WALKING ROUTE 66

It’s Hard to Handle All This Fame

But don’t you worry about a thing.

I couldn’t sleep peacefully

I usually sleep well and easily.

I have slept on a subway train in Chicago while standing up. So it was strange that I couldn’t sleep most of the night.

When the alarm went off at 4 AM, as usual, I was tired and unrested. I sat down to meditate anyway. I went back to sleep after allowing my mind to calm down.

When I woke up, the sun was already shining. I headed to the famous Pontiac Family Kitchen restaurant for breakfast. The waitress said that the people two booths behind me wanted to know if I am the guy in the newspaper and would like to talk to me.

I didn’t expect the story to be out so soon, but there I was on the front page.

The restaurant owner gifted me with a branded bandana. They even posted pictures on their Facebook page. It’s nice to be a celebrity.

The breakfast taco was humongous.

Before I could leave, I got a text from my daughter; she was in a car accident. Fortunately, it was just a minor accident, not her fault. The other driver ran a red light. Thank God, she is okay. I talked to her mother; there was no need to worry.

It was noon before I got on the road. I was headed for Chenoa, a little over ten miles away. The sun was scorching, and the humidity was high. Typically, four liters of water was enough to last a ten-mile hike, but not today.

I was beginning to worry as I was only halfway there and ran out of water, with no towns in-between. Then, I saw a business called Good Samaritan. I went in to see if I can refill my water bottles. I got more. They lived up to their name.

Don’t you worry about a thing

The phone fully charged, hydrated, and rested, I resumed my walk. Someone stopped and offered me some Gatorade; then, an older couple wanted to give me a case of water. I had to explain to the lady that I did not have room to carry that much water. It was as if God was saying, don’t you worry about a thing, I got you covered.

And just as I was approaching Chenoa, a van passed me and stopped ahead. The gentleman said he was impressed by the story in the paper and wanted to know if I would accept a donation. He gave me his phone number and said to call him if I needed anything. Then he made a U-turn and headed back toward Pontiac, leaving me wondering, did he drive from Pontiac just to see if I would accept a donation? I guess I’ll never know.

The first thing I came upon was the Chenoa Swimming Pool. All swimming pools have showers. Yay! There was a pavilion next door with picnic tables, but the sign said they closed at 10 PM, and I better not trespass.

I saw a McDonald’s earlier in the distance by the highway. That’s where I spent the night. Well, there and the c-store next door.

I invite you to tag along if you’re up to it. I am tagging a few friends who I think will be interested. If you are tagged but don’t want to read my stories daily, just let me know in the comments, and I will not tag you moving forward. If you are reading this and aren’t tagged but would like to come along, let me know, so I can tag you.

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As always, thank you for reading and responding.

Here are a couple of earlier stories:

Rasheed Hooda is a published author, and a regular contributor and editor for ILLUMINATION, a writers’ community on Medium, where writers support each other.

He is a self-proclaimed weirdo who lives a Freedom Lifestyle and writes about related topics — Travel (a top writer), Personal Growth, Freedom, and entrepreneurship. (Get the Newsletter)

More about me:

An interview by Dr. M Yildiz for ILLUMINATION

Testimonial by other writers.