bobby . 27 years old / enid . oklahoma
zach and i drove to new mexico from denver last night. we stayed in the most affordable hotel we could find and then got back on the road before sunrise to make the long drive across the state of oklahoma. we didn't run into many people throughout the day. we stopped for gas and food in tiny towns that didn't have many pedestrians. this part of the country is very car-oriented. i would find it very difficult and frustrating to continue this project in these surroundings.
looking at the map, i realized that we had one more opportunity to look for strangers before the sun went down. that opportunity went by the name "enid, oklahoma", and was the last place to find people before arriving at zach's home after dark. enid is not my kind of town. as you come into it on highway 412, the only thing immediately visible are strip malls and fast food chains, a lot of big trucks, and gas stations. they had a starbucks, though, so we made our way there to get some coffee and look for people.
starbucks was in an ugly building sitting in the middle of an ugly parking lot with a lot of really harsh sunlight ricocheting off the cars and asphalt. i cringed. zach and i took our beverages to go and started walking. looking up and down the street, the only things we could see were road and strip malls and people climbing in and out of their big trucks to go to "dollar general" and "sonic". we didn't have a lot of time to get this done. we had been driving all day and were very ready to get to zach's place. these are the days of iheartstrangers and sometimes they are very taxing.
after a failed attempt in a big parking lot, we crossed four lanes of traffic to make our way back towards the car. neither zach nor i were "feeling it", to say the least. as i was looking around, i saw a man step around the side of a small cargo truck to throw a piece of plastic on the ground. i don't particularly like it when people do that, but i thought i would challenge myself to invite this person to be today's stranger. i figured he would say yes. and i figured if he said no, that i could convince him otherwise.
i rounded the back of the truck and excused myself. a couple of guys were moving mattresses around. the two of them laughed when i told them about the project and bobby agreed to participate. his co-worker/friend jimmy told bobby to throw a large piece of plastic mattress covering away first. i noted the irony. bobby came back from performing his task and we got to work. bobby asked jimmy for his email address and jimmy was not happy about disclosing it. after bobby called jimmy a girl, jimmy told me not fill his inbox up with "spam" and then gave me his address. i assured him that i wouldn't and then bobby and i took some pictures while jimmy wrestled with mattresses in the background.
we didn't exchange much information as bobby had work to do and i had a few more hours of driving ahead of me. i did find out that bobby was born and raised right there in enid and that he works for "galaxy mattress & more" and he loves his job.
zach and i drove to new mexico from denver last night. we stayed in the most affordable hotel we could find and then got back on the road before sunrise to make the long drive across the state of oklahoma. we didn't run into many people throughout the day. we stopped for gas and food in tiny towns that didn't have many pedestrians. this part of the country is very car-oriented. i would find it very difficult and frustrating to continue this project in these surroundings.
looking at the map, i realized that we had one more opportunity to look for strangers before the sun went down. that opportunity went by the name "enid, oklahoma", and was the last place to find people before arriving at zach's home after dark. enid is not my kind of town. as you come into it on highway 412, the only thing immediately visible are strip malls and fast food chains, a lot of big trucks, and gas stations. they had a starbucks, though, so we made our way there to get some coffee and look for people.
starbucks was in an ugly building sitting in the middle of an ugly parking lot with a lot of really harsh sunlight ricocheting off the cars and asphalt. i cringed. zach and i took our beverages to go and started walking. looking up and down the street, the only things we could see were road and strip malls and people climbing in and out of their big trucks to go to "dollar general" and "sonic". we didn't have a lot of time to get this done. we had been driving all day and were very ready to get to zach's place. these are the days of iheartstrangers and sometimes they are very taxing.
after a failed attempt in a big parking lot, we crossed four lanes of traffic to make our way back towards the car. neither zach nor i were "feeling it", to say the least. as i was looking around, i saw a man step around the side of a small cargo truck to throw a piece of plastic on the ground. i don't particularly like it when people do that, but i thought i would challenge myself to invite this person to be today's stranger. i figured he would say yes. and i figured if he said no, that i could convince him otherwise.
i rounded the back of the truck and excused myself. a couple of guys were moving mattresses around. the two of them laughed when i told them about the project and bobby agreed to participate. his co-worker/friend jimmy told bobby to throw a large piece of plastic mattress covering away first. i noted the irony. bobby came back from performing his task and we got to work. bobby asked jimmy for his email address and jimmy was not happy about disclosing it. after bobby called jimmy a girl, jimmy told me not fill his inbox up with "spam" and then gave me his address. i assured him that i wouldn't and then bobby and i took some pictures while jimmy wrestled with mattresses in the background.
we didn't exchange much information as bobby had work to do and i had a few more hours of driving ahead of me. i did find out that bobby was born and raised right there in enid and that he works for "galaxy mattress & more" and he loves his job.
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