Hosuton to Austin June 16, 2011

There are no stairs going up. I want to go up so bad, I can't. I try the other silos, maybe one of those has a latter that I can find that will take me to the top. They are just as dark and sweat is falling into my eyes. As I walk down the stairs into the first of five silos I hear a crunch that makes me jump, there is stuff all over the floor that has a loud crunch to it each time I take a step. I can not see anything so I have no idea what it is that I am stepping on, I think that it is glass. I later learn that it is the dead bones of mice. I still find no way to the top, I settle for the fact that I did get to the top and I go to leave. I climb back up to the opening ten feet above the ground, I hear wings behind me I turn and there is a pegon in the corrner. It takes off and flyes toward me, it is a owl. I have seen a few in the day light, it is rare to see. I get down, videotape and photograph the owl as it swoops down at me. I conside my self lucky to have seen this and the time comes for me to leave. Rachel takes me to a place called FreeBirds. It is a restruant, I order my food and go stand by the cashier, his name is Jhon. "Is that everthing for you?" he asks. "No." I say and point to Rachel's plate as well. "Your getting hers to?" Jhon asks me. I would like to say yes but that would be a lie. "No, she is accually getting mine." I say and I feel as if I must tell him about the trip. He understands and is able to help me out with a coupon for the next FreeBirds that I go to. He Becomes very interested in the trip that I am taking and invites me to a party the next night. I go to the party and have a lot of fun, I am able to leave the next morning and get a total of 7 rides to Austin, I took the 290 west route to Austin and found that the rides came quickly. If hitchhiking was always this easy, more people would do it. I did not run into any problems until after my fifth ride. I start to walk and hitchhike at the same time and find that this time it is taking a while longer for someone to stop, I now have no sholder for cars to pull over onto and the traffic is moving about 60 MPH. I come upto a small cross street about a mile down the road. I wait here, maybe if a car wants to pick me up they can pull into this street and I can get in. About 15 minutes there and a man comes out to get his mail, he has no mail in his mail box. "Where are you going?" he asks. "Austin." I say We talk about nothing really, I can't remember what was said, untill I start to tell him about the trip and my blog. His eyes widen and he gets a new look on his face. "So how much money do you have?" he asks. "Hardly any." "Do you have a computer?" "No." I lie. I can tell that he dose not belive me. "What do you have in your bag?" "Clothes and food, thats about it." I lie again. Again I can tell that he dose not belive me. His face lights up as if he has just got an idea. "I am going to go get my car and I will give you a ride to Austin, it's only like 40 miles from here." he says. I don't know what to say. I have a feeling that I am not the only one not telling the truth. I feel as if this man is about to go get a car and rob me. While I am getting in or out of a car, it is easy for a car to take off with my bag if I don't leave a door open or have a way to get back into the car quickly. In fact, even if I do leave a open door, I would have to be ready and still there is no telling if I would make it back into a car. "Will you be here when I get back?" "Yes." I anwser. "Cool, I'll bring you a beer." He turns and walks back down the street to get his car, I do not know how far his car or house is, once he is out of sight I really start to think. Should I get into his car or not. I have been told to trust my instincts and most my rides have come quickly, I should not even be thinking about getting into his car. I leave, with no ride, on foot. Now I fear that he will come back with his car and see me a few hundred feet away walking. I walk very fast, as fast as I can without running. Another mile down the road I get a ride. As the car pulls over I think to myself please don't be this guy. It is not, a new fresh face and I am happy to get this ride that takes me all the way to Austin.

This is a shorter video, I spent a lot of time in Houston with some old friends that I know from Salt Lake City, They moved to Houston about a year and a half ago. I spent much of my time sleeping and hanging out with old friends. I still go the chance to explere the city.

I find myself looking at a train as it passes, I want so bad to have an adventure. I find an old abondant building next to the train tracks. I want to check it out and walk around the building, I find that there is no where to get into the building. I walk into a room that is connected to the building, it has an old gererator. There is no way to get into the building from here. I walk back outside and into the next door, its a run down bathroom. There is no way into the building here either, there is a bee's nest though. I exit quickly and get fustrated. Walking around to the back I find a latter that I can go up. I make my way up three diffrent latters about fourty feet above the ground. There is still no way to get into the building and no more steps for me to go up. I continue around looking for any small window or opening that is not boarded up. I find a hall that goes back into the middle of the building and there it is, a opening at the top of a grage door. The opening is about ten feet off the ground and one foot hight and three feet wide. I find a way to climb up to the opening and start to sweating as soon as I enter.

