Cold and Rain

So I hightailed it out of Virginia. I ran into the Cumberland Gap. A friendly visitor center lady told me about the hot showers in the campsites, she also gave me free cornbread, and I was surrounded by people dressed like Indians and Explorers - it was a Lewis and Clarke reenactment, and I was sold. I figured it'd be like taking the day off in a place where I could legally park and cook, maybe I'd even sleep in. I stayed up reading Gravity's Rainbow by flashlight and drinking tea. I was hoping I could spend the following day editing video.

Sunday was frigid. I woke up and went for a run. I kind of inadvertently went onto this back country trail. I was jogging up these mountains of rocks and mud. I didn't want to turn around because... well, I always like to travel in a continuously forward path, I don't like to backtrack. after maybe three miles I saw hope in a sign pointing vaguely between two paths: "Campground." I was excited. Next thing I knew I was climbing over barbed wire, then I was around some cows. Cows really do stare you down. The one moved pretty fast. I didn't know they could move like that - kind of jog. After I made it to the top of the hill I looked around and saw no sign of the Cumberland Gap park area. There were farms and woods. I still don't really know what the Cumberland Gap is (I wish I had asked that nice ranger who gave me corn bread). I backtracked.

It was too cold to edit. I said fuckit. And while I was at it I said fuckit to Tennesse as well. "I'm goin' down south," I said.

So I'm in Bama. I don't know much about AL. I spent most of yesterday driving. I decided on Arab as my destination, you know at the head of Route 69. So I slept in the parking lot of the local apartments there last night. It was pretty shady. There was frost on the windows when I got up at 7:30... I'm not sure why I got up so early. I stayed up late trying to capture my footage onto my computer, but ran out of battery power and had other technical difficulties that prevent me still from posting a video here.

I thought about settling for a day in Arab, but decided it wasn't for me. They did have a great little breakfast joint, however. I got a bunch of coffee and eggs. I realized when I was already on the highway that I forgot to tip the watress... live and let die, you know?

It's not raining anymore which is good, but when it gets dark it'll get cold. My battery pack is not the wiz kid I was hoping for, it's alright though. I might try to find a cheap cheap motel for the night so I can edit. I interviewed this lady that runs a thrift shop today, it was nice.

I have some ruminations on Alabama, but I'll hold off for now...