For the last six weeks I've been working on a secluded mountain farm with no access to amenities such as running water or electricity, to which of course I'm well accustomed. However, the lack of access to communication and in particular Wi-Fi, had left me unable to update my sorry excuse for a blog. Either fortunately or unfortunately, there was little to write about; I bathed in a shallow pool along a creek, made some trinkets such as ashtrays, pipes and a pendant out of local clay, all of which I left for future residents, aside from the pendant which I wore on my hike out last night, as well as a straw fly-swatter. But mostly, my time was spent tending a garden that I don't have pictures of. In retrospect, I could have still taken other photos, but I largely forgot about the blog because there wasn't much traveling anyway.
At any rate, a series of inter-office disputes (if you haven't already gathered, I'm autistic and lack a level of diplomacy skills that seem necessary to work well with others, which was why I wanted to hitchhike in the first place based on the theory that forced reliance on socialization would help me develop said skills) has left me increasingly desiring to return to a more nomadic lifestyle. So I packed my things, wrote off my time as a loss, and made the long hike into town. After a quick call to my parents to update them, I started hiking out to find a good place to set down for the night, and was immediately picked up by the local sheriff. He drove me out to a nice secluded area not far from town and wished me well. I do enjoy the kindness I find in small towns as opposed to large cities like where I've grown up.
In my perpetual search for Wi-Fi, I came across possibly the nicest coffee shop I've seen, where I now sit in a beautiful cafe garden, enjoying my morning coffee, which was generously provided by a local by the name of Eric. The hospitality I've experienced here is a tremendous boon to my morale, and I find myself fantasizing about living in a place where the barista asks about how your family is doing and even strangers will smile and greet each other as friends.