I climb down and the first room is about 20 x30 feet. There are old lights and levers to the right and two small stair cases to the left. They only go down and I want to go up. There are two rows of five silos connected to this building. I walk through the silos on the left first, it is so dark that I can see nothing at all. I do not know if there were latters that I could not find any if they were hiding in the darkness. Each silo is about 15 feet in diamiter and pitch black, except the ones on the end. There were windows into those. I was unable to find anyway to go to the top. I walk back to the room that I entered in.

There are no stairs going up. I want to go up so bad, I can't. I try the other silos, maybe one of those has a latter that I can find that will take me to the top. They are just as dark and sweat is falling into my eyes. As I walk down the stairs into the first of five silos I hear a crunch that makes me jump, there is stuff all over the floor that has a loud crunch to it each time I take a step. I can not see anything so I have no idea what it is that I am stepping on, I think that it is glass. I later learn that it is the dead bones of mice. I still find no way to the top, I settle for the fact that I did get to the top and I go to leave.

I climb back up to the opening ten feet above the ground, I hear wings behind me I turn and there is a pegon in the corrner. It takes off and flyes toward me, it is a owl. I have seen a few in the day light, it is rare to see. I get down, videotape and photograph the owl as it swoops down at me. I conside my self lucky to have seen this and the time comes for me to leave.

Rachel takes me to a place called FreeBirds. It is a restruant, I order my food and go stand by the cashier, his name is Jhon. "Is that everthing for you?" he asks.

"No." I say and point to Rachel's plate as well.

"Your getting hers to?" Jhon asks me.

I would like to say yes but that would be a lie. "No, she is accually getting mine." I say and I feel as if I must tell him about the trip. He understands and is able to help me out with a coupon for the next FreeBirds that I go to. He Becomes very interested in the trip that I am taking and invites me to a party the next night.

I go to the party and have a lot of fun, I am able to leave the next morning and get a total of 7 rides to Austin, I took the 290 west route to Austin and found that the rides came quickly. If hitchhiking was always this easy, more people would do it. I did not run into any problems until after my fifth ride.

I start to walk and hitchhike at the same time and find that this time it is taking a while longer for someone to stop, I now have no sholder for cars to pull over onto and the traffic is moving about 60 MPH. I come upto a small cross street about a mile down the road. I wait here, maybe if a car wants to pick me up they can pull into this street and I can get in. About 15 minutes there and a man comes out to get his mail, he has no mail in his mail box. "Where are you going?" he asks.

"Austin." I say

We talk about nothing really, I can't remember what was said, untill I start to tell him about the trip and my blog. His eyes widen and he gets a new look on his face. "So how much money do you have?" he asks.

"Hardly any."

"Do you have a computer?"

"No." I lie.

I can tell that he dose not belive me. "What do you have in your bag?"

"Clothes and food, thats about it." I lie again.

Again I can tell that he dose not belive me. His face lights up as if he has just got an idea. "I am going to go get my car and I will give you a ride to Austin, it's only like 40 miles from here." he says. I don't know what to say. I have a feeling that I am not the only one not telling the truth. I feel as if this man is about to go get a car and rob me. While I am getting in or out of a car, it is easy for a car to take off with my bag if I don't leave a door open or have a way to get back into the car quickly. In fact, even if I do leave a open door, I would have to be ready and still there is no telling if I would make it back into a car. "Will you be here when I get back?"

"Yes." I anwser.

"Cool, I'll bring you a beer." He turns and walks back down the street to get his car, I do not know how far his car or house is, once he is out of sight I really start to think. Should I get into his car or not. I have been told to trust my instincts and most my rides have come quickly, I should not even be thinking about getting into his car. I leave, with no ride, on foot. Now I fear that he will come back with his car and see me a few hundred feet away walking. I walk very fast, as fast as I can without running. Another mile down the road I get a ride. As the car pulls over I think to myself please don't be this guy. It is not, a new fresh face and I am happy to get this ride that takes me all the way to Austin.

View Video --->>>  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_Fh_zJhyf4

Stuck in the desert to Houston.

