Day One-Hundred-Fifty-Seven, Halloween

Bridge construction started at seven. I was already astir in my tent. It was very nearby but out of the way. If they saw me they didn't care. I thought of introducing myself, with an eye towards getting some coffee. But everyone seemed awfully busy. I packed up and moved on.

Two or three miles to the town of Thebes, along the Mississippi river. There were barges moving up and down. The river itself was glass smooth. When I crossed yesterday there were whitecaps and waves. That was more interesting. Here it was brown with miles of rusty trees lining the banks on both sides.

There are grey sand beaches too. I don't know if there are meant to be. Or if it's just the Army Corps of Engineers having fun like they do. No one here seems to want to live beside the river. You'd think they would like the view. I know it ain't quite Malibu but it's pretty in its way.

I had hoped to have breakfast in Thebes. Thebes isn't much of a town. The only store they have sells bait and very little else. There's a railroad bridge I wanted a picture of but I couldn't get an angle on it. Not without climbing down some jagged rocks. That's the Army Corps again.

Lewis and Clark spent their second night there, not twenty miles from where they began. Turned out paddling upriver was not as fun as they thought it would be. Though I'm guessing they did not paddle much themselves. They had their men to do that. I don't know how many but right about then they were thinking they might need some more.

I really had set my heart on breakfast. I didn't eat much yesterday. Nor had I taken the thoughtful precaution of filling my backpack with cheese. Illinois, I'd been sure, would take care of me, but it is nothing but strip clubs and swamps. And today a number of trees. Some of them are even yellow. It seems this year it got too cold too fast so they did not reach their full splendour.

I worried it would be twelve more miles until I got something to eat. Or very possibly twenty-four. I was a little sad. Certainly I've gone days without eating before, but I did not get much walking done. I tried to look hungry so some little boy would make a sandwich for me.

Secretly I was just a bit pleased. Some suffering is key. I don't know that I'll ever be proud of myself for Walking Across America. It has not been hard enough. I'm dropping weight like a refugee but I'm eating like Henry VIII. Starvation, I thought, should be part of it, if only for one token day.

Still I was not wholly displeased to find Olive Branch, Illinois. It was on my map but I had spaced it. It came as a nice little surprise. I was just a little late for breakfast but I ordered the biggest they had. I had starved in my heart and that was enough. It is the thought that counts.

Pancakes. I ain't really a fan. I liked them when I was a kid. But they were cheap and man-sized, big as frisbees and three-quarters of an inch thick. I finished them out of a stubborn pride, and with a kind thought to the hungry children in the world. But damn, they all but did me in. I'll be digesting them for days.

Olive Branch is a good two miles long. Not too many people live there. But there are a few shops and a small motel and no less than two cafes. And a tuxedo rental shop. Folks here like to look sharp. My waitress looked like Sarah Jessica Parker, before she got her hard edge.

I walked on feeling fairly content. It was again a beautiful day. Not many people live in southern Illinois. Most of it is a nature preserve. Federal, I believe. Mostly trees with the odd farm here and there. And swamps, of course. There are skeetery bugs. I kept an eye out for gators.

Traffic was light and there was a good shoulder and plenty of places to rest. Little roads disappearing into the trees where I could sit on my pack. You'd be surprised how very few such places there are on the roads of America. As often as not I'm perched in a ditch, weaving a hammock from snakes.

Some miles on I passed the spot where Lewis and Clark spent their first night. They had made even less progress on that day. From where I was standing it looked like they might have done better to walk. I don't know where they left from. Cairo, I suppose. That makes sense. It is on the Ohio and the Mississipi, though below the level of both.

I quit when I got to the edge of Cairo. I've got blisters on both my heels. Still I managed twenty-three miles. Not bad for a lazy day. I am camped on the edge of a soybean field, behind a dollar store. Dining on handfuls of Halloween candy and just a bit colder than I like to be.

It is a hell of a spot, really, and proof of my hobo skills. I spotted it from five miles away, before it even came into view. I saw the freeway, I saw the highway, I saw where the railroad was going. And knew there would be a little triangle just designed for my tent. Civilisation on all sides and invisible to the world.

HALLOWEEN is a stupid holiday. I know it's fun for the kids. Free candy. Nothing wrong with that. But sooner or later we all turn twelve and then your excuses are gone. Adults who enjoy dressing up in costumes need a talking to or a slap. And why designate a holiday devoted to all things creepy? Better we should celebrate the Beautiful. The world is ugly enough.

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