On tour with Spoken

I’m back in the 509! That’s Spokane for those that don’t know. Flew in a few days ago. It's been hard to adjust back to “real life” now that tour is over. I'm preparing for the road again with LeeRoy and can’t wait to get out there! I’ve been buying supplies and yeah, spending way too much money. New shoes, new cell phone and I'm thinking about getting a newer smaller tent.

For the last 6 weeks I have been on tour selling merch for the band “Spoken” and telling as many people about my project (needle2square.com) as I can. We started in Dallas and have driven everywhere from San Antonio to Denver to Vegas to Reno, Missoula, Seattle, and Calgary just to name a few. EVERY SINGLE DAY has been a new adventure. So many great things happened while I was on tour and I'll share some of those stories later but for now, you’ve got to hear this one. It happened about a month ago in a little town way up North in Canada…..

We had the night off so we hit up a bar called Fynnagan’s and asked if we could come and play some acoustic songs. They agreed. Fynnagan’s is a small spot on the edge of town. It’s one of those places that seems packed even if only ten people show up that night. You know… small towns are like that. Matt Baird, the singer, Matt Roberts, the guitar player and I were the only ones that went out. The rest of the boys stayed at the hotel. We took it over that night! We had so much fun. Matt Baird was only planning on playing for an hour and it quickly turned in to 2 1/2 hours. He ended up playing a few songs multiple times because the people couldn’t get enough of his sweet jams. I love to get the good times rolling and hype it up wherever I go. I was talking to everyone who walked in the door, learning everyone’s names, making sure everyone was having a good time! We played some pool and darts and just had a killer time. Matt Baird started playing and after a few songs I yelled at everyone in the bar, "We are all in this together so y'all better sing along!"

Matt started doing cover songs and one of them was Bon Jovi’s “Livin on a Prayer”. If you can imagine 20 strangers in this little bar with their hands in the air singing at the top of their lungs. “WWOOOAAAHH, WE’RE HALFWAY THERE. WOAH, LIVIN ON A PRAYER. TAKE MY HAND. WE’LL MAKE IT I SWEAR….LIVIN’ ON A PRAYER” It was like a scene out of a movie.

By now the ice was broken and the conversations began. Matt mentioned that I was walking across America with a goat. People always look at me like I’m crazy and ask why. I tell them about Uzima which leads to talking about my faith. You get the picture.

Most amazing moment of the night... Matt finished his set with a worship song that he wrote. Oh man, it was perfect. No one was talked. Everyone sat in silence as Matt poured out his heart in worship to the Lord in front of perfect strangers that I'm convinced had never seen or heard a worship song before…let alone in a bar. Their bar. You could feel things happening in the room. I wish you could have seen the people soaking up every word he sung. As soon as he put down the guitar people start asking him questions and it was just a perfect…beautiful moment. Those interactions are what this trip is about as well as saving babies in Africa.

I’ve got to say, I miss those guys. That tour was good times.

Alright, back to the walk… I feel like I’m starting to run out of time to get back out there. I'll be back on the road before you know it...and I'm cool with that. I’m ready for more! More blisters…more backpacks….more goat horns and rap tracks. My mom has been talking about coming out to join me for a part of this leg of the trip. We’re thinking this is how it would work best. I'm going to give LeeRoy a break and have him trailored through Colorado and I will run (yes, run) across the complete state. Stop laughing. Sounds crazy, I know, but you just wait. I have a whole list of things I want to do on this walk! Things like run a state, swim a lake, bounce a ball across a state just to name a few. Anyone have any other crazy suggestions for me? Colorado is about 500 miles across so if I run 15 miles in the morning and 15 miles at night I should make it in about 17 days. My current training program of energy drinks and Youtube is really gonna pay off! I can feel it! But for real, having my mom following me in her car carrying my gear will be great.