I was left in the middle of nowhere. A man picked me up and I drove his car 100's of miles for him while he slept in the passenger seat. About fifty miles before El Paso he wakes with a start, sits straight up, looks at me. Then the other way and speaks. I can not understand what it is that he is saying.

"What?" I say

He looks at me, I see a side that I have not yet seen. His crazy eyes are unfocused, he dose not speak, just looks at the window and pounds on it pointing at his reflection. I know that as soon as I get somewhere or anywhere I need to leave the car, however it would be very dangrous for me to leave now. There is nothing around, I have little water. If no one were to pick me up I could die of dehydration.

He grabs the wheel and pulls a little, "Pull over here!" he demands. I don't want to, at the same time I can't drive with him pulling on the wheel. My mind goes to mybackpack. I can not loose this, it has everything, my cell phone lays forgotten on the front seat. Before I know it I am standing in the vast desert with very little water, no phone and no ride.

That is where this trip starts. I soon get a ride from a trucker, it is not common to get a ride from a trucker, most of them don't want to give a ride. Most that do, can't and are scared for their jobs. Most companies will fire the driver if there is a hitchhiker caught in the cab. But once in a while you will find a trucker that will toss the rule book out the window and pick you up. I found one of those and got a ride all the way past El Paso.

I got a ride to a little city called Van Horn. This is a small town on the west side of Texas, it seems that most the people who once lived here have moved onto other towns. I would guess that in the next five years that this will be a ghost town. Most the buildings are empty and no one can be found in the center of town. One truck stop is by the only onramp in the city. Trains run through and blasts its horn.

The next day I once again get a ride from another trucker, I go all the way to San Antonio. I spend a few days walking the river walk, I see the Alamo and other things in the city. I stay with a man in a wearhouse. He offers a place for me to stay. The wearhouse is not nice or clean. It is a place for me to have shelter from the people of the city. I am entering San Antonio from the bad part of town. I feel as if the area has almost no white people. Not to be racist I just am not used to the feeling of seeing people point at me as I walk by and make comments about my skin color.

Once I pass my few day in San Antonio I start to move onto Houston. It takes me hours to find a ride. When I find one, it's a drunk guy "Warm beer in the front, cold beer in the back!" He says as soon as we get onto the road. I look down at my feet, there is two six packs at my feet, I look back and there are three six packs in the back. One is missing a few beers. I look back at the man that picked me up. He is a man in his mid 40's, his teeth are crooked on the bottom, his face is very skinny, his eyes are sunken back into his head and his hair is wild. He picks up a 44 oz fountain drink from a convence store, as he drinks it and sets it down I smell the beer inside it. My eyes are glued to the road.

He tells me that he can bring me about 30 miles down the road. I think to myself that I can handel that, I ride a very nervous ride. His drunken-ness worries me not only because of driving, I fear that I may end up again on the side of the road in the middle of no-mans-land. The good thing is that there are more people on this part of Texas than near El Paso. I take all my stuff and make sure that it is always either in my pockets or in my backpack so that I will not forget anything if I am once again kicked out of a car.

He calls his son on the phone and we pick him up, His son looks just like him and they decide to take me all the way to my friends house in Houston, 180 miles out of their way one direction, 360 round trip. I arrive, safe and sound.

SEE VIDEO AT http://youtu.be/7trTpmBdc14

Now on Blogspot

So here I am, Facebook lost 6 million members in the US alone. When Myspace was big and we all had myspace accounts I put all my eggs into that basket and never ventured off into other avenues until myspace was completly washed up. I thought that Myspace was just way to big and popular to ever fall. As we all know I was wrong.

Now I am venturing off into new areas to promote myself and my journy. I am like that, self absorbed and all about me. I hope that you can get something out of me, but the light is on me here. So I will link to all my stuff now.

http://www.randymajor.me/
Facebook = Randy Major Photography
Youtube = TheRandyMajor
Twitter = Simply_Randy

You can search any of those places for me. I am starting the Blogspot so that when or if Facebook falls I will be prepared. I really don't know when or where the next big social media net will be.

Anyways, who am I? Why do I think that you need to know so much about me?

I have started on May 06, 2011 a 19 month hitchhing trip that will take me wherever people want to take me. I am doing a video blog once or twice a week. the best place to find those is my website or youtube.

I left with only the things that would fit into my backpack, without going back on the last six weeks to much I have had a ton of crazy, fun and bad moments. I will try to update this blog once a week.

So for now it's just HELLO!