My new lease on life led me to an AM-PM gas station where I bathed myself in the bathroom sink with appearance and enthusiasm similar to that of a drought stricken chickadee splashing about a bird bath on a hot summer day. There weren’t many opportunities to shower while living on the road, unless I were to pay for a motel/hotel. Cleaning up wasn’t a great concern nonetheless, I was here to climb mountains, and I refused to worry too much about much else. Yet the longer I was on the road, the more my stench intensified. The more my stench intensified, the more I daydreamed of Loves truck stops in Idaho- They have showers with all of the fixings and every potato souvenir your starchy heart could desire.
The AM-PM cashier, having most likely seen more surprising things in that store, didn’t even bat an eye when I came in dry, then paid for a coffee and two cosmic brownies while dripping wet and smelling of cheap, but (thankfully) heavily perfumed hand soap on the way out.
The cosmic brownies seemed like a near purposeless choice at first- The rainbow colored bits didn’t taste like much, but the accent sure made it good eating. They looked just like the Sierra sky later that night.
In every event, the colors alone were worth the journey. .
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