'd read maybe a paragraph before I felt my eyelids would start to droop. Or maybe I wouldn't even get to the book. Often times I open my book, see my friends letters that I use as a bookmark, and decide to re-read them. I was on my way to do this when I chance looked up at something that'd caught my gaze. As if Medusa had locked eyes with me and I was set in stone, it just stopped me. They're just so bright when you're truly in the middle of nowhere. And every time I look up at stars like that everything else melts away. It's like all my worries are gone. All my aches and pains and fears just ebb away as I get sucked up into the sight of them. My peripherals blur around me, the stars fill my eyes and it feels like they're drawing me up to them. Like I'm floating towards 'em, my feet no longer on the ground. And I can be content with my life. Not happy, not sad, but simply and blissfully content. No more worries, no more heartache. 

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There is something about writing a letter. There's also something about receiving a letter, but I'm not here to talk about that. Most everyone knows how exciting it is to receive an old fashioned letter, but writing them is different. It's like you're pouring yourself out, waterfalling from the soul and heart down into your arm, through pen in hand, and splashing all over a piece of paper. And by the end of it that paper should be so sodden with your emotion that the reader should forget that you're in God knows where doing God knows what and they should reach out to touch you only to be startled that you're not right beside them.  I'm not saying I can do this, because it's doubtful that I can. But that's my aim when I sit down and really write a letter. I put it all in if I have the energy, because it's exhausting to write a good letter to someone. It's exhausting knowing all your hard work and truest feelings may be lost in transit by some chance of fate. It's exhausting hoping that someone'll write back and waiting for it always until you finally give up on them. Not to say that's how it happens, but sometimes it does. Needless to say, I enjoy writing letters and a big thank you to everyone who has written me in my lifetime. It's much appreciated and always will be.

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Alaska is well, I wish I had more of an update for y'all. It's been rough, but it's going quickly enough. September 20th is sneaking up on me. Hope to see some of you after all this. I know I haven't been away long, but when you live without worrying about the time of day, day of the week, or month of the year it seems like a lot more time has gone by than really has. 

Be happy y'all, 

Beacon 

 

Just another day in paradise

The day was over at this point. Work had been done and we were all happy about it. Nothing left to do but celebrate the days success. Parker, Finn, and I jump off the barge and onto the Amber Anne with Steven, Hans, and John. We drive to Mite island just outside the cove and anchor up.

 

 

Beers come out, soon followed by shenanigans. It first starts with roman candles. Innocent you know? But before you know it we've skipped bottle rockets altogether and escalated to them big f***ers and then onto them 'how is this even legal' f***ers. It's 11'o'clock and not even full dark yet, but here we all are lightin' off these massive explosions in the sky.

 

 

 

And then we find out (by accident of course) that if you throw the fireworks on top of the water they just float there and explode on top!! And then we were entertained by that.

 

 

But oh my God the BOOM these things made. First you'd get the initial boom as it was launched from the tube and the rattling metal of the table under the tube. Then, 4 seconds later, there was the shell exploding with bursting color and you could feel it shake the boat. But that wasn't the good part. After that you could follow the sounds of the blast. It went into Mite cove and it'd take 3 seconds before you'd here the echo come back at you and a full 5 seconds after that before you hear the echo come back from the other side of the straight. And then you can follow that echo forever down the straight. Seriously, for 30 plus seconds you hear this booming echo rolling down the straight and you know 10 miles down the way in Pelican they're just like 'them f***ers are shootin' off fireworks again'. 

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There are a few moments in your life where you reach a completely blissful state. Each time it always comes around just a lil' differently than the last. Like you've been working all day. Seriously, all day. You were up at 7am and it's now 1am. Your shoulder feels like it's about to fall out of its socket and your wrists are danglin' at the end of your arms. You need some vitamin I for your joints. Part of you wants to shower, but that's too much work. Another part wants to eat, but again that is too much work. Then Amber throws down a beer to each of us and you realize that's actually all you wanted. And we all sit there drinking in the rain. You can finally just lean back on a tote and you look up. But it's not really a look, nor is it a glance. You're not throwing your head back either, it's more like you lift your chin up just enough so that if you stop all effort your head just collapses backwards leaving you staring up. And of course your eyes are closed as you do this and with a huge sigh you can let the tension shed out the rest of your body. It feels like you're solid sitting there on that tote. Gravity has such a strong hold on you that you're now a permanent fixture of the deck. And then you open your eyes and just see dark above. Pure blackness and then the little drops of rain fading in and out of the deck lights. And it's just blissful. 

