Well, during my time staying with the Mundls in Delaware, I went out drinking with Kurt (their son) and his friends. Needless to say, they drank me under the table and by the end of the night I was ill from a belly full of american beer - Rolling Rock, I think: poison. I had fun that night but had to spend the next day recovering. I had sent KT an e-mail the day before telling her that I was back in town, and the reply arrived in the afternoon. She was up in Cleveland with her parents, but my letter caused her to jump in her car and race towards Delaware without explanation as to why she was skipping out on dinner. Kurt invited me to go to some sort of arcade - or something of the sort - but I was on my way to meet KT. It was strange. I had almost convinced myself that the magic I felt was imaginary, or the product of isolation, but on seeing her again I could no longer deceive myself. I entertained the idea of staying; she entertained the idea of coming with me. We both knew that it was not to be - for now. In May, KT graduates from university. I gave her the compass around my kneck and, this time, she pedalled away from me; God, I hate irony. I walked the 10 miles back to where I was staying, on some dark Ohio road under the stars, and dreamt about the future.
The next day I hung around the Mundl's house during the day and helped out with the paperwork for the trucking company. The Mundls treated me to a feast at Outback - a retaurant/grill - and brought me to Columbus to meet up with Dick Dresbach, the trucker who would conduct me westward. We left the warehouse at 2:00am and started out west. During the few days I lived in his truck, I lived the trucker's life - all except for the driving. We would make several stops in various places through the southern U.S., in Kentucky (argh), Missouri, Arkansas and finally Texas. During this trip, I learned all sorts of trucker lingo, conversed with truckers, was to my delight mistaken for a trucker, unloaded cargo (lumping, they call it), ate at truck stops, sneered at Peterbilt trucks and their drivers with their holier-than-thou attitudes, listened to people picking fights over the CB radio and slept in the top bunk while the road roared by underneath me. This morning I found myself in Fort Worth, Texas - just outside of Dallas. I've found the people of Texas so far to be extremely friendly and welcoming. I'm now sitting in the parker county public library in Aledo, Texas. Biking today, I watched the trees shrink and nearly disappear, and the cacti begin to replace them. Desert is on the way.
The next day I hung around the Mundl's house during the day and helped out with the paperwork for the trucking company. The Mundls treated me to a feast at Outback - a retaurant/grill - and brought me to Columbus to meet up with Dick Dresbach, the trucker who would conduct me westward. We left the warehouse at 2:00am and started out west. During the few days I lived in his truck, I lived the trucker's life - all except for the driving. We would make several stops in various places through the southern U.S., in Kentucky (argh), Missouri, Arkansas and finally Texas. During this trip, I learned all sorts of trucker lingo, conversed with truckers, was to my delight mistaken for a trucker, unloaded cargo (lumping, they call it), ate at truck stops, sneered at Peterbilt trucks and their drivers with their holier-than-thou attitudes, listened to people picking fights over the CB radio and slept in the top bunk while the road roared by underneath me. This morning I found myself in Fort Worth, Texas - just outside of Dallas. I've found the people of Texas so far to be extremely friendly and welcoming. I'm now sitting in the parker county public library in Aledo, Texas. Biking today, I watched the trees shrink and nearly disappear, and the cacti begin to replace them. Desert is on the way.
