A Living Magazine - Day 222 - Homecoming - Grover to Kings Mountain

I woke about two hours after falling asleep, cold. The ground had just the hint of a pine needle cover over that southern red sand. This was the recipe for a cold bed. The hardness of the ground never bothers me. But, as I've discovered, any surface other than leaves is cold. Sand especially just sucks the heat from my body. Due to the length and intensity of the last day's walk, the back of my sweater was west from sweat. Usually, the warmth of the sleeping bag will dry it overnight, but the damn zipper had split below the latch again so my back remained wet.

There was nothing I could do about the ground. Until I can buy a pad and find a way to fit it into the pack, these sleeping situations (on anything but leaves) are going to be uncomfortably cold. Even wet leaves are insulating when covered with the under-tarp. I could however fix the zipper. The splitting happens every time I do a quick zip--one tooth will be missed. So I unzipped down to below the split and then zipped the bag back up very carefully making sure to run my finger behind the zipper to feel if a tooth had been missed. The bag is tight, compact, and very well designed. The one improvement I would make would be a larger meatier zipper, the size of the ones on the backpack. 

Once zipped up again, it took a while to fall back asleep. I heard coyotes far off in the distance. Checking Google Earth later I realized they weren't in my part of the woods, but along a powerline adjacent to a large building behind me. As I've mentioned a few times now, powerlines are coyote highways. All I could think about was how I was going to extricate myself in the morning with trucks pulling out across the highway. Honestly, I think I worry way too much about being seen. Whenever I'm walking away from a spot where I've camped, I realize how little space I take up and how few drivers, distracted as they are by other traffic or their god-forsaken phones, care about where I sleep. 

* * * * * * *

The Homeless Urban Camper's Dilemma

I don't know how to justify this in a simple way for myself or other curious readers. So I offer the following as a complex breakdown that maybe together we can simplify and clarify.

I know I will be asked about it publicly, and I need a ready answer. It is the one thing that I do that is not altogether above board, and that bothers me. I don't want to break the law. Yet, there is no way I could do what I do without being able to find discrete places to sleep. It is not just about my physical needs, but my psychological need for privacy. I am a very private person. I am out in public and seen by people sixteen hours a day. The only time I have private moments are in bathroom stalls or sleep spots. I'm not sure if people who have permanent places to live fully understand just how stressful that is for a fairly introverted person such as myself. 

This subject walks thin lines having to do with rights, needs, and wants. And, in many ways those lines blur out of sight. This is a unique situation, a unique lifestyle, and I am a unique person doing a unique thing. There can't be general public policy for each unique situation. Yet, what may be good for the general public may not be practical, nor appropriate for me, and vice versa.

Now, there is a technical argument for being able to use public land for this temporary camping. It has to do with the Eighth Amendment... 

"The Eighth Amendment (Amendment VIII) to the United States Constitution is the part of the United States Bill of Rights (ratified December 15, 1791) prohibiting the federal government from imposing excessive bail, excessive fines, or cruel and unusual punishment."

[See all twenty seven Constitutional Amendments: Here.]

Usually, this amendment is used in the context of so-called "Miranda Rights" (the right to remain silent). However, recently it has been invoked to defend against attempts to prosecute homeless people for sleeping in parks, public places, and on public land. I would urge interested readers to inform themselves about these cases and the general subject of "Anti-homelessness Legislation"...

Justice Department Files Brief to Address the Criminalization of Homelessness 

It’s unconstitutional to ban the homeless from sleeping outside, the federal government says 

The Federal Government Says Being Homeless Should Not Be A Crime 

The Homeless and the Eighth Amendment 

When Punishing Innocent Conduct Violates the Eighth Amendment: applying the 

Robinson Doctrine to Homelessness and Other contextual "Crimes" 

A Dream Denied: The Criminalization of Homelessness in U.S. Cities

Criminals without a Choice: Why the Eighth Amendment Alone Cannot Protect the Homeless

Activists cheer DOJ filing on homeless right to sleep outdoors

HUD Puts Teeth Into Effort to Stop Criminalizing Homeless People 

Anti-homelessness legislation

It would also be very beneficial for all of us to form opinions about this, since well over a million people are affected by inadequate shelter, many of them children...

