Buna. Rhymes with Yuma.

We were all ready to go this morning but the sun was far from rising. The highway was full of traffic with cars and trucks going to work. I had a job to do so I sprayed on the bug juice and began walking. There was an emergency shoulder so I was confident I could be safe. People usually stay on to the left of the solid white line and I had too many miles to wait around for daylight. I had to walk seventeen miles to Buma and then another mile to get to the truck stop where 62 and 96 intersect. I left my pack in the back of the truck of the nice young man who helped me at the end of the day. I took a shower at the truck stop and when I came out he was there to return it. I'm so glad because I had not noticed I had left it behind. Good people make the world go around. The distances are getting greater from town to town and I will need to keep a good pace, get going very early like I did today in order to make this work. For now I must get some rest.
I met a man and wife early this morning as they were leaving their home who asked my purpose. They had lost their son to diabetes and told me as I was walking away that I had brightened their day because they had met me. I was a wreck when I turned and walked away after seeing the loss in their eyes. Maybe it was the early morning. Maybe it was the accumulation of all the heartbreaking stories people share with me and I was caught off guard. Maybe no one ever told me that big boys don't cry...