Oh, one other thing, I signed up for online school and it starts this summer. I know what you’re thinking…why add something like that? The thing is, I need to finish my AA and I figured there is no time like the present! I may fail completely but if I was able to finish my credits and get my AA on this walk that would be a huge accomplishment for me and will probably a story in itself. Haha… pray for me. I’m gonna need it!

Update

Update...
I am looking out the window of an air plane, watching the sunrise over the clouds. It's really quite a sight. I left Seattle at 5am this morning and I'm headed to Dallas to meet up with a band called "Spoken" to tour with them as their merch guy for five week. The tour starts in Texas and crosses the States up to Canada.  Most of the shows are already sold out so It should be a good time. I pretty much get paid to just hang out and I have to say after being around barn animals the past few months, this is like a vacation. I'm so excited to be back on the road, meeting new people and promoting Needle2Square and Uzima.

I'll some-up the last few months in one word....WORK!  Doing my best to get as much money as I can saved up for the next part of the walk. I started out working at a call center selling home security systems in the Seattle area... MAN DID THAT SUCK! It was cold calls... "Hi my name is Steve, I'm calling from Gaylord security your local authorized ADT dealer  is ....... there?" Getting cussed out and hung up on all day long was the worst. I'm just not a salesman. I don't have that kind of hustle (by the way if I called you, I'm sorry).

 That job was short lived and I soon moved on to working at a barn. In all honesty I liked it....well kind of....for the most part. I learned two important things while working there. Firstly, I would much rather do a manual labor job then an office job. Secondly, I am the opposite of the horse whisperer. I thought after spending a few months with Leeroy, I'd know how to handle a horse but come to find out... I'm just not a horse guy. I seem to make a lot of mistakes. Like for example, a couple of times the horses got loose. The first time I had help to catch them, but the second and third time it was all me. Now in case you didn't know, horses are big. Way bigger then goats. You really don't understand that till they are freaked out and start running around all crazy bucking and kicking. I never got kicked (THANK GOD) but more than a few times, a horse would be running at me full speed and I had no idea what to do. I just started yelling at them while waving my arms, " HEY CHILL OUT MAN!!! "  Like you can reason with a horse. I would be trying to figure  out how to put on a haulter and I would talk to the horse, "Do you know how this goes?" but they never did.

At that point I realized I have been spending  more time with animals then people. How did that happen?  I would open the barn in the morning and the first words out of my mouth were "good morning Peaches". Peaches was a little pony in the first stall by the door. The job was simple... kind of. Feeding, water, cleaning and turning out the horses.  Then bringing them all back in and feeding again. There were a lot of horses so this was an all day job. The farm life is not a 9-5.  Its more like a before the sunrises till  well after the sun sets kind of job. It was actually an Equestrian Center so there was always something that needed fixing or maintenance in some way. I don't really know how to fix anything so I wasn't much of a "handyman" but I would go get a load of hay every week. Load it and unload it...things like that. I have to say, the horse game is not nearly as fun if you don't ride horses. I think I got on a horse one time for all of five minutes.

Well, I'm about to land in Phoenix for my connection to Dallas. Tonight is the first show of the tour and I'm really stoked to see my boy Matt. I definitely feel blessed!

unlike my Facebook page...

The last 10 days have been a whirlwind. Everything in my world has change. Friendships have come and gone. There was a chance I was going to head to Africa for part of the winter but that fell through. I had a job waiting for me that fell through, then there was another one and that fell through. I had a place to live that fell through then I had something else lined up and I think you get the picture. Same for LeeRoy. I wanted to be close to him so I could see him often but it's not working out that way. I ran out of money and was at one point negative $50 in the bank. I have great people around me that really want to see me succeed. They have stepped up and helped me out. I now have $0 in the bank, $11 in my hand and the bills are just around the corner. All I can say is sometimes it all moves sideways on you. Honestly though, I'm not stressed about it. I like chaos. Plus, compared to the problems of my counter part in Africa (ST) and what they go through on a daily basis I feel like my life is just fine. More than fine, I feel blessed. All my problems are a walk in the park. Well, all except Mitch's death. That's has been a hard one for me.  The crazy thing is all of the drama happened while I was flying and driving back and forth from Salt Lake City to Seattle. 