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I suppose people wonder what it is that I actually do. I'll explain it shortly. I work between two different boats and a barge. Deer Harbor II, Amber Anne, and RS40 (the barge). We are tenders. They are all in Mite cove in Southeastern Alaska and the trolling fisherman of the area come to Mite cove to meet up with us. We then take fish from the fisherman, sort them by weight and type of fish, pack them in totes of ice, and then give the fisherman back ice so they can go out and start fishing again. 

The RS40 (where I live) 

We also give them groceries, water, and fuel. Then once we are full (we're significantly bigger than they) we take the fish to the processing plant in Sitka. It sounds pretty simple, but I swear it ain't. And I swear it ain't easy either. But there's more to it than just the heavy lifting, hard work, and long hours you put in. There's way more. There's the incredible people you work with. Amber, Max, and Parker were my friends way before I even went on any adventures. And they're still my friends now. Some of the more incredible people I know in my life. I mean, most of you probably know anyways, I brag about Amber as my friend and my boss all the damn time. She's all tatted up but the sweetest soul on the whole planet. She works like a haus and cooks like a five star chef. And then there's just freakin' Alaska and the pure wildness that's what Alaska really is. Honestly the weather is pretty shitty, but when it's good, oh when it's good, it's jaw dropping. Seriously. Like when you take those once a year vacations to some incredible place, it's like that here all the damn time! 

Evolution of the day: 

Parker (right) and Amber (left)

And then there's still the little adventures we take in the skiff. To go to the beach or wherever. And it all just feels so earned. It feels like you really deserve to have something this beautiful around you all the time because you work your ass off for it. 

You all be happy,

Beacon

There's whisky in my coffee

Okay! I think I've got it!! It's never for sure, but I'm on the Deer Harbor II/RS40/Amber Anne. Yeah, they're three different boats (well one's a barge). But that's how it'll probably be as far as I can tell. Also, this is kind of gonna be a long post since it'll be a while before I can even post it...

 

Now the other day I was on the Amber Anne. Helping to drive it up from Bellingham to Ketchikan. I was about to get some shut eye (it was 2300 and I was to wake up 0100 to drive), when, from out of the blue, Steven got a text saying I was flying to Juneau the next day. And that was all the info we got. No idea why or what for, but I was going. So okay, I was headed to Juneau then. It was totally unexpected which made me even more excited and I had something to ponder on my graveyard driving shift. Then , around 0300, when the sun was coming up there was this perfect window. Just freakin' prefect. And the sun was shining directly over the mountains to the East and into a small rain cloud to the West in order to create this vibrant 3am sunrise double rainbow. Now if that doesn't sound cool to you I don't know what would 'cause it was awesome. And this was the only time in my life where I have seen, up close, the end of a rainbow. 

 

3am sunrise double rainbow

 

And so my shift ended at like 0600. I wasn't paying a lot of attention to how close we were to Ketchikan because I was freakin' tired. So the skipper took my place at 0600 and I went down to bed. At 0615 Steven is waking me up. "Harry, get ready to dock, we're here." And I look at my watch and I'm like oh dear lord whyyyyyy. But we get all tied up and all is well. We still don't know when I'm headed to Juneau though and there're only 2 flights out per day. In order to make the first flight I would have to make the 0815 ferry so we were frantically trying to get word of when I needed to head out. We're sitting there just waiting for word. It's getting down to the line, and Bullet decides if we don't get word by 0800 it's not possible for me to make it there. So guess what happens. At exactly 0800 I get a text with a photo of my confirmation. Dammit, we don't know if I'll make it.... Everything whirls into gear instantly. Bullet is on the phone getting a cab here ASAP, Steven is helping me with my rain gear, I've got all my other shit, and we're all out the door instantly climbing the ladder up to the dock. 3 minutes later Bullet gives me $20 for the cab and the ferry and I'm gone with some hasty goodbyes and handshakes. I really enjoyed working with those two. Well then I'm speeding in a cab down all these side roads around the town to make it there in time. We're pulling up to the ferry terminal (if I miss this ferry I miss the flight) and the cabbie says "The gate is closed.... You better run." And run I did. I flew down that ramp and jumped on the back of that ferry the instant it started pulling away. A sprint finish. And then I'm on a plane headed to Juneau through Wrangell and Petersburg. I still had no clue what to do once I got to Juneau though and couldn't imagine why I was going there. But when I landed I got a text saying that I was to get on a float plane up to Pelican. Well alright, that's exciting. So I hang out and then jump on the float plane. I'd never been in one before and they are so neat. Those things are the coolest little planes to fly in too!

