eightysixdan

May 26, 2018:

So in Little Five Points I met this dude named Leaf. Pretty cool kid. He was talking about heading up to North Georgia to hike the Appalachian Trail. Well that sounded like more fun than going down to Florida. So fuck it, I decided to tag along. We got along pretty well and had some decent luck on the road. Pretty much walked from Atlanta to Dahlonega, GA. There we spent a lot of time loitering, making connections for some odd jobs, getting kickdowns, acquiring gear, etc. We spent about a month hanging out before we were ready to do some hiking and traveling. We also made all kinds of other future plans... But let's face it, I'm not great at following through on things. When it's my time to dip, I just go with it. Leaf and I had our differences, but he's a great dude and I got nothing but love for him.

Yeah, so we hopped out of Chattanooga without a hitch and all that jazz. Ended up getting off in Kennesaw, GA.

March 10th, 2018. Or something like that. We made it down to Tennessee. Spent a bit of time resting, shower, laundry, home cooked food (Thanks, mom) and being sober. Got to see a few friends and whatnot before getting back on the road. We'd be hopping out of Chattanooga to Atlanta, which I'm familiar with from riding this route earlier in the year.

From Grayson, we continued hitching through Kentucky and also attempted to ride some trains. Well, half-ass attempted. Had I been solo at this point I would have caught out but mostly we were just billshitting by the tracks, watching trains, and getting drunk. Still not a bad way to spend some time. But our method of travel continued to be walking and hitching. From Grayson, we hitched along the state hwys over the interstate and passed through Olive Hill, Morehead, Winchester and Lexington.

February 10-12, 2018:

From New Martinsville, WV I hitchhiked to Ashland, KY. It took a few short rides and one longer ride with a cool dude named Trevor. He picked me up hitching southbound on I-77 and offered to take me all the way to Charleston or Huntington. Upon talking more he invited me to stop by his place and smoke some herb and have a brew. He was going to spend the day disf golfing with a buddy of his. I ended up tagging along and playing disc golf with them and had a lot of fun that day. At this point I was in Ironville, Kentucky. Camped out in the same park we played disc golf at and continued toward Ashland the next morning. Spent the next day drinking with some home bums in the park in Ashland. Spent the night there and set out towards Kenova, WV to hit I-64 West. Underneath a bridge overpass I met a fellow traveler, Blue, and his Dog, Bob. This was in Cannonsbug, KY. We became road dogs and started traveling together. We then made it to Grayson, KY where we spent the day and that night before moving on.

This would be my last ride for a little while. I caught a short ride over to New Martinsville, WV. I ended up deep in the yard and spooked a worker when I was jumping off the back of the grainer porch I was on in the dark. Anyway, I took some cover in the nearby thick woods. Sure enough, the bull was driving up and down the line shining his spotlight. Fuck, this might prove to be a real pain in the ass. The only way out was way at the other end of the yard, under bright lights and near the office. I couldn't bushwack my way out because there was too much swamp. So I had to cat and mouse my way out. Finally out of the yard, I walk up on a 24-hour diner. Choo-Choo's Restaurant! Score! I also had money, because my cool ass friend, Danny, had sent me some via the Cash App. I went to the diner and gorged on a gigantic omelette with hashbrowns, biscuits and gravy and a pot of coffee. Decided to just stay in until sunrise and sober up, since it was already pretty late. Some of the local boys were in after their night of drinking at the bar. It was Friday. All around it was a good time. When I left, o set out to start hitching back towards Tennessee.

Riding from Cumberland to Grafton during the winter, in the snow, proved to be a very scenic ride! Cumberland was a sleepy little town nestled in the mountains with not much going on. I ended up spending a few nights here. I slept in an abandoned CSX building but it was still verrrrry cold!