Flights, driving and trains rides. . . and all my plans change by the hour. I would have a plan in the morning- "take the train to Spokane", and at the train station the plan would change again- where am I going to sleep?  By the time I get a ticket I'm headed to Portland. As of right now LeeRoy is safe and happy with other goats in Olympia. I'm in Portland for a few days, Friday I head to Spokane. I have a lot of job leads but nothing is a sure thing yet. I have an opportunity in Seattle in January but I'm not sure how long it will be for. 

I've been second guessing my decisions. For the last month they've had record high temperatures in Utah.  It makes me feel like I should have kept going. The reality is I had planned to be done around this time.. Ha! But I really underestimated so many factors.

1. If you want to keep your goat healthy and happy it's best to keep him at about 10 miles a day. Make sure you take lots of breaks and days off. 

2. Walking with a goat near any city will take a long time. Everyone wants to talk to you and take pictures. I love to tell the stories of Uzima and the kids, about my best friend ST and how he started this whole thing with Fred, and then my part of this and how the whole crazy thing came together.  It's so wild and against all olds, that the only way to explain all the crazy things that have happened is it was all put together by God.  (Side note: my mom is over there now. She is working with the kids; another God thing. She has already been there a few months and extended her stay twice. I would not be surprised if she never came back and that's cool with me. It makes me proud of her. There is a whole story about my mom and I that I will share later. 

3. I should have planned better. Like I have said before I didn't train. All I did to prepare for this was sit on the couch eating Jimmy John sandwiches and watch YouTube videos for camping trips. . . Hahaha. Just writing that makes me laugh. I made a lot of simple mistakes just because of my lack of knowledge. Honestly the combination of the Goat, me being a city kid and all that comes with walking across america there real is no way to prepare for all the obstacles.   I had no prior knowledge of goats. I never lived on a barn or around any live stock. I did have dogs when I was growing up- I love dogs - but I would say my parents took more care of them then I did. Other than cleaning up the dog poo before I mowed the lawn, all I did was share my bed at night. My dog would always sleep in my bed. . .kid heaven.

On a slightly more serious note, I want to bring up something that is interesting to me. A small detail that really has my mind twisted up. Every time I post about Jesus or scripture, a comment about Uzima and my mission, or the work that is going on over there I get far less likes on face book. In fact, when I'm bold about Jesus people unlike my page. I'm really not disappointed at all, I guess it is just a crazy fact that if I post a picture of LeeRoy I can get 80-120 "likes", but if I post a picture of the Uzima kids or some bible quote I will maybe get 30 likes. Now, again, it's not about the "likes", I'm not posting for approval. It's just an interesting experience. Either way, in all of that Needle2square and Uzima stand for God alone gets the glory! and the "LIKES". I want to end with this bible verse that just. . .gives me so much strength and joy. And makes me feel so loved by Jesus. To me these are the most important 22 verses to me. Some of the most beautiful words in the bible to me.

Psalms 103

Bless the  Lord , O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the  Lord , O my soul, and  forget not all his benefits, who  forgives all your iniquity, who  heals all your diseases, who  redeems your life from the pit, who  crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who  satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like  the eagle's. The  Lord  works  righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. He made known his  ways to Moses, his  acts to the people of Israel. The  Lord  is  merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he  keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us  according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For  as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his  steadfast love toward  those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he  remove our transgressions from us. As  a father shows compassion to his children, so the  Lord  shows compassion  to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he  remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like  grass; he flourishes like  a flower of the field; for  the wind passes over it, and  it is gone, and  its place knows it no more. But  the steadfast love of the  Lord  is from everlasting to everlasting on  those who fear him, and his righteousness to  children's children, to those who  keep his covenant and  remember to do his commandments. The  Lord  has  established his throne in the heavens, and his  kingdom rules over all. Bless the  Lord , O you  his angels, you  mighty ones who  do his word, obeying the voice of his word! Bless the  Lord , all his  hosts, his  ministers, who do his will! Bless the  Lord , all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the  Lord , O my soul! (Psalms 103:1-22 ESV)

I would give up the goat for this child any day...