 

 

 

 

Coming into Pelican

 

A sweet ride and one new friend later I received some puzzling instructions. Because it sounded to me like my boss was coming to pick me up in a plane himself. But I just went with it. I hung out for 20 minutes in Pelican with my new friend when another plane flew in and sure enough it was my boss and some of his buds. So it feels like I'm a rock star being picked up in a float plane and flown over to the boat. And this wasn't a chartered flight either, so we were weavin' and bobbin' and having a good ol'time. It was an incredible experience. And then we got to the boat and I got to see all my friends that I hadn't seen since Alaska again! It was seriously grand because these are my people. I mean there is just a group of people that everyone belongs to ya' know? Not to sound like I'm stereotyping everyone, but generally there is a group of people that everyone is just similar to. And this is my group. Straight up. All these guys'n'gals do awesome things. They've hitchhiked cross country, traveled all over, been homeless, train hopped, and just lived life. They've just got it all right and they do it well. It's the way I like it. They're all tatted up and have piercings, but they are the nicest people you'll ever meet in your life as well as the hardest workers. I love these people so much. It's nice being able to shoot the shit on a level playing field where we can all talk about hitching or stealthing in cities or whatever. I love that so much. The boat I am working on is pretty sweet too!

 

The Deer Harbor II 

 

And so is the barge where I live.

 

Le barge (yeah we're pirates)

 

My bunk

 

And the view from the front deck is pretty rad.

 

 

Alaska is just an incredible place. It's a place where you work all damn day long and at the end of the day you and your buddies all pour a shot of whisky. Almost like a cheers to 'we made it through another day!'. It's the best sunsets I've ever seen in my life (and I've seen some good ones). It's where Amber comes on deck and asks us if we want coffee when we're too busy to go inside and she brings out coffee with the unmistakable taste of whisky as the creamer (actually surprised at how good coffee and whisky go together). And it's a place where you can fucking say fuck as much as you fucking want (sorry to offend anyone, but we all know I say fuck a lot anyways) because shit is fucking rough. There're whales in the sound and bears on the beaches. And damn it all, but it's just fucking cool.

 

(This picture does no justice)

 

Be happy y'all,

Beacon

P.S. The ship Amber Anne ran hard aground but it's okay and I wasn't on it.

And if anyone wants to mail me you can send it to:

Harry via Deer Harbor II

507 Katlian. Sitka, Alaska.

99835

I love letters :)

I'm on a boat explicit explicit

Hell's yeah. I made it onto the boat. Not quite the boat I expected to be on, but there's some wheelin' and dealin' in the mix and we'll see where I end up if I end up anywhere at all (maybe I'll just be jumping around all summer). I'm finally here after that whole freakin' adventure. It took me all that, just to get to this boat. And you know what? It was incredible. I mean seriously, what a journey to get to the Amber Anne. And I didn't get to the boat to have the journey end. Oh no, stepping onto the boat with my fishing boots on was like stepping into a whole new adventure and a world so not like anything else that it's shocking.

So here is how it works. It seems to me that there is a tribute that must be paid to work on a boat. You basically have to show up early and do boat work for no pay. I don't know how that works, but it seems like you end up having to do that for every boat, no matter what, in order to work on it. And so right now I'm paying my tribute in order to move into the time where the boat makes money and I get paid. They provide food and housing for us while we do this, which is like pay for me, so it doesn't matter at all. My tribute involves everything about being a grown man let loose... I run around all day with blowtorches, pipe wrenches (the massive ones), huge tools, and mysterious engine liquids. It's what every guy dreams of I suppose. And it's beautiful. Just gorgeous. The blue of the water and the huge mountains. Waterfalls and whales. Everything up this way is on a much grander scale. And I love it. 