Although the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in January 2012 annual point-in-time count found that 633,782 people across the United States were homeless, other counts vary widely. In a recent approximation, an estimated 1.6 million unduplicated persons used transitional housing or emergency shelters. Of these people, approximately 1/3 are members of households with children, a nine percent increase since 2007. Another approximation is from a study done by the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, which states that approximately 3.5 million people, 1.35 million of them children, are likely to experience homelessness in a given year (National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, 2007).

[Source: Wikipedia - Homelessness in the United States] 

A person who is homeless usually has a condition they cannot help--homelessness. To deny and prosecute him (I'll use the male pronoun, but this could apply to either gender) for sleeping in a public place can be seen as "excessive... cruel or unusual punishment." The theory is that you cannot punish a person for trying to survive. Sleep is needed to survive.

The opposing side of the argument is that in most towns and cities there are missions and shelters, so a person doesn't have to sleep outside.

My answer to that is that shelters and missions are often full, they can be dangerous (possibly violent and very often are open to theft--something I've heard homeless people say a thousand times), and they are notoriously difficult to locate when moving from town to town. 

Assume a person walks into town at 8:00 p.m. and needs to sleep. If the shelter is five miles away, he would have to walk for an additional hour and forty five minutes--probably longer if he has a hard time locating it. By then, it is about 10 p.m. Most missions require he be there by no later than 8:00 p.m. He is now dangerously tired. It is later, colder, darker... You get the picture.

His life is potentially in danger. And, he needs to sleep (a human need--a human right). If he is able to access a place on public land and has the equipment needed to stay there, he should have the right to do that--not live there; to sleep there. To disallow this or criminalize it is inhumane and (I think) violates his 8th Amendment right, as well as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Now, regarding private land. If a person is lost in the woods and needs shelter, then runs across an empty cabin, he has the right to enter it in order to survive the night. This is an unusual and extreme case, but illustrates one far end of the private property dilemma. Of course, he should leave a note with his identifying information, and offer to pay for any damages he may have wrought upon entering (in the same way a person camping on public land should never leave trash and of course not disturb anything there). Given the opportunity to get permission, it is probably likely that it could be secured for one night by the owner. This may or may not be the case for rough camping on private land. To ask for permission would be unrealistic, given the nature of the homeless lifestyle. 

There were only two times in over two hundred rough camps that I camped on a residential property. One was in Stratford, Connecticut (on the Manifest Destiny Journey) and the other was south of Petaluma, California. They were at times of sheer desperation. I felt I had no other choice. I have had considerable experience sleeping on land for sale. Technically, these would be private properties but no one lived at them. Athens is an excellent example of this. I lived for two weeks in a small wooded area (I think it was about six acres--check out the Athens blog post, Days 174 through 193). I knew it was commercial land for sale. I vetted it on Google StreetView and had seen the same "for sale" sign in the Google image from 2012. So, it wasn't exactly being overrun with potential buyers.     

I have been honest and upfront about where I sleep; showing these places on the blog to anyone who might be interested, including the owners of these properties and the authorities in the towns where I've camped. Look for yellow arrows in pictures at the end of posts. I always leave them clean (sometimes cleaner than they were before I arrived). These intentional disclosures are to be demonstrations about how one can survive when homeless. The camping nights themselves necessitate stealth, but my record of them is fully discussed. If someone wanted to come after me for legal reasons, I would invite the opportunity to deal with this subject in a more public way. Though I'm not looking to be the voice of sleepy homeless people, I will be if I have to be. The descriptions of camping are just part of telling what I do every day.   

Saying people who have no home should only live in missions and shelters is unreasonable, unrealistic, and limits their freedom as Americans to travel and self-determination. It doesn't matter whether they choose the homeless lifestyle or not. They still need to sleep (for example).

There is such a variety of other aspects that float to the surface of this issue. As I have implied, I believe that being able to have private moments (besides just using a toilet or taking a shower) are also a need. 

