Day Eleven

Well there is a first time for everything. Today was very full so I’ll give you the bullet points.

• An overnight snowstorm nearly caved in my tent. I woke up with the side of the tent nearest my head, on my head.
• Yellowstone closed the East exit due to weather conditions so I got redirected south, ultimately sending my day to Nebraska. (Not exactly on the itinerary).
• Crossed the Rocky Mountains in 2-wheel drive without chains during a snowstorm.
• Drove all throughout Wyoming, a state that can blow wind in all four directions simultaneously. Even the tumbleweeds were confused.
• Then I met BJ.

BJ is a 31 year old teacher from Boston also on a cross-country adventure. He started in San Francisco and is headed to Boston, however BJ is walking. We met when I pulled off the highway out of curiosity. He wears a giant sign on his backpack with his website. BJ's Blog We chatted for a few minutes and then he revealed the reason for his walk. He is planning on hand delivering a notebook of personal messages to the next president of the United States of America, from America. I will make the point here that BJ is not a crazy person. He cares about his country, politics, and is brave enough to make a statement, an extremely physically demanding one at that. He left San Francisco on March 1 and hopes to arrive in Boston in November, he admits he is a little behind schedule. Anyways, he gave me his card and I drove away but I then realized he had given me another person’s card by mistake. I turned around and returned what was his and we then talked about the looming clouds and came to the conclusion that we could split a cheap motel room and sleep in comfortable beds, not outside in the rain. So we got a cheap motel room (stop worrying reader) and went to dinner at some local dive he remembered from a previous Americorps assignment. BJ is a totally sweet dude and I am glad our paths crossed. I asked him how he keeps walking everyday. He said because he started something he has to finish it, and it helps that he keeps meeting encouraging people. He has now been walking for over three months and it’s just what he does, he can’t think of doing anything else. Finding inspiration like this is why I am on the road. Hopefully he’ll get into politics. This was a successful pick up of a hitchhiker, and was an actual objective for this trip. I seriously doubt everyone walking on the road is this cool, so I’ll quit while I’m ahead so my mom won’t worry☺