Walking alone, lonely into the darkness

The whole process is a dream! Think about it for a minute! We start hitch hiking or riding a train or whatever. You get a wild hair and you’ve found a woman. Married with child. Child is grown, your divorced and standing on the side of the road where you first started. It doesn’t have to be in that order of you starting traveling however the method, or getting married with child. It could be reversed.
So with that said one year, 5 years, 10 years, 20 years on and of the road all adds up to being your a survivor and you have the experience to keep going. Even if your alone! I repeat, even if your alone!!
My method of travel has be two different ways. Bicycle long distance or hitch hiking. Now days its hitch hiking. I’m about ready to walk off the road and off the grid for months at a time. You’ll see, when you’ve seen so much shit that you thought you have seen everything already. Maybe we don’t need to see everything just the right things. Each of us will decide what is the right thing.I’ve been on and off since 1968. I refuse to believe that I will ever stop unless I’m laying there with a toe tag.
Traveling alone thru every season, not a fair weather traveler. Soaked in the freezing sleet with the wind blowing and nowhere to stash your body to get out of it. Feeling the warm sun with half frozen toes, face and hands. Looking into the faces of the people walking past you seeing the look of your being invisible to them. hoping that a half pint of wild turkey will keep you warm until you can find a coin operated laundry to dive into. Or a rest room with warm air blowers that you lay down on the floor an put your feet up into the warm air and get the feeling back.
Walking past the pig and saying good morning to them and they ask for ID. Knowing in the back of your mind the pig will hold you and say “where were you at 3 am this morning”?
It will go on and on the experiences. We all have some similar or exact.
What “we” as the experienced travelers have to try and remember is, compassion for your fellow human. Some might be a twisted and sick person or a deviant attempting on trying to hurt you or another. So what!! you will survive because you watch and listen and remember. It’s happened before, and will happen again.
How many of the travelers out there are still afraid of the dark?? be honest! They need a beast with them to watch or another human to be with them.
Walking alone, lonely into the darkness knowing that the next day will be the same every day 5 years from now!
Jean Andre Vallery

Missoula to Spokane

It was a nice day when I wandered to the entrance of the interstate. Not a bad location for visibility of vehicles to see me. My approach was just as simple as I could present it. Set my alice pack and addition pack with food in next to each other. Opened the folding lawn chair and showed my cardboard sign ” Spokane” to the people.

It was still early about 10 am and the traffic was flowing into the intersection with just a few leaving west bound. The road that feeds into this area from the north is a stretch of two lane starting somewhere near the Canadian border past Glacier National Park  thru the Indian reservation past Arlie into Missoula.

I sat , stood and wandered around for about 8 hours and a man pulled over and said he could get me to Saint Regis. That was great it was a few more hours before dark and that would be a good place to make a primitive camp.

I’ll type some more in a few hours or days