I hate this blog!

So I just woke up. I'm lying in bed in a hotel trying to figure why Mitch the guy I had met back in Glens Ferry took his own life. I hadn’t heard from Mitch for about three weeks. I’d been texting him to let him know I was coming through with no response. We had been talking off and on since I met him. I was planning on surprising him as I rolled through town. I had been anticipating seeing him. As I pulled in to the place I met him I head to the back of the restaurant where the lounge was. As soon as I walk in everyone starts yelling. “Hey it's the goat guy!!” Audrey and Jeremiah (Mitch's best friends) jump up and give me hugs. I say “hey where Mitch?” And the whole place goes silent. Audrey says: “we’ve been trying to get ahold of you buddy. Mitch killed him self.” Both Audrey and Jeremiah wrapped their arms around me... I was in shock. Doing my best to hold back the tears they told me the story. Mitch had given in to his demons. Here’s some back-story on Mitch. When I had met him we had spent the day telling each other personal stories. Mitch told me that he had met a girl and she cleaned him up. He told me he had found Jesus and that this woman helped save his life. He also told me that once he got a good paying job, he had his own money and started drinking again. Well a few weeks back this woman had taken the kids and moved back with her mom. Then from what I hear he took a turn for the worst. This is what I was told: One night he was drinking hard. I'm not sure how it happened but he got in a fight with the cops they took him to jail. Mitch called Jeremiah to bail him out of jail. Jeremiah being his best friend does his boy a favor. Mitch tells Jeremiah he's not feeling well and to come check on him in the morning. The next day Jeremiah found Mitch on the couch dead. He had killed himself with a shotgun. I had sooooo many questions but I didn't want to stir the pot. I let it ride. For the rest of the night we told Mitch stories..well they did. I only had a few. Some the stories were soooo funny and some so tragic. It was crazy ...lots of laughs and tears. Jeremiah disappears for a bit and came back with one of Mitch s work shirts and gave it to me... Oh man ... I lost it for a bit. I headed out to the truck and cried for a while. Jeremiah had called his wife. She came down and we talked for a bit. What a hard convo..she was very strong and put together. I could see through that and could tell how hard it was for her. The guilt she felt. Questioning if it was her fault. Plus Mitch told me he wasn't great at family, and I knew she had suffered the consequences of that. He was so loved by everyone including me.. But we didn't have to live with him, with all his amazing characteristics there still was a very selfish side to Mitch. The reality is that I could see the emotional marks he left one her. He wasn't a good husband or father. However she was left to console everyone around her that only knew one side of Mitch. Or more accurately only chose to see the one side. She was in such a hard place. How do you talk up a person when your in the middle of the worst part of it all.

Everyday since then I have thought about Mitch at first I was sooo bummed and sad. I felt bad for him. Then I started asking questions. Why would he do that? He didn't seem like the type. What was he thinking? He never ever showed any signs at all. Not like I would be able to tell. But you know,not the typical things you would think of a suicidal person would be like. Then.... I was mad, I was mad that he gave up I was mad he left his wife and kids. I was angry and thought that he was so selfish. What a way to leave. He left a huge mess for his wife. While all that is going on in my mind I also was questioning God. I'm not mad at God but I just wanted to know what it was all about. You see I believe what the bible says. The verse that came to my mind while i was think of all this was Isaiah 55:11 ESV version

11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

I love the New Living Translation

It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.


When it says his word will not return to me empty. I believe it. I had shared a bunch of bible verses with Mitch on that bridge. I explained the scriptures to Mitch about freedom in Christ. What happened? Cause it feels a little like it came back empty right now. I have a real hard time seeing the fruit. I guess I don’t really expect an answer. I know God is in control and God is good. But how can I say to his wife God is good and God is in control and expect her to feel better, and yet at the same time I feel like that should make her feel better. It's just hard to understand.