Now, some folks really like to be around other people all the time. And, frankly, I have seen this as a common trait among other street people. They have a culture all their own. They enjoy a lively social life, complete with all of the drama, romance and family relationships of anyone in other "classes."

I, however, am not like that. I need time to myself, besides the long distance walking, to think, to relax, to just be alone. Campsites have done that for me. I enjoy no time of the day more than being alone around my tent. Why would I ever want to be confined to a shelter where I would sacrifice some of my rights to their rules, and have to be indoors when I prefer to be outdoors? 

I have no criminal record. I have a job. I pay taxes. I support the local economies of the places I pass through. For these and many other reasons, I believe I should not be persecuted for where I choose to sleep. And, as of yet, I have not been. Not one single time, have I been discovered or bothered in a sleep spot. No one has given me a hard time about it. It is not "luck."  It is mostly due to a large amount of experience at this point and my willingness to leave a light footprint--never littering nor harming any plant, animal, or person. The ancient concept of the nomadic hunter/gatherer has every kind of parallel with the life of the responsible modern, urban camper. 

* * * * * * *

I was glad to get up and get back on the road. I made my way down to the highway when no cars were coming and no trucks were pulling out. There was a less lengthy hike ahead of me (about nine miles). Still, after the last few days, it was daunting and physically taxing. The cramp I had in my back was still there but lessening. 

My heel was a different story. It always hurts,  especially after the first five miles, and then endorphins seemed to take over. It does feel better after sleeping or resting. The scenery, besides being bathed in a much-welcomed sunshine, was unremarkable--rural, mostly what I've already shown here. Only some animal related images caught my eye...      

Once a deer.

A cardinal. There were four of them involved in mating behavior, only one was female.

I was lucky to get this shot, even if his eyes are blocked by a twig.

As I approached Kings Mountain - which meant climbing steeply in the last few miles - I had a brief memory of Klamath Falls, Oregon. I'm not sure what it was, but something reminded me of it. It was nice country and a relatively prosperous and traditional little town...

Bamboo. The wind created the softest and most pleasant rustling sound

as it moved through the leafy tops of the plants. 

Amazingly close match for the color of the sky and the pine trees.

I turned onto King Street and easily located the library where I worked for about five hours, almost publishing my blog post...

Mauney Memorial Library. A nice old fashioned library updated

and very well maintained. Fast internet. New restroom.

The library was due to close at 5:00 p.m., but unfortunately they shut off the Wi-Fi at 4:47. This left me stuck with some unsaved changes. I put the laptop to sleep instead of shutting it down so that my changes would be held on the desktop, and then left to find McDonald's down on York Street to finish the post...

Perfect sized historic house. I like the chimneys on either side.

The town was just starting to lay sidewalks. I used them when I found them, but had to walk on a lot of grass. Just before McDonald's, I began to cross the Taco Bell driveway when a woman in a silver Ford came rushing into the same driveway, just missing me. She was on her cellphone. I saw her look into her rearview mirror as she parked. I just stood there with my hand up to my ear, as if holding a phone. As I indicated in my last post about many drivers, she neither apologized, nor acknowledged what she had done. She pretended it didn't happen. Her husband wouldn't even look at me. She sat in the car, perhaps hoping I would just leave...

This marks number eight in my gadget-related near misses with distracted drivers. If I were a cat, I'd be sweating the next one. I don't even get angry anymore - at least past the first few moments.  I choose my battles now. I can't change the world in the way I want to. I can only keep up a relentless trumpet call for driver responsibility, and await the next near miss. There will definitely be others.

I got to McDonald's and kept working on the post while checking for sleep spots. Google Earth showed a lot of green, but I just had a weird feeling about it all. I was facing the parking lot and looked up to see a small white cat outside trying to scrape squished french fries off the pavement with her teeth. A car came by from the drive thru just missing her, not slowing down. He'd seen the cat. The cat must have been pretty hungry, because she didn't even flinch at her own near miss. The french fry was too important to her.

