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This is the sort of thing you have to be On the Road to learn. And appreciate. I have filed it away for future use but it doesn't do me much good now. I don't have a cat or a bald head. Or a son or a treehouse. All I've got is a tent and bitter feelings and a few symptoms of the flu.
Mere influenza cannot undo me. I don't as a rule catch cold. The trick is to deny it when it appears. It will soon enough go away. Your mind and body will conspire to cure you, rather than make you a liar. So I don't have the flu and I ain't going to get it. I am a superman.
My little computer, and it has been dishearteningly accurate about these things, says it is going to be 37 degrees tonight. It makes it 42 now. If this is 42 I do not want to know what 37 is going to be like. A lot like last night, I'm inclined to guess. I did not like that so much at all. It hurt my feelings. It made my toes ache. It took all the fun out of peeing.
I did find a Goodwill on the edge of Sioux City and invested in a new fleece pullover. It is a sad shade of green and covered in cat hair. It cost $3.75. It is thick and warm and the sleeves are long enough to pull over my fingers. I think it's money well spent. I wish I could find a pair of fleece pants. I would wear them to parties.
I do have my thermal underwear and a warmish brand of hat. And a fairly good sleeping bag. I may just survive yet. But I have come to appreciate the difference between survival and comfort. They'll sell you all manner of outdoor gear on the boast that it will keep you alive down to this temperature or that. But they never tell you how unpleasant it will be.
It will be unpleasant.
I didn't make a great deal of progress today. I am sure I fell short of my quota. But I was a little fluey and I am wearing new shoes. I needed too to recharge my computer. Which I did not wholly succeed in doing, but I should get through this brief essay. I do not intend to type at you long. My nose is starting to drip.
Drip.
My new shoes I guess are doing OK. I do have a shiny new blister. I haven't bothered to look at it yet. I've got worries enough. It will either be better or worse tomorrow. Such is the nature of life.
Drip.
Highway 20 in Iowa is a well used four-lane road. The paved shoulder is too narrow for walking. There is gravel on the side. It is fairly rough and would have killed me in my last shoes, but my new ones are a little heavier. But still my feet get knocked around quite a bit inside the shoe itself. Uneven surfaces are the devil. Blisters are his imps.
I had breakfast at a Perkins restaurant. I thought it was going to suck. I just wanted to get some coffee. I wanted to hold the warm mug. But it was nice, not expensive and the coffee was really good. The food was pretty but soulless. I've certainly eaten worse. They had some beautiful pies, as well, but I'm still fighting a wooze.
What really impressed me was my waitress. She was really good. It is a joy to see someone excel at their job. I speak in all seriousness. Her timing, her attitude, her skill with a tray. It was poetry. I doubt one in ten-thousand Americans are as good at their job as she is at hers. She should give seminars. I found myself wishing I had my own restaurant so I could hire her at twice the pay.
Of course the girl at the Goodwill was pretty competent too. Maybe it is just an Iowa thing. Maybe Iowans take pride in their work. Good for Iowa.
Anyway, I am a couple of miles past Moville, Iowa, camped in a small patch of trees. Not a great spot, but it'll do. There are critters without. Raccoons I guess, or maybe a skunk. No one I want sitting on my head.
I've got thirteen-odd miles between me and breakfast. Let's hope it's a stronger day. I've only to pee and then I can sleep. Damn, but it is cold outside. What would a NASA astronaut do in a stuation like this.
CHEERS TO the Man of God who bought me lunch and the snacks salesman who gave me free samples.
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