I looked up to Mitch. I respected him. And this messed up my whole view. I started evaluating that. I saw something in me that I really didn't like. It was about who I looked up to as far as older men/mentor type. I made a list of older men that I trust. I was only able to come up with seven men in my whole life that I respected. Out of those seven men I respect and trust enough to be close with, two of them have died. Six out of the seven were or currently are alcoholics or addicts of some sort. Only one was a bible believing steady Christian man. Six of them had really dark sides. I mean really dark sides. All of them had things characteristics that I wanted. Three of them really invested in me. With one really being a cut above them all. We hang whenever we can. He payed me to work on a truck he was building for his son so I could pay for bible college. He has even called in sick for work to spend time with me when I was coming through town, and that meant the world to me. No man has ever done anything close to that for me. (This is going to require a lot more thought)

It is always great to feel the support of someone that gets you and understand you and Mitch was one of those people for me. I had made a really dumb decision. I was feeling so stupid. I had a lot of doubt in myself. Just before talking to Mitch a had a few phone calls with some friends and they all said the same thing. And it really didn't make me feel any better. Honestly it made me feel worse. But not with Mitch and I'm going to end with the last thing he ever said to me.


Mitch said: "F***em! You made a mistake. You are doing your best! What the F*** are they doing to make the world a better place? None of that will matter when you’re walking into Time Square and the orphanage is built. Hey I got to go I’ll call you later. But don't worry about it. I love you man."


I will miss you Mitch!

What I have learned about myself

 Are you a thinker? I’m not, I'm not the kind of person that just sits around and ponders decisions. I feel my way through things. Walking on the road I have all this time to just think, and I have to say it’s so hard to discipline my mind to just think. What ends up happening is that I let my mind wonder and daydream, I don’t really meditate on problems or decisions. Don't get me wrong, I think about things at times. In the past I tried hard to think through things and discovered it never worked out for me. I would stress and go crazy over things, and in the end nothing seemed to work out the way I planned. Plus what ever my first response to the situation was always seem to be what was best. The more I thought through things the more I kept changing my mind from my original reaction, and in the end it always seemed like I made the wrong choice. So I stopped doing that. I just went with what I felt, here's the negative side of that. Sometimes I made decisions before I had all the info. Or I didn’t think of how my decisions would affect others, and that meant some times the people I cared most about got hurt. One of the cool things is that I am lucky to be surrounded by friends that are thinkers. The best example I can give to this is Steve Turner, I wouldn't say he is a philosipher by any means but he gives careful thought to all the decisions he makes.

I think for the most part people are either thinkers or feelers. I'm not convinced one is better than the other. In fact I feel the best is to do both in equal parts.

I can't get my heart and mind to work together.

Ok let's even take it to the next level. What do you think about? Me being a Christian I understand the concept of Christ centered thinking, but I'm not so sure that is what I do. I would say about 98%of the time it's all selfish thinking. And if I'm lucky 2% is spent on Jesus. I want to love God and the wisdom and knowledge of the bible, but I am a work in progress.