 

But how it's working out is I am on the Amber Anne writing this (it won't be posted until God knows when). I hopped on this boat with the skipper Bullet and two other deckhands, Steven and another kid (but he already quit). The owner is Hans though. Bullet and Steven brought the boat up from San Diego (I should of hopped on down there but there were some communication breakdowns) to Washington where Hans bought the boat. Bullet, Steven, and I worked on the boat there for three days and then ran 'er up through Canada and into Alaska. Just about 20 minutes ago I got word that I'm flying to Juneau in the morning. No reason why or what I'm doing there, but I'll fly from Ketchikan to Juneau randomly (we'll see what that's about). My speculation is that I'm getting onto the Deer Harbor II somehow (dunno where they're at right now). Which'll be awesome because I'll get to see my old friends! But I really have enjoyed working with Bullet and Steven. Now I'm sorry this post is so short guys, but this is basically just an update on where I am and what I'm doing. I work a lot so there isn't time to weave magical words into this blog right now. I'll add a ton of pictures, and maybe one night I'll really sit down and sacrifice a couple of my few hours of sleep to blog it out for y'all. But just know it's truly wild up here. These places are still untamed and I love the feeling of living in them. 

 

Bullet & Steven

 

 Amber Anne (since been changed from Croatian)

 

Workin'

 

Supplies and Steven

 

Driving a boat

 

Sunset around 2200

 

O' Canada 

 

Life's good :)

 

Be happy y'all,

Beacon 

Almost to Alaska

Well I think somewhere deep down I really did enjoy blogging a little bit. And I have just gotten the same advice over and over again from people I respect to document what I do. I really do think one day I'll look back at this little experiment and enjoy reading it. I'll start off with me leaving Texas for Seattle. For the second time... but this time I wasn't hitching! I had a plane ticket. The plane was not exciting, but the layover in Salt Lake City proved interesting. Just chillen' there I decided to email a professor I knew was in Seattle. About a minute later he called me and was like 'I've got nothing to do today I'll come pick you up at the airport and show you around'. To which I was like awesome. I also got a text from Amber (my Alaskan connection) telling me I wasn't flying from Seattle to Alaska. I was to get on a train to Bellingham (or as I like to call it, almost Canada) and then hop on a boat that I'd work on up to Alaska and it looks like I'll work on all summer. So that was an interesting turn I didn't quite expect. And then I had to get on the plane and learned nothing more from either of them. I touched down in Seattle and my professor was there waiting for me! Totally awesome because I'd only ever taken one class from him last semester and I'd only emailed him two hours earlier. He picked me up and took me to a pub and we had some drinks before he took me to the community garden his girlfriend runs!

 

Seattle

 

 

The food garden

 

It was all super cool and so nice of him!! He took me and dropped me right in front of the place I was gonna stay too. Thank you Professor Mills!!

 

Professor Mills

 

So do y'all remember that farm I stayed at with Stretch near Eugene, Oregon? Well at that farm I mentioned that I was headed to Seattle and one of the girls there hooked me up with her friend Thomas in Seattle. This is who I was staying with. Now I didn't know one thing about this guy. How old he was, what he did, or anything. I knew nothing about him. But I got to his place, only 1 mile from the center of Seattle, and it was so freakin' cool!!! Tucked away in this secret garden sort of deal with flowers everywhere and a little chicken coop with chickens and a giant bunny! 

 

Look at that giant f****** bunny!! 

 

And Thomas was awesome. He's a drummer, but works for Microsoft. He'd realized he didn't like working for them and is now about to move to a farm to do what he enjoys (we should all do a little more of what we enjoy). We had some great philosophical conversations and definitely evolved from who the hell is this guy to good friends! 

 

Thomas

 

So I stayed at his for two nights and explored Seattle in between which was meh. Yeah Seattle is cool, but did it blow my socks off? Not really, but it was cool. So, I then took said train (said so by Amber) to Bellingham, walked like 100 yards to the shipyard and found the Croatian! 

 

More photos of the boat on FB

 

And that's as far as I'm gonna catch y'all up to for now ;). Because the boat is gonna be a whoooooooooole long story and explaining how a boat works and how everything works. So look forward to that in the future! 

 

Love you all,

Be happy

Beacon 

I don't know what to call this yet

I guess it's been a few since I've written a post. The reason being that I'm back in Texas. I suppose I could of blogged my being back on my old stomping grounds. But that just seems weird to me. In my head it's like why would I blog about my normal life back here? I guess I could of introduced a ton of new awesome people to the story, but that's just being back near Austin. I don't feel the need to blog about being back because being back here in Texas is just my time to chill for a second and to see friends that have known me for forever (thought there aren't many). That being said, thank you to everyone I've seen while being back! It's always so lovely to see you all. But knowing I'm going back to Alaska to work all summer makes me want to just take some time off and relax so I don't show up already half-dead to the fishing boat. Because even though this adventure has been pretty grand it still takes its toll on me and I'm tired. Hitching all day and then staying up half the night with old friends. Then waking up the next morning and doing it again. And again the next day. It's a lot to keep doing everyday for a month!

