October 30
A guy in the campsite said there was an 8:15 bus a 1 minute walk away which turned out to not exist. So I walked 2 miles to town to miss the bus into fort brag by 2 minutes, with a 3 hour wait till the next one. Hitchhiking time! Within 5 minutes a lady picked me up in a minivan and proceeded to recite poetry from memory and speaking about love and faith. And then she gave me a hug after the ride. Perfect! Haha. The wheel needed to be replaced, and it turned out the shop guy was going to receive a shipment "sometime between 1 and 4. Waiting time. Hey, I'll just go to the library. I mean, it's a Friday, right?
And right next to the closed friday sign is a little image of a dollar bill being cut by scissors. Because, of course, libraries are closed on fridays in such a budget crisis. Yay! So I decided to buy a journal... from a toy shop, and some sharpies. Then I grabbed a piece of cardboard from behind CVS and decided to make a decorated hitchiking sign. Because I was pretty fed up with bike repairs at that point. I made a pretty badass looking sign, with people giving me the "hey I think that's a bum" look.
Eventually, I went back to the shop at 3. The owner started bring boxes in, so I decided to offer a hand. It turns out "i have a shipment coming in between 1 and 4" meant "i have a shipment the size of a small house coming in between 1 and 4." And I was the hired help. 1 hour of carrying in boxes upon boxes of bikes, I got my tire for a 30 dollar discount! Sweeeeet. I take a bus back to the campsite cause the mist is so think I would be invisible. I had a nice conversation with a meth head though, and by conversation I mean trying to not get the guy to kill me. Apparently, according to him, my sister's name is Melissa. On my way back i get a carton of real milk (omg not dry milk) for cereal and an entire coffee cake, which I cannot finish. What's left is given as an offering of "wow" to another group of campers who spearfished 2 catfish weighing over 5 pounds each. Sleepytime.