Freedom! 1 state down, 4 to go!

Right now I feel more free than I ever have, and I finally feel that real happiness that I've seldom felt in a very long time. It took being free from all the obligations and expectations of "normal" life to make me feel this way, and I'm so happy I began this trip. That being said, it's time to recap what has happened since.

Despite Ben being incredibly hospitable and saying I could stay as long as I'd like up to 2 months I decided it was time to stop being lazy to and finally head out. I gathered my things and Ben offered to give me a ride from Ames to Carroll, which knocked over 60 miles off my trip! We had some interesting conversations on the trip about ethanol and high fructose corn syrup and flying airplanes. Ben had offered to take me up on his first pilot lesson but I would have had to wait 2 more days and decided I could wait to fly. We stopped at a dollar general and bought some supplies for the road and then he dropped me off at the edge of town.

I walked a lot that day, I would say upwards of 40 miles out of the 100 remaining miles to Omaha. I got several small rides from nice people, some of which I didn't get the names of but I got Scott and Bob. And based on the people following me on my blog a very nice gentleman named Graham (Who's name I forgot to get) who was down on his luck and said he picked me up in hopes to change his luck, and I hope he really did. He also offered me some money, which I politely declined. I realize now, if I keep turning down money like this I may not make it very comfortably to San Fransisco... however, my pride keeps getting in the way of taking money. Taking a free meal is one thing, but money seems different to me.

At around 6:30 I was in a real rut, I had been walking for quite awhile with nobody picking me up and it was getting on towards dark at this point. I had already called my Omaha host Ryan Newburn to let him know I may not make it. Finally, somewhere in between Dunlap and Woodbine a trucker picked me up. It really surprised me that a semi pulled up next to me at first, but then I hopped on in. I had never had a truck driver pick me up thus far but he was a really nice older fellow by the name of Bob. Bob was going to Missouri valley to rest for the evening but when he found out I was going to Omaha, which was his final destination anyway he decided he would take me all the way there. What an awesome way to end a very tiring day!

I called Ryan to let him know I was actually going to be at a truck stop in council bluffs called sapp brothers or something along those lines. He said he would come pick me up but had to wait until his brother got home so he could have a car with some gas in it. I read a new Orson Scott Card book, Ender in Exile, which I desperately wanted to buy because it's part of my favorite series of books by my favorite author but knew I was already packing pretty heavy and couldn't spare the cash.

Ryan got there to pick me up and we headed back to his place, where we watched Buffy the Vampire slayer and played some yugioh with his friends, as well as scoring a nice meal. I went to bed pretty early being entirely too tired and slept for around 11 hours! We spent the next day largely resting and watching more Buffy. I awoke this morning and checked the weather, decided it was pretty nice out and decided to go explore Omaha a bit, I found this library I'm currently at and asked if I could use the computer for a short period of time to write my blog, they luckily allowed me to do so for free despite it normally being $5.00 charge. Tomorrow morning or the next I'm off to either Lincoln or Wahoo and then I will improvise my way to Denver!

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