Now that being said, I need to address this adventure because.... well because it's kind of over. Me hitching up to Seattle was a little mini-adventure right before I went to Alaska. And that little mini-adventure is done for. I basically did it, I hitched up to Washington and could of easily made it to Seattle. But then this delay/detour hit me and landed me back here in San Antonio where I bought a cheap plane ticket ($190, which is a great price for a weeks notice) up to Seattle. So that's it! I'm set to make it to Seattle! And I know the way I got there was a wee bit roundabout. But sometimes you can't just stay on the straight and narrow. I'll throw out some final numbers for you. At the end of this I had hitched over 10,000 miles. That's 10k miles, like a lot of freakin' miles. That's nearly halfway around the equator. I got 78 rides during this journey and I ended up giving three. That means the average ride was around 138 miles per ride. But, this does include the 8 day and 2800 mile ride I was given by Chip, which completely shatters my previous record and may be incredibly difficult to beat. I went to 33 states in all, and for those of you that are bad at math that's more than half of America ;). I camped out only four times, slept in a car once, a McDonald's once, and Chip got us a hotel once (because he wanted to). I was out for around 33 days, so that means that 26 of those days I was staying with friends or people that I had only just met. If anyone wants some different numbers let me know and maybe I can do some counting for ya'!

 

But now that I am back at a real computer I can actually type some stuff without getting instantly bored (typing on my phone does that to me). And I'll talk a little less about what I did in this adventure and a little more about how this all made me feel. Because the range of emotions and craziness that came up during this adventure was ridiculous. An extremely wide presentation of emotions went down because a wide range of events took place. I'll try and put this in chronological order for y'all. When I first left for this adventure it was liberating. Dear God it was liberating. I didn't have to go to a school and I didn't want to go to and waste my time doing things I didn't want to do. All of a sudden it was all me. I felt so free! Like anything was possible. And it really was. It always hits you a little harder in the beginning, but I was immediately struck by the kindness and generosity that is still out there in the world. Doing this kind of work boosts your faith in humanity infinitely. It really does. You meet the coolest people in the world and they come from all walks of life. You meet men, women, and their children. You meet people who make millions and people who make pennies. People who've never picked up a hitchhiker and people who will go hundreds of miles out of their way to help you out. Rednecks, waitresses, and businessmen. People suited up and suited down. People who grow weed, people who work construction, musicians, and pastors. And everything in between. You meet them all. And you become friends with them all. And it always works out and I wasn't even scared once. I never worried and I never was fearful because everyone was incredible. And you may tell me that it's nonsense. That I'm silly and that I'll be tortured or murdered. But all I am going to tell you is that you have too little faith in people. Because no matter where you go, and I mean no matter anywhere, you will always find kind people. Always always always. Because they're out there whether I'm on the East coast, West coast, or somewhere in the Midwest. Whether I'm in America, or Europe, or New Zealand. There are always kind people and they will always find you. Because I've been doing this a while and I'm still here. And feeling all those realizations coming to you while you're out there doing this sort of thing is irreplaceable. It's crazy and unreal. Unexplained. No matter how I try to convey it through this you'll never realize until you've experienced it. Then, in the midst of it all, to have the bomb dropped on you that you have a sister you never had. Wow. Just wow. It still hasn't even hit me. It's not settled into my soul yet. But that's just crazy, and, on a side note, meeting her for the first time the other day was incredible. It was just so surreal and she's so awesome. Love you Megan! And then to be so close to getting to Seattle, having come what I had pictured in my head as really far (which was nothing compared to what I ended up covering in the end), then to have it all turned upside down for a second and making the decision to hitch from Oregon over to Virginia. Clear across the united states. A little bit of me thought myself crazy, but the rest of me screamed its approval. And off I was hitching in a direction I didn't expect to go through places I didn't expect to be to see people I didn't expect to see. To see people that I have bonded so deeply with that I would hitchhike across a nation to see them. And so I did. Over and over again the pure joy of seeing a friend I love dearly. Over and over again the wretched goodbye hug that would have to hold me until who even knows when I'll see them again. Alas, 'tis the life I lead for now. Hearing the incredible stories of strangers the whole way through. Then to take another random turn South and making it to the Florida Keys. Being physically as far away as I could possibly be from Seattle in the continental states and the strangest feeling that America is actually so small. The way my heart eased when I could pick up hitchhikers after I picked up the car for my mother. How good that felt to give back a little bit. And then the struggle to force myself back to Texas and how hard that ended up being for me. I hadn't realized how little I wanted to come back here and the only reason I really was here was so that I could meet my new sister. Having to deal with the realization that this could very possibly be the last time I come back to use my family as a home base. Realizing how supportive my mom has been through all my adventures. Maybe not ever to come back here. Which is an emotional struggle because no one wants to throw their home away. But sometimes you have to cut your losses. And this may be one of those losses for me. Only time will tell and we'll see what happens.

