Escape from Tucson: Day 11- Saturday

What a night! Well, I mean that in a good way…a really good way. If I calculated it right I walked sixteen miles last night. Once I was through Wilcox I never saw a person, rarely heard a dog, and had not a single problem of any kind. More nights like last night and I am home in maybe two weeks! I even slept well this morning. Yeah, dog paw on my leg all morning. I guess that isn’t so bad after all. Beans is keeping me company, I like that. But, I am talking to her like she is a person. Bad thing is…I think she understands me. Really, really, bad thing…when I start to hear her talking to me.

Getting through Wilcox was easy, far easier than I ever thought it would be. I just crawled out of my bush hut at dusk and walked. I kept my profile low, kept my head down, cap low on my head, shoulders hunched up, and never slowed down. I guess I managed the “grey man” thing last night pretty well. I am sure people, someone, had to have seen me. But, I just acted like I was invisible and walked on. I tell you this…I am glad it went that way. There was no way I was going to end up in that fenced area…period. I kept that CRKT Hissatsu knife close at hand.

As I walked past that fenced area last night I did notice two things; 1) men, women, and children in the fenced area, 2) not a single infant or baby that I could see or hear. Something wrong with that, something very wrong with that.

On another note, I took up another notch in my belt. Well, technically not a “notch” at all. I am wearing my Wilderness Instructor belt. But it has more end-flap to it now than it did when I started. I can feel I am losing some of my “beer belly.” And no, I don’t drink beer, it was a figure of speech. I am also feeling stronger about my walking, not anywhere near as winded as I would have been a couple of months ago. And yes, I was in pretty decent shape way back then, in that other lifetime. You can thank Jim Hansen for me not drinking beer. Dang it Jim, a cold beer might taste good right about now. Then again, the guards at the fenced area were drinking beer last night. Maybe a beer is not such a good idea, maybe it never was. Is it OK to hate Jim? Or should I be thankful for him? Dang it Jim!

I held up for the day just shy of this spot where the train tracks cross under the interstate. I think it crosses the interstate somewhere close to mile marker 356. I didn’t want to cross it last night, rather I should say, this morning. It was already too light outside, I didn’t want to take any chance on being seen and being that close to the Interstate. All that worry about last night…I thought it was going to be a real problem walking through Wilcox and being that close to the interstate and all. It wasn’t a problem, no big deal, not at all. Nice!

Once I get past the interstate crossing I have about five or six miles to Bowie, AZ. Bowie doesn’t look like much of a town at all so I think I will get through Bowie tonight as well. I figure another twelve miles or so and I am just shy of a place called San Simon. I will hold there for the day and head for the state line about ten miles further tomorrow night. Actually, the narrow canyon (Steins Pass) I have been worrying so much over is about two miles east of the AZ / NM state line. I will find a good observation point and check it out really well before I come up with a plan for transiting that area. I gotta be smart with that one.

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