Ok next thought: you know when I was in the cold mountains some crazy head games went down. It all started with being ALONE. A little fact about this trip; I did not train at all. Well not in any physical way. To me this was all about mental strength. I'm really good at not showing what is really happening inside of me. Most of the time I keep all of my emotions inside and cover them up. Then after I have taken time to process it I can talk about it... Umm ya that’s not completely true... it's a case-by-case basis... Anyway... Here's the situation: I’m in the ravine off Highway 6 in my tent in the woods it’s completely dark no moon nothing. No light at all. The mountains feel like they are swallowing me up. I'm completely losing it. I Have NEVER FELT LIKE THIS in my life!! I was having a full on panic attack. I couldn't call anyone because there was no cell service, my iPod was dead, my iPad was low on battery life and my phone was about to die. I know this sounds stupid but all those things bring me a lot of comfort. I was trying to distract my mind with music and even listen to messages or podcast but nothing was helping. The darkness, the loneliness, the empty feeling, it was terrifying. It was like I had been completely exposed, peeled back; there was nothing but a weak fragile child in the harsh cold surrounding. I know all this sounds so dumb but it's truly hard to explain. I felt like I was stripped of ... self or me I don't even know. So there I am, just me and the darkness. I started praying and found no comfort. I didn't want God to see me. I had this overwhelming feeling that he was mad at me, or this fear that HE. IS. GOD. I am still trying to put it all together but I will say this; First: So many times in the bible when people see angels or God reveals himself in some way, those people are terrified. Secondly I use social networking, calling, and texting as artificial connections, security, safety, and comfort. Third: I am not as mentally strong as I thought I would be. This happened more than once out there in the Utah Mountains. I had really negative feelings about those mountains, even fear.

With all that said I’ve been having a lot of questions on why I share so many personal life stories on this blog. Telling my story and my background seems to let people see my influences and struggles. I also think it put the way I do things in to context and helped myself and others understand my limitations. Here’s the other thing, I think that my story is more typical to what people go through in life. People don’t have a perfect life; in fact most people to some degree have messed up lives. So I hope and know that people have found this blog helpful, in some cases it gave people permission to feel or think something. For those out there that feel like they have failed or are ashamed of a mistake, my goal is to give you HOPE, hope to stand up and start again.

Rap game!

I love hip hop; real gritty hip hop, the kind that makes your neck and head bob. The kind that just gets deep in your soul! You can’t help but walk with a limp! Let me paint you a picture: Way back in the woods of Utah (arguably the most un-hip hop spot on the planet) I'm sitting on the side of a highway with LeeRoy taking a break.The song A Mill by Lil Wayne (clean version) haha...  comes through my headphones...as soon as the beat hits my soul started dancing. I was head bobbin so hard I dang near broke my neck. Before the 3:41 song is over I'm on my feet limpin like a pimp down the road leanin waaaayyyy back. The stride of pride! Haha I put that jam on repeat and rocked it so hard, halfway dancing down the road. In my head I wasn’t in the woods anymore I was walking downtown NYC laced up in Jordan's and a black fur coat. Looked so crazy... A little later I was thinking about that moment. I could not help but wonder what Lil Wayne would think of some crusty goat guy walking through the Utah Mountains rockin his song.  I still laugh about it.

Alright let's switch gears, head back to Twin Falls. I left determined to make it to Burly Idaho.  I was walking on the freeway and people kept coming out to find me. Bringing fruit and water it was so great. About 13miles into my day I found a traffic sign where we could hide in its shade and rest. It's always so hot. I rolled out my mat put in earplugs had a little food and took a nap right on the side of the freeway. I was awoken by this lady named Kathy Kent. Little did I know what the next few days would be like.. and that is what I love about this adventure. She had brought me some snacks and water. Then before I new it she invited LeeRoy to stay with her and her family, and I gladly accepted the invitation.  I stayed with them for about a week. It was AWESOME. Kathy got me into a church to speak, and she also contacted the news and got me an interview.

The coolest part was that I got to spend the day as a farmer, bean thrashing digging potatoes and driving around in a potato truck. That may sound lame to most people but I have never lived a life anything like that, and it was cool to experience it.  Her daughter-in-law Amanda drove me all over and I got to see the sights. It was rad.

So a little crazy detail: The pastor whose church I spoke at in Hazelton happened to be best friends with Pastor Mark, the Past St and I met back in Parma. I had shared with him about my blog; he read up on it and then called Mark. It was cool.