And those were just some of the emotions I felt about this trip in a nutshell. Obviously there were many many others and so many situations that I could just delve into and talk about forever. And I feel bad for not mentioning them, but some experiences I want to keep just for me. Especially when I know I can't get the feeling I would like to across through text. Now, I must say, I will not be blogging as often as I was. You all have an idea of what my hitching life is like now. And when I get to the boat I won't be able to blog much, but I'll update it every once in a while and that way y'all can follow me in Alaska too. Hopefully I don't get too lazy and forget about this blog altogether. But thanks to everyone out there who reads it and thanks to all of y'all out there who tell me to keep writing it. Because otherwise I would of quit it by now. But seriously, thank you all. And thanks to everyone out there who gave me rides, all of you who let me stay at yours, and to the ones who fed me. I had some incredible meals on this trip! So thank y'all and thanks again because I would never ever be able to say thank you enough.

Until next time (who knows when that'll be)

Be happy

Beacon

 

My sister

 

And my biggest fan

Texas Bound

This may clear up a lot for y'all. I suppose  I never actually said why I was headed to Miami. Turns out my mom bought a car down there a little while ago. I've no idea why she bought a car way the hell in Miami, but she did. The shipping company was taking forever to ship it and she really wants her car. And so when I was in Connecticut she asked me to go get it and drive it back. And a few days later there I was in Miami. Miami is such a huge urban sprawl that it would have been difficult to navigate. That's why I took the Megabus in. I didn't really know what I would be doing once I got there either (probably public bus it) until my uncle called me up and told me about a friend of his that lived there! And so Kathy came and picked me up at the Megabus stop and dropped me off at the car dealership!

Kathy

 

She was a hoot. Used to be friends with my uncles and my father. And then an hour later I had a car.

 

Me mum's car 

 

Now I was all the way in Miami right? So of course I was going to go check out the Keys! So I drove out of there with the windows down heading to the exact opposite of where I should be headed (Seattle). Along the way I saw a hitchhiker (different type than me). Now lemme' tell you, there is a way I could be the worst person in the world. And that way is if I didn't pick up hitchhikers. If I did all I did and then didn't pick up a hitcher I would just be awful. But of course I picked him up!! 

 

Rick

 

He had luggage and a violin with him and was on his way down for four days fishing. He'd been tired of the bus schedule! We kicked it off pretty well. He was an awesome guy! We stopped at a bar along the way to see the Tarpons and holy crap are those some big fish.

 

Bar

 

Mega fish (like as big as me)

 

We kept going and watched the sun go down on our way to Key West. When we finally got there Rick took me to this awesome bar with a great band and bought me this amazing dinner! It's funny when you pick up a hitcher and he takes you out! But man, that was a blast. Really an awesome night and I didn't want to leave. That doesn't happen to me too often, but I didn't want to leave. 

 

 

 

And alas, I did leave. Around midnight. And I drove (after I'd been awake since 7 that morning and already driven from Miami to Key West) all the way to Jackson Mississippi. I got there around 6 the next day to visit my good friend Samson from trail! On my way I got one other hitcher named Albert who just had a hankerin' (his phrasing) for some ice cream and was walking that way.

 

Albert

 

Now Samson told me that he lived in a rough neighborhood. And I freakin' believed him. Until I got there. I am disappointed in myself for having believed that! This place was swanky.

 

His backyard

 

Samson'd been pullin' my leg. And so I got to see him and his wife and some of the kids. And it was a great time. I definitely ate around 3 steaks my stay there. They fed me so much and it was great hanging out and getting to know them. Because, let me tell you, Samson is the kindest and most sincere guy you'll ever meet. Seriously though, he is just awesome. Fond memories of trail with him. And he is a skydiver and scuba diver and a boxer and anything else exciting you can think of. He's done it all and is a great inspiration.

 

Samson and his wife

 

So thank you so much Samson for everything you've done! Hope to see you next year on the PCT :)

 

Waiting for an oil change, then next stop Houston and finally SA tonight!

Be happy,

Beacon