Craving a change of pace and a refreshing half gallon of milk, I knew it was time to switch gears. My body was pleading for respite from the relentless miles, a sign that hitchhiking was the only way to catch my train out of Tucson.
But first I had to get out of the mountains to take a shower and do laundry if I was going to be spending time sitting in a strangers car.
I hiked over Keno Pass and down to Tonto Basin, grateful for the opportunity to stay at Rosie’s Place, a hidden oasis tended by gracious hosts, Becky & Scott, offering solace to weary hikers amidst their garden-like sanctuary.
The next morning, clean and fresh, I bumped into Forrest at Roosevelt Lake. He’s a fellow traveler whose path intersected mine back in Florida, and who was still running west across America since the last time we met. I told him I was done walking for a while and busted out the old hobo credit card, making a sign for Globe. Walking the road I stumbled over my first rattlesnake while flying the sign, an encounter that I fervently hoped wasn’t a harbinger of misfortune.
Hitching a ride for a hundred miles may seem daunting, but fortune favored me as a pickup truck pulled over and told me to jump in back. He had a dog up front that wasn’t friendly to strangers, but all I’d have to do was sit back and watch the first thirty miles roll by.
In Globe I checked into a sketchy motel, indulging in yet another half gallon of milk before resuming my journey the next morning.
Back out on the road, flying my sign, hoping that I’d be able to make the rest of the seventy miles before dark, another pickup pulled over and told me to jump in back. The driver had his wife up front, but they’d be able to take me another fifty miles.
As dusk descended, I found myself back on the Arizona Trail just outside Oracle, where I nestled into a hillside beneath the twinkling stars.
My plan was to hike south into Tucson, but one look at Mount Lemmon with its daunting ascent looming ahead, and my body revolted at the thought of tackling it once more, prompting a change of plans.
That’s when I realized that there was an In-N-Out only twenty miles down the road…
#AZT #hitchhiking