The Journey Begins.
Friday, June 19th, 2009
Dave and his kids offered me a place to crash in Charlottesville.
So it has been 9 days since my last post!!!
A lot has happened in that 9 days including the fact that my home is now rented to, what seem to be, responsible tenants and all my stuff is either trashed, at Goodwill, or jammed in my car.
Three days ago, I locked up my doors to my house and walked out the front door, not to return!!! (well, in a year or so)
It was a rainy, mid-50 degree morning. Chilly!!! To top it off, I was sick. Green loogee’s and a slight fever were accompanying me as I stuck my thumb out a block from downtown Farmville.
I was headed to Charlottesville today. A new friend, Anna, had been so kind as to take my, constantly crashing Mac to the Best Buy store there and I was off to retrieve it.
The rain was steady and felt like it was going to be coming all day. But, I was hoping it would help me snag a ride. A pity ride!!!
Well, not 5 minutes later and less than 10 blocks from my home, I was leaving Farmville with Eddie.
The Journey had begun!
Eddie worked at the hospital in town, but was an hour early for work so he drove me to Dillwyn.
“Car don’t work so good in the rain.” It sputtered and shuttered, but kept on.
Eddie was into miracles. We were listening to a preacher from California on a CD and he could work miracles. He told me stories of bones being healed, incurable diseases cured, and other amazing acts.
Eddie had done some hitchhiking himself back in the 90′s. He has gone all around the country too, spending most of his time in national parks though.
“There is a whole subculture of people that just travel the country.”
He learned alot. I asked him what he had learned.
“We are a lot more resilient than we think.” How all this stuff we think we “need” like electricity, for example, that we can do just fine without it.
When we stopped at the stoplight in Dillwyn, he took a moment and prayed for me. I felt good about that.
***
Dillwyn has been the scourge of hitchhiking zones for me. For some reason, it is really hard to get a ride here. But I was hopeful. It was 7:20am, so I had plenty of time.
The rain kept on and so did my cold. I made a sign with Sharpies and a folder.
“C-VILLE”
A couple hours went by and a friend drove up. Yeah! Erin Banovitz. She works at Bear Creek Academy, where I wrote one of my first blogs on. She wasn’t going my way, just to the local store, but it was good to see a familiar face.
Quickly after that though, a large semi pulls over.
Bo Allen is headed through Charlottesville on his route.
I am happy.
He cranks up the heat for me and tells me about another hitchhiker he had picked up. The hiker was recently out of prison for stealing cars.
“He had had a rough life,” Bo tells me.
Bo gave him money and pointed him to a church in Lynchburg. The man had cried.
Bo is retired. But he couldn’t sit still.
He has traveled the country and he thinks I should become a truck driver to do the same.
Dillwyn is his favorite spot in the country.
He lets me off close to Charlottesville with a wave and a honk. The rain is still steady and I seek out a place to dry out and sleep for some of the day.
I feel accomplished though, especially under non-ideal circumstances.
***
The next week or so I am going to be relaxing with my family in Somerset, New Jersey, where I hope to write posts on my new friend, Jason, the Charlottesville Photography Festival, where I was interviewed by Bilal from NPR, and how I think the lesson of Impermanence is going to be a constant theme on my journey.
Please keep me update with all of our journeys as well.
Create our world,
ben.
“The indispensable first step to getting the things you want out of this life is this: Decide what you want.” – Ben Stein
