I'm using free wireless with my PDA at the McDonald's in South Padre Island. Had a run-in already with the local police as I was walking across the bridge. They told me if I do it again they'll lock me up for 6 months. Wow. If they punish victimless crimes like that, what do they do with robbers? Shoot them point-blank?
After I got out of Bigo's bar last night after 6 bottles of MGD, I kept walking towards the island. What a stretch of desolation. I got dehydrated after maybe 6 or 7 miles, and it got worse. First you try swallowing your spit. Then you run out of spit and you try just to make enough to wet your lips. When it gets really bad you just try swallowing dry, knowing there's nothing there. I had just barely reached that point when I ran across some fishermen, 3 Mexican-Americans, one in his 50s or 60s and the other two, perhaps his sons, about my age or less. They gave me water and refused to take any money for it (I offered $5, I was so grateful). They had a generator and were lighting a spot in the middle of the river to attract the fish; they were using live bait (shrimp) and lures and were snagging some speckled (salt-water) trout. But the 5 they caught while I was there they threw back, saying they weren't the 24-inch minimum length. I told them I would have kept them anyway, but they said the warden could come by any time and it wasn't worth the risk.
So I continued walking... eventually the lights of the island came into view but it kept looking as though the access to the island got farther away the closer I approached... weird. When I was only a mile away or so from Port Isabel, there was a small camping area where I rested until morning twilight, then I walked the remaining distance back to civilization. After breakfast was when I reached the bridge and got introduced to the locals. I probably went about 30 to 35 miles since 4PM yesterday... I have a nice rash on my butt from the chafing of sweat-soaked pants and I hurt all over. Gotta find the beach and get some sleep.
One thing that has to be done if we are to have a mobile society without cars is to have at least vending machines, if not bars and restaurants, every 10 miles or so on all roads. Licensing and regulations need to just fucking go away, and state-owned rights of way need to allow vendors to set up shop for free. And I hope the gas prices keep going skyward. $5, $10 per gallon, I don't give a shit. Keep those goddamned pick-em-ups and SUVs off the road. Why look for terrorists in the mideast? They're right here behind the wheels of these death machines, all over the US.
last updated 2013-01-10 20:41:29. served from tektonic.jcomeau.com