Wandering Wheels - 27 January 1991

Actually, it is Jan. 28, but Randy collected the journals yesterday and I didn't get a chance to write what happened. And quite a bit did happen. Sleeping at the front of the Possum Seven is a wonderful experience. You get to look out the green front window at the moon. I as kind of scared to move around much 'cause Randy was next to me. Sometime in the middle of the night the drivers came to a startling realization: the alternator was broken. But we continued on anyway. On our way to breakfast we passed a Les Miz truck parked in a hotel parking lot. I wanted so much to take a picture. Unfortunately, there was no time. It must have been in Albuquerque, though I didn't see anything about it in the paper. I ate breakfast at Winchell's Donuts and slit a dozen with Chip and Jenny. Then it was back to more riding, on the bus, of course.

We were supposed to go to a church in Amarillo, but because of the problems with the bus, we didn't get there until 6:30 PM. We ate at McDonald's and sat around talking and waiting for periodical bulletins on the Super Bowl. The bus was supposed to be back at 7:30, but it didn't make it. So Keri Thorne and I ran over to the grocery store and I bought 11 doz chocolate cookies for .99. Now I'm down to exactly .75.

This next part is to be kept in complete confidence. By reading the next few lines (until I say different) I swear you to secrecy (and I mean it!). I think I may take a chance and ask Keri out when we get back. At least I'd like to. It would certainly be a first for me. I suppose that depends how I feel when I get back, but hopefully writing it down will give me incentive to keep it.

And another personal thing: I'm scared. It's hard to believe that a friendship could fall apart so fast. Mike and Laurie are still rather distant. I ought to confront them about it, see what I did wrong. But I'm scared. I just want it to all work out you know, we both realize we've been stupid and it just works out. Somehow I don't see it happening. And it bothers me. Funny when you know what you have to do but you don't. Guess it's fear. Or pride.

Well, enough talk. This ends the personal part of my diary. The rest you can read and repeat. If not, I'll tell you.

Last night I slept at the front of Possum Seven again and watched the moon and sang depressing songs to myself. I was also very hot so I stripped down to my underwear and slept that way. Of course that's not unusual, unless you consider that Marie was right next to me. I could have been in a lot of trouble if my bag had come unzipped!

We stopped quite a bit to recharge the battery (about every two hours). Then we ate breakfast at the world's largest McDonald's. I broke down and bought the world's worst vanilla shake ever. Oh well. Then we drove for a while and then stopped at a truck stop and picked up another bus. So now the group is split in two. I'm now on Possum Six, which smell a whole lot better than the other bus.

This will probably be my last entry. So much happened on this trip, so many experiences, I'm not sure how much I've changed. Randy said this is the kind of trip that you look back on in six months and realize this is where I changed. I guess that's true, that I'm a little too close to the whole experience now to really appreciate it. I do know that I've never experienced anything like this before and it is and will be one of the best times of my entire life. Maybe more later. If not, from this pint on, I'll surely be California Dreamin' for a long, long time. Æ

Tunes: dave dudley - i want a woman with a handle