Its 6:25 am
Yesterday after arriving here, I relaxed on this seat
Around 2 am, I shifted to this bench
it was more comfortable
I used the washroom to get fresh in the morning
now I am going to find Malcolm
I found him
but probably he is still sleeping
a lot of trucks are here
Malcolm is still sleeping
Till then I will ask people for ride
Am I standing far from these trucks!
This is Petro truck stop
its 6:45 am now
Its foggy
A lot of trucks are exiting now, So there are a good chance of getting a ride
another truck !
So many trucks... I am not getting chance to keep the bags down !
Got a ride!
its 8:50 am
This is probably going to be the longest ride on my US trip
almost 1000 kilometres !
From Birmingham (Alabama) to Dallas (Texas)
will take almost 6-8 hours to cover this distance
let me introduce you with the person who helped me
He is a Cuban
initially I was not able to understand because of his accent
After hearing Cuba, I said Fidel Castro !!
He like Bollywood's musicals
Thats the speciality of our movies like worldwide
Thanks to the film makers
He is checking the tyre pressure
That is a camping groud
You can hire a caravan/RV and explore this country on your own
so that is a place for parking RVs
All these facilities are available besides the petrol/Gas station
These RVs have luxuries of bed, fridge, oven, shower, toilet, etc
They are getting charged
This RV is dumping the waste in the ground
Many Americans sell off their home and other assets after retirement ...
and rent/buy such RVs to travel across the country for their rest part of the life
They halt in such camping grounds for many days
He is going to leave me !!
Many people advised me to ask the truck owners instead of the employers for a ride
but how do distinguish between the two ?
but despite being an employee, Jovany has offered me a ride
I am totally clueless now
People have their different versions
This truck reminds me of my Thailand trip
He asked me to adjust the Rear View Mirror
Its very important
Jerry helped me to learn how to clean the windshield of a truck
This truck was made in 1997
This is a Freightliner truck
This is how he operates certain things!
Oh! This was for cruise control
Even Rahul's Audi car had this system
You can just relax instead of putting your feet continuously on the accelerator paddle
Suddenly the landscape changed
instead of jungles, Now I can see farms
This is Louisiana
Looks like I am in Punjab
The farms in US are huge
They use advanced technology for agriculture
The road is quite bumpy
He says, Cuba is good for hitchhikers
For me, it is easy everywhere in the world except US!
In Cuba, everyone does not have cars. So they help each other
In US, there are more cars than the people
then I asked him about Mexico
he said, its quite unsafe because of the illegal drug trade
He says, Cuba is better than Mexico for hitchhiking
This leads me to realize that
unless we visit a place on our own and experience the culture
its difficult to know the reality about the place
This happens with everyone of us
We make opinions based on media reports and whatever we hear from others
This is how it happens everywhere in the world
Indians have opinions about Pakistan
Similarly Pakistanis have some opinions about Indians
South Indians have some opinions about Delhiites
Delhiites have opinions about the people from North-East
and they have some different opinion about the rest Indians
I think you should go and experience the culture, people before making any opinion about them
Many people warned me against hitchhiking in USA
People will kill you, rob you, harm you...
But I have successfully hitchhiked thousands of kilometres in USA till now
We have reached GreenWood
He is going to drop me here
Now he is not taking me to Dallas
because he is going in the south of Dallas city, whereas I have to go in the North
So he says, it better to get down here and ask for the next ride
There are 2 truck stops here
Loves and Flying J
This place is near Shreveport
He is going to stay here for next 2 hours
He said, if I don't get a ride in time, then he will take me to Dallas
Its time to say bye
He is going inside that building to take shower
after that he will take rest and then proceed further
I am going to use the toilet
its sunny
I have to look for a shade
I have refilled the bottle from the restaurant
Now I am going to ask for the ride
I am going to stand under the shade of those trees
I will stand here
But its all wet after the rain
Can't keep my bags down
I am going back to the store
It is scorching hot
my head is spinning
This is not a good symptom
I prefer to get delayed than felling sick
I sat here for almost an hour
but didn't get any help
I called Jovany and he is going to leave now
Now I am going with him
its almost 5 pm
Now this will be the longest ever ride
One of the locals who was sitting behind me said...
It remains hot and humid at this place
Mississippi and Texas
I also met two guys from Haryana
They belonged to Karnal in Haryana
I said, My grandfather is also from the same place
he was happy to know this
he was going to California
I asked him to drop me to Dallas
but he refused
he is searching a place where he is going to drop me
I have reached Terrell, near Dallas
He is now not going to Dallas
I am going to get down and will search for a place to sit in the QuikTrip station
I am not feeling well
I need to take rest
This is QT
I will take rest, have some food
Jovany helped a lot, but now I am stranded
While coming here he asked me to get down at a place, but not clearly
He didn't say that you'll not get any ride after this!
Now I am stuck
I have left the place 2 miles behind
Here, there is no place like a driver's lounge to take rest or sit
I am badly stuck
This reminds me of Thailand
its 10 pm
I approached Motels, restaurants, etc... to take rest, but didn't get any place
I quite dark now. Don't know you can see me or not!
2 ladies have given me this ride
they said, due to safety reasons they have asked me to sit at the back of the truck
They are going me to drop at the truck stop
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