A Living Magazine - Day 266-267 - Homecoming - Oak Grove: Stormy Sunday-Monday

DAY 266

It was pre-sunrise when I woke up. I was concerned about being seen from the road and packed up quickly. Though there was a house directly across the street the campsite was obscured by trees. Still, I couldn't just walk straight out. Instead I made my way to the edge of the clearing and walked out a bit further down the street. It was no problem.

I stopped at the Shell station for coffee on my way back toward the library. There, I found a East Indian woman managing the place. I went to the coffee station and found two pots with a tiny bit left in each. She came over and poured them together, explaining that they were the same thing anyway. I was tired and didn't really care at that point. I dumped in some half and half creamers and paid for it with my card. When I went outside I took a sip, but - besides it being really weak coffee - it tasted a bit off. I opened the lid and saw bits of curdled half and half floating. It was just terrible. 

So, I figured maybe she would just give me a refund. I walked back in and told her the situation. She said she'd give a refund and tried to credit back my card. It declined it. So, instead she took out cash ($1.29) and was going to hand it to me but then gave me a suspicious look. She asked for my ID, saying that some people run scams of this kind. My blood pressure went up a bit. (Yeah, that's right, I'm traveling the nation doing coffee scams.) I asked her if she was kidding. I gave her my expired Maine License and she wrote down each detail from it, then when she got to the expiration date, she said "This license is expired!" I told it should not matter. All of the information was still the same.

In the meantime a Hispanic guy had gotten behind me in line and been waiting to pay for something. He stepped up and asked why I was giving the woman a hard time. I said I just wanted my money back for the coffee. He said he bought coffee here all the time and it was fine. I told him about the spoiled half and half and showed him. He said he could see anything, even though it looked like cottage cheese was floating on top. He said, "Why don't you act like a human? Stop giving her a hard time." I was becoming angry, and asked if she was going to give me my money back or not. 

She shook her head and said, "Not with an expired license!" There were a zillion reasons why all of this was so wrong, and they were so obvious to me. 

The Hispanic guy - trying to be the hero - again said, "Why don't you just be a human, you racist!"

I turned and looked him in the eyes. I said, "Did you just call me a racist?" He said nothing and looked a bit worried. I took a picture of the coffee, and unfortunately the flash was on so you can't see the curdles--of course...

I cut bait and just walked out, semi-fuming. Mostly I felt foolish for even trying to ask for a refund and getting ensnared with two ignorant people. On the way to the library I cooled down. It was only $1.29. What really pissed me off was the "racist" thing. It is a sad condition of media-driven society when a white man asking for a legitimate refund on a cheap cup of coffee is called a "racist" probably just because he's white. How many twisted turns of logic does that require? And, you guys know I am the opposite of a racist, making it all even more convoluted. I hate stupidity--though I can forgive it. But I despise meme-drive, illogical behavior. 

All the while, it was ultimately my fault. I had been motivated by remembering all the times I could have used an extra $1.29, instead of a good sense of perspective. Lesson learned. I took a parting shot over my stern...

Shell! I will not be back to you with my half-pocket full of change! Ha!

When I got to the library, I saw that they didn't open until 2:00 p.m.; another joyous Sunday-hours wait. It was 10:00 a.m. I sat on the bench and checked for a Wi-Fi signal. Sure enough, I got a nice strong signal. So, I worked there outside until the battery died. It lasted almost the full amount of time, with twenty minutes remaining...

Good chance to show the sorry condition of my shoes...

I bought these on December 15, 2015. It has been less than three months.

The library patio and Saggy taking a rest.

Finally, I got into the library and worked a bit half-heartedly until 6:00 p.m. According to Intellicast.com it looked as though the chance of a storm had passed. But stepping outside told a different story...

A true thunderhead building.

When I got to the BP I went in and bought a sandwich then stood in the parking lot by a self-service vacuum to eat it. Looking down, I noticed a lone bee, sitting on its haunch, continuously cleaning itself... 

This bee didn't seem to mind my presence.

My little flashlight had broken a few days before. I didn't want to go into the sleep spot in the rain and the dark. So, I resolved to go in while it was still light enough to see. It took some effort to be stealthy, but it worked.

Breath deep, the gathering gloom.

I got set-up - in typical fashion for me - just as the rain began to fall. Sometimes each day of my life on the road out here feels like a Star Trek episode--always saved at the last second.

I put the blue hiking tarp over the head section of the tent and climbed into watch the show. At first it only rained for a little while. I fell asleep and awoke about three hours later to heavy rain hitting the fly above me. Lightning flashed and thunder rolled continuously. It lasted a good long time and then slowly moved off toward Wake Forest. I shot some video of the storm both over me (from the tent--mostly dark with audio only) and then after it blew by, which did gave a better idea of what had been going on... 

I fell back asleep shortly after the above, only to wake again at about 1:30 a.m. to a repeat performance. The tent's interior wasn't too bad, but in checking the foot end I found a puddle under the sleeping bag. It was due to the fly coming off the tent pole and allowing water to stream down onto the green ground tarp and thence up through the tent floor. I rolled that end of the tarp up under the middle of the tent and dried the puddle as best I could with napkins. The rain then just soaked into the ground.

It sucked. It always sucks. I didn't get much sleep.

* * * * * * *

DAY 267

I'm combining this day with the day before, because, besides packing up wet tarps and tent, skipping coffee, being called a racist for no reason, and being able to work at the library for much longer due to Monday hours, it was essentially a repeat of the day before; complete with double thunderstorm at nearly the exact same hours that night. I also took no pictures.

The one thing worth mentioning is that, to avoid the having the tent on top of the green tarp where water would gather between them, I actually laid the tarp over the fly. I kept the blue hiking tarp on the head end of the tent. This was the reason why I bought the tarp in the first place! And, finally I was getting around to seeing if it worked. It worked like a charm. The inside of the tent was drier than it had ever been during a rainstorm--another lesson learned. 

There was a strange sensation though. While sitting on the tent floor I could feel water running under my butt--cold. Yet, when I look down at the floor it wasn't bleeding up through. Putting down the sleeping bag solved all of that. I slept in the sleeping bag on this night instead of on it.