Freckles and I were thinking back on some of the various people we have encountered out here. There have been so many, I have forgotten a lot of them. Here are a few of the most interesting I remember:

A guy with major tattoos, on his face, and every other visible piece of skin on his body. That’s actually not that uncommon any more, of course, but as I got a better look at them… not so common. He had a swastika on one hand, and Malcom X on the other. He had five teardrops coming from the corner of his left eye. “I love Mom” on his neck and “orphan” on the other side of his neck. I encountered him at a rest area in Idaho as I was walking to my truck he rode up on a black motorcycle, a Ninja type of bike. He asked if I had a cigarette and I gave him one as well as a light. We started talking, and he stated that he was probably just going to stay in that rest area for the night. Guess he has found a way to sleep on the crotch rocket, didn’t want to be rude so just nodded and said, “it’s a nice rest area to do that in.”

He asked me if I had heard about the alien human hybrids that are roaming around and I stated that no, I had not, and wondered if he meant Mexicans or something? He followed that up with letting me know that, in fact, Donald Trump is one and it is a proven fact. He said that none of this bothered him until he found out he was one as well. I put on my best poker face and listened as he told me how he has warrants out for his arrest on three different planets. I bid him luck and farewell and walked the long way to my truck, every hair on me standing on end. Freckles wouldn’t let me talk to strangers for a while after that one.

There was the man who seemed to be as normal as anyone who struck up a conversation with me while I was arranging equipment in my headache rack. Then he started asking me if I believed in God and stuff and I just agreed that God is good and yes I believe in a higher power. He then pulled out three pamphlets of literature and shared them with me. He became a little emotional and said he was “going to miss this place.” I was getting pretty scared and just started chunking equipment back in my headache rack, preparing for a quick exit from this encounter. He left me with the understanding that I really needed to be prepared for the world to end in two weeks. Just love life and be happy for the next two weeks. That was two years ago, thankfully, he was misinformed.

I was in a truck stop bathroom about to wash my hands once when a seriously crazy looking dude walked up shaking. He said, “Man, I need to stick a needle in my face, bruh!”

I quickly stated that I had to do that last Wednesday and if he will stay here and wash his hands, I would go get my needle and be right back. He said, “thank you soooo much!” He’s probably still waiting there for all I know.

There are some severely unmedicated people wandering about, and I seem to be a magnet some days.