The Overland (2023)

Ogden, UT to Chicago, IL in 34 hours. First time riding through Wyoming. Caught the North Platte River at sunset and rode over a different section of the Mississippi River today going into Illinois. Hopped off at Global II, which is straight in the burbs. Got off in front of some kid playing basketball.

Ogden is tweakerville. I left my spot for 20 minutes the other day to grab water from Walmart and came back to an old dude who was dazed and confused, sprawled out on the ground, wearing a green leaf on his salt and pepper hair like a yamaka. He barely acknowledged my presence, which was fine. Normally, I wouldn't have disturbed him, but I needed to grab my day bag, and some of my gear I had stashed in the bushes just a few feet away from him. He mumbled a bit and shook his head as I moved branches around, discarding the loose brush and broadleaf plants that were covering my red daybag. I grabbed it and turned around, jumping back, startled, to a pantless man in black underwear. "Just gimme a sec dude. I still gotta grab a few of my things. Then you can do whatever it is you gotta do once I leave." He didn't say anything. He just turned towards me as I quickly walked past him to grab my pot and crocs and I ran off outta there before he started touching himself, never looking back. Of course, once I popped out from under the box elder, in that nice little alcove between the tracks wanting nothing more than to just get the fuck outta Ogden, I saw a cop in a pickup stop in the road. He slowly turned onto private property by the locked gate near the tracks and parked. At this point, I just kept walking nonchalantly. I had spent over a day in the same spot and only moved to get water, and the only reason I left was because someone thought it was a nice place to rub one out lol.

I crossed the tracks and pushed my bicycle towards the officer with all of my gear strapped on it and my pack slung over my shoulders. He looked at me with a stern face, arms crossed and said, "You got ID?" I complied and handed it over. In these situations, I'm always respectful...not much I could do anyway. I had just stepped on a nail the night prior and was limping around...I don't run anyway, but I wasn't going anywhere and neither was he. He looked over my driver's license thoroughly. "Vermont...how'd you get here?" "My bicycle and hitchhiking. I worked at Zion for a month and now I'm on my way back there." "Why are you limping?" "Stepped on a nail…planned on hiking, but guess I'm just gonna head outta here." "You know you're trespassing? Why are you on the tracks?" "Hid my gear in the bushes so I could grab some food from Walmart. Came back to get it." "Alright. Well you don't have any dead hookers or cocaine on you?" "Ummm…no?" "Well, I'm gonna run this and make sure you're not wanted for murder. Stay right here." He ran my ID and started listing off a bunch of symptoms for Tetanus and told me to get my foot checked out. "Look…I don't really give a shit about you walking on the tracks, but if UTA sees ya, they'll give you a citation and won't be as nice as me. Stay safe out there." I waved. He left, putting off down the windy road. I wandered further north along the tracks, disregarding what he had just said, darting off into the weeds at a bend in the steel where I spent the next half hour hollowing out an alcove to sleep in. When the train stopped at 2 AM, I threw all of my gear and my bike up into a mini well and while scaling the cold steel rungs I dropped my gallon jug of water in the process. It exploded all over the ballast. Not a drop was left. This was the same water I had just gotten at Walmart. The water that made me bump into Mr. Hands under the box elder tree and the water that had introduced me to Officer "Dead Hookers and Cocaine" just hours prior. I just laughed and lay down in the well looking up at the black sky and eventually drifted off to sleep as she ripped on down the line towards Wyoming.