After a bunch of days there I finally left and headed on my journey. Only to get picked up by another family about 10 miles down the road. It was wild, two amazing families in a row.  I can't remember their names off the top of my head but the husband had done a lot of animal packing in his life and still does. He gave me so much good advice and also quieted some fears I had. He showed me how to take extra care with LeeRoy and a few new tricks of the goat trade.  It's hard to find people that have done anything even similar to what I'm doing so his advice was really valuable to me. He shared with me that he had taken extended pack trips into the dessert and deep into the mountains. Most everyone I know has gone for 3-4 weeks, and something I have learned is that even though those people have super good advice they often don't have to push there animal. Well not to the extremes I have to push LeeRoy.(I'm sure that last sentence is going to get me some hate mail.) Never the less I was given some really great info. It's been so helpful. We spent a lot of time talking about winter care for LeeRoy and how to keep myself warm. The difference in what he did in winter and what I tried was he built fires and I couldn't build a fire on the side of the road. So even though I had a little jet boil it was just not enough.

The police...

Open up… police! That's the first thing I remember. It was about 3 in the morning and I was in a deep sleep. My first thought was great another shake down. I'm used to it now and get asked the same set of questions each time and go through the same procedures. I know that they want to be able to see what's in my tent so I always open the door as wide as possible so they can get a good look in. I unzip the  tent door and there stand two police officers. One skinny and one heavier set, both look really young. They're shinning flash lights in my eyes and I can see that they have there hands on their guns. The skinny one was yelling at me and I'm completely aware of everything but moving slowly as I'm just waking up. He yells "do you have any weapons". I say "… Ummm, I have a pocket knife but I wouldn't call it a weapon".  

He continues yelling orders while I'm trying to be as friendly as possible. I tell them my story, about the kids and the walk and hand him a promo card that I hand out. He yells something about seeing my id… but here's the thing, I had lost my Id. The last place I remember having it was in Glens Ferry. So i told him that which was not helpful at all. It only made the officer more suspicious of me. So I gave him my information and they called it in over their walkie talkie. My name came back clear over the radio but one of them continued yelling questions at me so I started being less friendly . He yelled " what makes you think you can take up residence here?"  I laugh and said " Well, I wasn't planning on getting mail." He yelled that this is privet property  and that I couldn't be there. I replied there were no signs posted. As he continued yelling I just interrupted him and said "Are you mad at me? Have I done something to offend you because you keep yelling at me like your mad."  He calmed down a little after that.  After getting a "stern" talking to I was asked to pack up and leave. So I acted like I was but when they left I went back to sleep. I know that was not the smartest idea but I was too sleepy to deal with anything else that night.

The next morning I woke up and met with a lady who had heard about my story. We chatted and she was really cool. I also posted the story about last nights event on facebook.  It was crazy!!! I got a huge response of support regarding the incident. People were calling the police department, they posted on their Facebook page and sent emails . One lady went so far as to talk to the police chief ( boss guy). They had a few conversations and he told her that it wasn't anyone from his department and that I was just outside of the Twin Falls district. I was just on the line and that it was probably the Jerome police department.  So she followed up and they said it wasn't them either. Here's what I was really unhappy about. After the TFPD denied they had anything to do with it, they posted on MY Facbook that "we had talked" and that they were not involved. Then gave my supporters a rep-remand about getting there fact straight before they act. The truth is that I NEVER TALKED TO THEM not once. They never called me or messaged me or anything. At that point I choose to just let it go. I didn't want to get in a fight with the Law ya know. 

Since this story I have had a lot of encounters with the police. There are a few fun and funny stories but there has also been a few difficult ones that haven't always ended well.  I swear sometimes it feeling like  I'm a criminal and like I'm getting out of trouble by the skin of my teeth.  At this point I have come to the reality that there is a possibility that I could be arrested at some point. I think… maybe for trespassing or something. I can never read cops. Maybe they are just saying stuff to try and scare me. Either way If I do get arrested for some reason I'm sure it will be a great story to blog about. But it will not stop me. I will finish this one way or another.. I will always return to the road. Square or Death.... 

Oh one other thing. I really miss the city life...