I couldn't just sit there and watch this and took one of the burgers from my double cheeseburger and crushed it up, then walked out and called her over to the curb. She was skittish, but meowing. I placed the meat on the edge of the curb and walked back inside. She ran over and devoured it...  

Sorry for the blurry image, it was after sundown and the camera blurs moving images.

When she was done - which didn't take long - she looked up at me, and then ran right over to the squished french fry. Lord, she was a heart-tugger. I bought another hamburger (without onions) and crushed it like last one, then brought it out with a little bit of bun in case she wanted that. This time I left it in the container away from the parking lot... 

She was a cute cat and I - just for a moment - entertained the thought of trying to take her with me. But, it was a very quick and unrealistic thought. When I went back inside one of the employees came over and thanked me for feeding the cat. She said that she does the same thing every time it comes around. I asked her about shelters, etc. She said there aren't any, but that there is a spay and neuter clinic that she plans to bring a mother cat to along with four kittens who showed up under her porch. She's trying to save up the money. They are all females. So at $44 each, that $220. There are no free days at the clinic. She also has four other cats of her own--pets. If didn't, she said she would catch and keep this little white girl.

I'm not going to rant on stray and feral animals. You all know the sad story. My friends Marc and Lynn know these problems all too well. They have cared for cats in their neighborhood for many years. I believe he told me that they go through eighteen pounds of dry food a week. It might be a lot more.

Until I got to South Carolina I hadn't seen any feral cats on this Journey. There were two strays in Cowpens. I'm a true cat guy. One of the things that always keeps me going is wanting to see my old cat, Buddy, again. He lives a wonderful life now with my sister in Maine.

I finally published the post, and headed across the street to find my sleep spot. Its location is one of the worst that I've used. The spot on the ground was fine, but the area was not. I had to cross a field, walking along the tree line for about four hundred feet then push through pricker bushes and thick vines into a hilly area.

I got the tent set up and climbed in. Suddenly I heard a huge dog barking at me from the adjacent yard, about thirty feet away. He kept getting to the end of his run and then trampled around in the leaves, growling. It was getting cold. The frost on the field I'd just walked across crunched heavily under my feet. I speculated that these folks would probably call their dog in later. He stopped barking after a while. Now I was anxious about how I would get out without alerting him in the morning. One of my mantras is now  "One moment at a time." I fell asleep just wanting to leave as soon as possible in the morning, even though I hadn't had very restful sleep in the last two nights.

Kings Mountain Sleep Spot.

_______________________________________________________________________

PLEASE CLICK ON OUR SPONSOR ADS BELOW FOR GREAT DEALS!

_______________________________________________________________________

Dear Iwallkers, I would like to sponsor Alex's Iwallk project with an offer of a discount for a product I carry call Cold Bee Gone. You can read more about it by clicking this ad! If you would like to purchase some Cold Bee Gone for yourself or for the holidays we offer you 25% off by typing the code, "IWALLK" into the "Discount" field at checkout. Not only will this bring your purchase cost down (plus shipping which is USPS priority flat rate), but we will donate five dollars per bottle sold directly to Alex and his Journey. This is the height of cold season so we hope this is an appealing option to support your own health through the winter and also support the blog! Bee Well Iwallkers! ~ JCD

_______________________________________________________________________

PLEASE CLICK ON OUR NON-PROFIT CAUSES TO SUPPORT YOUR COMMUNITY!

_______________________________________________________________________

Support Dawna Lamson's Simply Smiles fundraising campaign! 

From her page...

Help me support Simply Smiles by making a donation to my Win A Trip campaign! With your help, you can send me to Oaxaca, Mexico or the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota to work with Simply Smiles. The process is fast, easy, and secure. I truly appreciate any support you can provide. And, no matter the outcome, it will benefit a great cause! 

If you can't make a donation at this point, help me reach my goal by sharing this page on Facebook and Twitter! Or, even better, send an e-mail to friends you think might be interested in contributing and include a link to my page! 

Thanks so much for your generosity!

This will be a wonderful opportunity for Dawna to provide a brighter future for impoverished children, their families, and their communities. It's easy to give! Just click on Dawna's picture below.

_______________________________________________________________________