Day One-Hundred-Sixty, Downtime

The rains came at four a.m. I had to crawl out of bed. And zipper up and batten down. It's a trick to keep my gear dry. It took me an hour to fall back to sleep. I dreamed about hurricanes.

I woke up again at nine o'clock. It had by then stopped raining. Or was about to, at any rate. But there were some awful winds. And the woods I had slept in were awfully damp. My shoes are not waterproof. Wet socks hurt my feelings and make my feet pruny and sore.

I had almost a gallon of water. I could have stayed there all day long. But I'm a go-getter, a high-achiever. You won't catch me lying around. Not in the woods during deer season. Not with nothing to eat. And though I'm too quickly fooled by a few warmish days, I am still racing winter south.

It is cold most mornings but it always warms up. Even when I'm sure it will not. But today it jut got colder and colder and there was an arctic wind. Or an antarctic wind. I cannot be sure. I have no keen sense of direction.

I'd been threatening to stay indoors today. There was a motel just outside town. Fulton, Kentucky, that is, on the border with Tennessee. It was everything I could possibly hope for. It was ready to be condemned. Weedy and seedy and crumbling. It looked like something I could afford.

But it was too blasted far from anywhere. I needed something to eat. So it was over the railroad and into town. I knew I would not double back. That is something I've done very little of on this trip, not even for a block or two. It would be a shame to undo all my good work. It would offend my walking gods.

So imagine my surprise and delight when I found a motel still worse. After lunch and a ways down the road. It is possitively disgusting. It's the very worst place I've been to yet. I checked in, no questions asked.

I lived and worked in India for a number of years. I've slept in a number of dumps. My favorite was a place in Mumbai, famous for its gangland murders. There were rats in the walls and the ceiling. I could hear them moving around. I never saw one but they sounded big. I'm feeling nostalgic today.

I've got all my gear spread out to try. I cleaned the toothpaste out of my bag. But I am not going to get any laundry done. I did get a call from my mother. Who likes me better when I'm far away, so there's some value in that.

Goodnight.

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