10/20/2014
There are people working in the stores in these parts who speak only Spanish. It was quite a surprise. I was able to dust off my Spanish language skills and navigate the territory. With the Mexican border just a stone’s throw from my route, it makes sense that there would be a large Mexican community. Every culture has their traditions, sayings, and food. On my 50th day I ate chilindrinas for the first time in my life. Chilindrinas are a snack with a wheat rind for the base. They are topped with cabbage, tomatoes, and pork. Of course being vegetarian I had it without the pork. For flavor lime and hot sauce are lightly sprinkled.
I only ran a couple more miles before the sun set. I had reached a pecan farm just outside of Faben Texas and it seemed like as good a place to stop as any. The darkness swept over the area. The only light source was lightning in the distance that flashed consistently. The storms travelled at a fast pace and before I knew it, the thunder was booming and resonating close by. The rains followed but I was lucky to have a warm spot in the trailer. The lightning served as a light show that rivaled Disneyland’s nightly fireworks show. Surprisingly the temperature wasn’t too cold. The sleep was deep and peaceful.
Day 51 was more of the same. There wasn’t much civilization. There were plenty of animals however. I saw a fox, a diamond back, and of course plenty of barking dogs. I didn’t anticipate much action on the day until the border patrol reared its head again. My one brush with them was right before Tombstone. At that time they were hunting down a person in the bush. On this occasion they were hunting me. I’m not exactly sure why they said they received a call about me. Surely their law enforcement capacity had stretched beyond their jurisdiction. The encounter was peculiar. They asked me if I was carrying a weapon. Where on earth would I have concealed a weapon while running? I asked me a million questions as if I were committing a felony of some sort. One of the officers was round and the other had a military haircut, both of them were Hispanic. I have no clue why anyone of Hispanic origin would want to take a job with the border patrol. The episode took a good twenty minutes out of my day. It was a good thing I was just about done.
At the end of the day I wanted to bathe. A couple days had passed without a proper shower. I decided it would be the water bottle bath one more time. Stripped naked in the middle of nowhere, I cleaned up. The fresh feeling would comfort me as I drifted into dreamland.
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