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i wish my car was KITT so i'd have some company
2003-06-09 - 10:32 AM

because i'm totally clueless about dates of things, such as birthdays or important holidays, i wasn't sure if father's day was yesterday or not. i was pretty sure it was, because when i was living in the motel i saw a bunch of father's day commercials ("a perfect gift for father's day!" or "get your dad a sopranos DVD and pretend you're gonna kill him when you give it to him!"), so i figured it must be pretty soon, and yesterday was a sunday, so i just figured it was yesterday. so anyway, i'm glad father's day wasn't yesterday, because i didn't call my dad.

i'm not a heartless bastard, i'm just sure he'd ask, "did you find an apartment? no? where are you living?" and i didn't really want to face that.

i did spend the night in my car, and it was AWESOME. actually no, it kind of sucked. don't worry, though, i'm sacrificing time i could be spending looking for a place to live by telling you all about it, via the local library.

i spent the first part of the night parked on this trailhead/rest area next to Lake Coeur d'Alene. there was a bunch of other cars around, from people who were jogging or biking on the trail. i fell asleep around 9:00pm. when i woke around 11:30pm, all the other cars were gone, and i was afraid some cops might pull up and find me sleeping in my car (is that a crime?). so i drove around for an hour, trying to find someplace safe and secluded to park and sleep. Eventually, i drove on this backwoods road that had lots of dangerous twists and turns, and i saw someone camping on the side of the road, next to the lake. i figured if they were doing it, so could i. so i found a spot to pull into and tried to get comfortable.

the area was such that i have no qualms calling it "the boondocks." i could hear frogs and crickets making their respective noises. i wondered why frogs are said to "ribbet," when it really sounded like a tuneless yet soulful dirge. i also wondered if i should be afraid of any "Deliverance"-type shit happening. that only happens in Appalachia, i tried to console myself. truly, though, i didn't really feel any fear. i was more afraid of cops finding me at the other spot than i was of anything out in the boonies.

trying to sleep comfortably in a car is pretty hard. i couldn't sleep in the back seat since it was packed with all my junk, such as my now-useless box fan and duffel bags full of my dirty laundry. so i streched out on the front seat (thank god i have bench seats), which required keeping my knees bent since i'm about two feet too tall. eventually, though, i found a comfortable position, and went back to getting my beauty sleep.

at that moment, though, around 1:00am, a car pulled up behind mine, and i got a little worried. i peeked my head up, but it wasn't the cops. still, that didn't mean i was safe. it could've been drunk hillbillies looking for a good time. i lay in my car, listening to the muffled conversation. as far as i could tell, it was two guys who were using the wee hours of the morning to catch some fish. Fishermen! the one kind i should've been afraid of! yes, my doors were locked, but they were the only people who had little hooks on fishing line that they could stick through my barely opened windows! would they hook my socks and steal them?

seriously, though, i was kind of worried until i realized that the kind of guys who would go out at one in the morning to catch fish weren't going to bother me. these guys had dedication. who cares about the dude sleeping in the car, we got us some fish to catch!

i did wonder why they had no curiousity about my car. i don't even think they realized there was someone sleeping in it. didn't they wonder what that car was doing there? where the driver was? apparently not.

when i realized these kind fishermen meant me no harm, i fell asleep. when i woke up at 7:30am, they were gone. and i felt exactly like someone who spent the night sleeping in a car. which makes sense, i guess.

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