Day 227 - June 15th

Dinner is served in Mississippi!

Day 226 - June 14th

Sheila, Tammy, Rochelle and Michael. Just another nice photo of the five of us. I like them a lot!

 Bananagrams getting intense...

From left: Rebecca, Marissa and Jasmine outside the church.

Day 225 - June 13th

Day 224 - June 12th

Moody’s Landing, Mississippi

I actually managed to rise close to 5:30 a.m. this morning! Waking when it’s cool and only just beginning to see light is a welcome change. Dew clings to my tent and sleeping bag as I brew coffee to clear my eyes. Birds twitter sonorously from the pines on the either side of the bridge I am camped beneath. A small brown creek runs nearby. I’m on the border of the De Soto National Forest and magnificent pine trees span densely into the sky, surrounding the homes and trailers and sprinkled alongside the backroads I spend all day walking.

I’m not gonna lie, I made some serious mileage today. But I had to if I was to get back on track. Yesterday I took several wrong turns and it took several times asking locals for directions before I felt confident I could make it to the other side of the forest. Many of the houses out here are quite nice and well-to-do, expansive country manors or pastoral brick homes, although you do see trailers and the occasional abandoned house. One trailer was hardly bigger than the bed of a truck. I doubt a fully grown adult could stand up inside. There are also a lot of Tea Party signs planted on front lawns. I’m aware of the heated primary battle between the incumbent Republican Thad Cochran and the rising Tea Party star Chris McDaniel. Nary a whiff of a Democrat in this reddest of red states.

Around 3:00 p.m., roughly 8 hours into the walk, I met a gentleman named Neil who was curious about what I was doing and we had a very pleasant roadside dialogue for a few minutes. Shortly afterwards, I came across a campground named Moody’s Landing. I decided to halt for the evening when I spied the water faucet. Unlimited water is a huge draw. I tested it and cold water gushed freely into my palms. I wet my hair and face and drank my fill. The stone tables were also attractive (I miss tables for writing) but it was preposterously difficult writing outside due to the teeming multitude of carnivorous insects: mosquitoes, deer flies, bright-orange biting flies and –worst of all—a near invisible cloud of no-see-‘ums. I can’t fathom a more annoying insect. They are smaller and more numerous than fleas. The pain their bite inflicts is completely disproportional to their size. They leave red welts the size of a hole-punch. I don’t understand how these black specks hovering around my exposed arms can even support wings, much less biological programming to exist. How do they know where I am—scent, heat, vision, air currents? I hate them.

When I wasn’t writing, I played with ants. I like to pit the invasive fire ants against the carpenter ants. Generally, the fire ants are smaller but more numerous whereas the carpenter ants usually only have solitary scouts foraging for food during the day. The carpenter ants are super ants, way bigger, stronger and faster, but the fire ants seem to have the upper hand because of their virulent venom. I was dropping dead biting flies I’d swatted by ants and watching the two species vie for control of the meal. Every time the bulky carpenter ant darted in to grab the fly, one of the three fire ants would defend and inject its venom. After receiving a few bites, the harvester ant would begin running in circles and stumbling wildly in reaction to the toxins. Once the venom’s effect peaked, the ant would have to spend the next minute or two frantically grooming itself. Then the struggle would resume again. Ultimately, the carpenter ant won the prize. The fire ants got confused at one point about what they were supposed to be doing with the fly and let go. The carpenter ant happened to lunge for it then, snatched up the fly and sped off, presumably to its home base.

An amazing silk capsule of caterpillars I found in a tree alongside the road!

Day 223 - June 11th

Day 222 - June 10th

Purvis, Mississippi

Crazy weather ushered in the new day. High winds imported lightning and storms and there was even a tornado warning. With the staccato patter of rain against the kitchen window, I spent the better parts of the morning and afternoon writing, mostly letters and comments on the writing of my friends. In addition to my own work, I intend to always make time for the poems and stories my writer friends produce.  I know in the future when I write my poems and essays I will need the same outside perspective. Today, I reread the short story written by my friend Emily. It’s entitled “North” and it’s about a runaway who winds up hitchhiking across the desert, her destination the same as the title. “North” was written several months before I began walking through the desert and it strikes me as a funny coincidence and I enjoyed comparing it against my experience.

The brain can only write for so long before the words become nonsensical mush. When Michael had to inspect a couple sites, I hopped along for the ride. I admire the integrity and skill that informs Michael’s work. Within a minute or two of pacing about the skeleton of a house he can point out flaws or where a carpenter performed a particularly thorough job.

Michael’s professional history is rather remarkable. Michael grew up in poverty, in a house with a packed dirt floor. Snakes would sometimes sneak through gaps in the boards and snuggle in the corners for warmth. When he was 14, he and his older brother took over the family cosmetics business. They grew it into a 2,000 employee business. After improving the business they could afford to build themselves a bigger home. In his 20’s, Michael immigrated to New York City. He didn’t speak a lick of English. He remembers arriving in a t-shirt and shorts in the middle of winter with 2 feet of snow outside. For warmth he walked into a McDonald’s and while he was inside attempted to order a “Biggie Mackie.” Seeking gainful employment he sought out construction jobs even though he’d never worked as a carpenter before. But he studied it, taking scrupulous notes and asking questions. One day, a general contractor who had grown to admire Michael’s work ethic asked him if he knew how to read plans and if so, could he oversee the construction of a townhouse? Michael bluffed and said he had a crew (he didn’t) and that he had experience reading and executing blueprints (he didn’t). Yet somehow, within that month, Michael hired a crew and built three townhouses. And after two years of throwing himself into the frustrating task of learning English, he could speak it. Michael attributes both feats to God.

Michael ran a construction company for 17 years and moved to Mississippi where he met Tammy. They started a family. Michael transitioned into a myriad of other professions: real estate investment, off-shore oil work, insurance agent, construction consultant. I’m sure there are others I didn’t hear about. His skill set is incredibly broad.

One last job Michael performed has a very intriguing plot. Throughout his business ventures Michael forges a lot of connections. One was a Swiss banker who approached him with a job on behalf of a Swiss billionaire who needed someone to sell $2 million dollars worth of gold. Michael refused to learn the gold’s origin but he insisted on selling it through legitimate avenues. He and his banker friend spent a month in New York City scouting out locations, comparing prices and figuring out how to safely move $2 million dollars in cash. When the day arrived, Michael walked into their predetermined location with a backpack full of mini 50-gram gold bars and emerged with it full of cash. His cut was 75k!

In the late afternoon Michael and I picked more blueberries and observed the chickens jumping up to the lowest branches (the blueberries here grow on trees instead of the low-lying shrubs found in colder regions) to reach the fat berries. I hung out with Tammy and Michael and watched TV. Before turning in I stepped outside to see the spectacle of lightning fissure the clouds and fill them with light from within. Electricity pulsed the atmosphere with its pale blue light once. Twice. Again and again. Five times. 

Day 221 - June 9th