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a journey ends, another begins
(I'm feeling accomplished)
I'm now in North Carolina, 10 states away via hwy 80 from California. I don't care to ever return westward. The car behaved amazingly well. My arm held up well too, the swelling is way down.
Reno NV has no services for stranded travelers other than a shelter and tent city right in the downtown area. It was not too well run, they use outdoor porta-potties.
Elko NV has no services either and I had to hold up a sign at Wal-Mart saying I am a stranded traveler needing gas or gas money. I collected $62 in 40 minutes before being politely told that I couldn't do that there. They say the Lord will provide what you need and nothing else. Well $62 is just what it took to fill my tank.
So it was off to Salt Lake City and then Park City Utah. Park City was one of the major sites of the 02 winter games, and they built it up to be as ritzy as Aspen Colorado. I contacted a Mormon Bishop who gave me a $30 gas voucher. That took me to Rock springs Wyoming. At the Rock Springs police station they had a Travelers aid rep who had to come down after church. Pastor Terry turned out to be a real help. He put me up for a night in a motel, $14 in food and $35 in gas.
On to Cheyenne, which was probably the most boring yet scenic part of the trip. Once there, I was able to see the Thunderbirds rehearse for their air show they'd be doing for pioneer days later that week.
Lincoln Nebraska didn't have a travelers aid, but they gave me a $20 gas voucher and I added some of my donations money to fill the tank.
In Des Moines Iowa, the police department had no clue what I was talking about when I asked about Travelers Aid or vouchers. The cop at the front desk reminded me of Jeff Dunham's puppet named Walter, both in looks and attitude. I was very low on fuel, so I stayed the night at Des Moines' shelter. I had seen Redding California's shelter, I had seen Reno Nevada's shelter, but in Des Moines I spent my first night ever IN a shelter. They almost treat you like a prisoner. Once you're in, there is no leaving till 6 a.m. They have a fenced in smoking area, but I do have to say that the place was fairly clean and the beds were comfortable and the linens clean. The showers were group showers, and the thing I didn't like (but didn't have to do) is to sit on the toilet, of which there were 4 with no dividers or stalls. I don't mind showering where others can see, but to have to do #2 as my parents called it, with zero privacy is something I am glad I was not faced with doing. Breakfast, if you want to call it that, consisted of scrambled eggs that were like gritty sand. Needless to say I passed. I got to the state crisis agency at 8 and they gave me $50 towards gas.
I had come to a turning point in my trip, do I go into Springfield, a town I had a fair amount of familiarity with, or do I go on with my route, hoping the next town had help? I chose Springfield, because if nothing else, it's a place I almost moved to in 2004. Springfield had no travelers aid, and unlike Iowa, the state didn't do gas vouchers. While at the county crisis agency, several staffers heard my story and started handing me cash from their pockets. $20 total, but that wasn't going to get me far. I had arrived on Wednesday, and slept in the Wal-Mart parking lot that night. The next day, after calling dozens of churches and agencies, I checked into Helping Hands Homeless shelter. Now, I do have to say, after seeing 4 shelters and having spent the night at 2 of them, I'm sure I have not seen the best shelter, NOR the worst shelter. The best of the 4 though was Helping Hands in Springfield Illinois.
Helping Hands offers co-ed dorms (bunks), a day room, laundry, private showers, private toilets, food, counseling help with job searches, and a good supervisory staff. If you see a counselor for intake, you might get a reserved bed for a day or two. Otherwise, you need to meet outside at 5 p.m. for the bed lottery draw. I never had to do the lottery, Steve, the manager, reserved me till Monday.
I met some amazing people there. Some were amazing in that they were honestly trying to get their life in order, and others were amazing in that they would even seek a shelter, because quite honestly, they're designed more for living on the streets, literally. As Steve said, the description of who a homeless person is, today defies description. It can be almost anyone, and they don't all have to have addictions or mental illnesses. I stayed there Thurs, thru Sunday night, and during that time I met at least one of every conceivable classification of homeless person. I could see some good things about how Des Moines operates their shelter, and good things about Springfield's version, and I wish Reno and Redding would kind of pattern their operation after mostly Springfield's. It's how I feel all shelters should be, and allows people some personal privacy as well as offers good help. Different church groups came nightly to serve meals to us, and it was all good stuff. More towns need such facilities. Had Mt. Shasta had such a facility, I would have been able to stay there easier till the funds came in to head east.
Now, for those who may think I don't want to work, what happened next may open your eyes. Some guy came to the shelter and asked if anyone wanted to make money. The job was to hold an advertising sign for 8 hrs on Friday, 11 hrs Saturday and 8 hrs Sunday The sign was 8 ft tall and 2 ft wide and difficult to hold especially in the wind. The temperature was 90 degrees, and despite my two bad disks in my back and torn ACL in my right knee, I endured and held the sign for 19 hrs over two days. The pay was $88 for Saturday and $64 for Sunday. That earned me enough to drive to North Carolina with $11 to spare. I got badly sunburned, and extremely sore standing there, but I had a goal, and that was to collect on a long overdue hug and kiss from Jenn.
I said my good-byes at Helping Hands after checking all my fluids, and headed for McDonalds for a McSkillet burrito meal, then off to a gas station to fill up, and off I went, hell bent for North Carolina. I had been counting the states as I went, Illinois was #6 away from California, N.C. was #10. As I counted off each state, I was doing the woot woot arm roll. The trip was totally uneventful, but quite scenic, especially Kentucky. I was amazed at cigarette prices though in Kentucky. I had not seen Marlboros that low in 10 years. I wish I had been able to pick up a carton.
I arrived in Mooresville after 1 a.m., and Jenn was waiting up for me, and met me at my car. We talked awhile after we got inside, then she went to bed, and I hit the couch for some sleep after a marathon 816 mile drive which took me 17 hrs and 2 gas stops and 2 rest area stops.
I know that ShastaHiker will read this, please print a copy for Lois, and if you don't mind, call Cathy Metro at Alpine Healthcare and Gary at G&M automotive and Chris at Chris & Dena's Deli, and tell them about this post.
Thanks go out to God for the experience, the safe trip, and to Chris at the deli for how they treated me before I left, the security guy (sorry I don't remember your name) at the Des Moines shelter, Gary for the car fix, and the staff at Helping Hands for making my trip not only full of neat experiences, but also complete-able. And thanks to Pastor Terry for the help and prayers. If I left anyone out, my bad, but I also want to thank Jenn and Eddie for taking me in and making me a part of their home.
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