April 5, 2012

6:00 A.M. Just finished breakfast and headed outside for a look around. All dark and quiet. I'll be heading out shortly, and I'm not stopping until Birmingham is behind me. This is likely to be a long day...

9:30 A.M. Three hours, five detours, and a flat tire later, I've covered a whopping twelve miles. The right front on the truck picked up a piece of metal, in the sidewall of course. Put the spare on, which was very low on air (naturally). The little 12 volt compressor which was in the camper when I found it is slowly chugging away, but filling a 16 inch tire to 70 PSI is going to take a while. Meanwhile, I spied a similar truck about 100 yards up the road so I think I'll go rob it of it's spare.

10:00 A.M. Spare tire retrieved. I also took a nice hydraulic floor jack from the back of that truck, much better than the crappy little bottle jack I had to use just now. That thing is dangerous... My shadow is keeping well hidden, I've seen neither hide nor hair of them. But I know they're there, I can feel them watching me. Well, daylight's wasting.

1:30 P.M. Had to stop. The road is completely blocked by a pileup of vehicles, and there's no way for me to get around. Looks like I'll have to drop the trailer and break out the chains...

3:00 P.M. After a broken tow chain, lots of tire smoking in four wheel drive, a great many profanities, and a lot of sweat, I finally managed to clear a hole just big enough to squeeze through. Please excuse the grimy fingerprints on this page, but I am too lazy to wash my hands. Just needed to sit for a minute before I push on.

7:00 P.M. I am finally on the other side of Birmingham. What a day... I've been travelling with my headlights on for the last hour, but I've seen no lights from my shadow. Anyway, it's another truck stop for the night. I'll need to refuel in the morning after today's high fuel consumption activities which left me with only 1/4 tank. But now, refueling myself takes priority.

8:00 P.M. Belly full and I'm sitting outside, waiting to see a sign from my shadow. Got a nice little camp fire going, and I'm relaxing with some bourbon and soda. What the hell, there's a soda delivery truck across from me. Threw a couple cases in the back of my truck

The next big city is Atlanta. There is no way in hell I'm going anywhere near that place, not after today's adventures. It would take me a week to get through there... Haven't decided whether to bypass it to the north or south, though I am leaning toward south. Don't want to go to Florida, but I think I'll keep my southern route until I hit the coast, then turn north. I wonder how far my shadow is willing to go? Guess I'll find out. 

9:45 P.M. No lights. Maybe they're being a little more careful? Or maybe they're just toying with me. Maybe they want me to think they've broken off the chase. But I'm not fooled, I know they're out there. It's a feeling, that one you get when you know you're being watched. Watched I am. Just waved to them. Good night shadow!