Wild

I had witnessed a robbery and smeared a statue with cheese. I had hung out with a guy who lived in a house on his truck, and hitchhiked with bikers. It was about time to start heading home.

It seems to me that Chicago is the most middle place you can be in America. Maybe not geographically (though, if you're only counting Big Cities, I would also say geographically). But it's a city in the MIDwest, in the MIDdle of the country. Either way, now I was in the WEST, and to get to where I was going I would have to go through all of the MID to get there.

As I went further east in California, the highways became more and more desolate. Big cargo trucks and families asleep in their cars shared the road, along with a few lone strangers like myself. So I was quite surprised when a woman who looked like a hobo, face and clothes smeared in dirt and wearing practically a house on her back, appeared sticking out her thumb. I stopped, clicked open the trunk, and got out.

"Hey there, are you doing alright?" I asked, more than a little concerned.

"I'm doing great! I've just come from hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, but here it's all socked-in. I'd love it if you could give me a ride a bit farther up, so I can skip the snow?"

I didn't know what socked-in meant, so I imagined huge socks as big as trees filled to the brim with snow, covering mountains. The image made me laugh.

"What?"

"Oh nothing, what does 'socked-in' mean? I guess it's something to do with snow."

"I'd guess it's something to do with snow too."

We laughed and she explained that the snow was over a dozen feet deep in parts and that there's no way she could pass this portion of the PCT without losing a finger or toe, "not that I haven't already had some casualties."

"Oh? I'm a nurse, is there anything I can help with?" This nurse thing sure was coming handy on my trip.

She took off her boots, and I saw that her feet were completely torn up, with two toenails missing.

"Shit."

"Yeah."

I didn't have much in the way of medical supplies on me, but I took out what I could. I sterilized her feet and covered all of the open wounds in bandages, which basically meant covering her entire foot in a bandage sock.

"Is there any way you can stay off it for a few days?"

She looked at me in horror and I sighed. At least I had done what I could.

I drove to the highway intersection and let her out, watching her walk north to the mountains.