Hello friends,

Happy Monday evening to all of you from somewhere on the Kansas-Missouri border this twelfth day of December. I’m currently looking for my Jayhawk state gig here in Kansas City, Lawrence or Topeka, wherever it might fall will be alright with me. It seems a little warmer down here and the job posting are much more plentiful than my last three stops, so hopefully the stop will be fruitful before I head north again to Nebraska.

My last five days in Des Moines with the Day family was amazing, relaxing and memorable for the gigs guys. I covered a little about them on the gigs post but the real tale of these wonderful people must be shared some more for you to appreciate my time there and their story. I was really flying low coming off my last states experience. I’ve been on my so called survival tour for almost eight months now and for the most part it has been a great ride for me with every place I’ve seen, worked and experienced along my adventure. All the good folks I’ve met and all the great people who have helped my get through 38 states thus far have made my journey one I will never forget. But really aside from a few skipped meals and a few cold nights in my truck I haven’t suffered much in comparison to the real tragic and heart wrenching survival journeys many people endure on an everyday basis in this world. I volunteered for my adventure and I can quit at any time I feel like but unfortunately for many more others like Beth and her family, they face the challenges of a journey they didn’t ask for nor have the option of bowing out when things get rough.

Beth is originally from Chicago and lived, met and married Kevin, an Iowa native, in Arizona. They found themselves back in the Quad-city area where they adopted their son Hayden. After finally settling in the Des Moines suburb of Urbandale a few years later everything seemed fine until cancer reared its ugly head for Beth. She went through the normal stages of denial and depression as you would expect. Her bout altered their lives as it does in so many cases and now her survival journey was a real one, the fight of her life! Ever the optimist and fueled by her desire to live despite the prognosis Beth fought the beast like a champion with Kevin by her side every step of the way. This sunny, funny and wonderful lady leads her life with such hope and joy one would never guess what trails she and her family have endured, I was in awe of her cheerfulness and spirit. She is winning that battle right now and plans to be around for a long time to come.

Kevin helps her with her diet, house hold duties and most importantly as her emotional and loving co-pilot on their journey to wherever and whatever destination remains. As parents they are fully invested in Hayden’s present and future well-being, homework, jazz music, social activities just to name a few. They are also entering the truly tough teenage years for the first time and are a bit nervous about that phase of child rearing. I tried to put their mind at ease and gave them my two cents worth, having raised a trio of teens myself!

Yes it was great to get to know these beautiful people who so warmly opened their home and hearts to me so freely, and what did I do in return? Why cook of course! The only way my limited budget allows me to express my love and appreciation for people I meet, a gift my mother bestowed on me many years ago. Homemade beans and tortillas, flautas, chimichangas, guacamole, and chilaquiles for breakfast were my contribution to offset my stay. We ate, laughed shared stories for days, what a life!

So as for me, the lesson I learned as I came into their home flying low and feeling a bit sorry for myself was that no matter what I still have to endure in my silly little tour for the next 12 states still remaining it will never compare to the truly survival journeys people like the Days’ and many more like them earth wide fight everyday of their lives. And that my friends are really the journeys of a life time.

Take care and have a good night!   #Yo-Ga-Fla

Juanjohn

Hello friends,

A happy and warm Thursday is what I wish you this afternoon wherever you may be. I write today from the downtown Des Moines PL here in frosty Iowa. I arrived here last night from Sioux Falls and was rescued by the Day family, Beth and Kevin, from another night of sleeping in the gigs mobile in another freezing truck stop parking lot.

Truth be told; this has been one of the hardest post to write since I started this journey back in May. If you have been following my adventure from its inception in Arizona, I always find a silver lining in every gig, stop and experience. It has up to this point been everything I imagined it would be and more, aside from a few hiccups along my path. That being said, my last six days in South Dakota were by far the most frustrating and stressful I’ve encountered of all my thirty-seven stops. Aside from the extreme weather conditions and poor job situation, I tried the best I could to stay positive, but let me tell you it tested my resolve to its limits.

I never attribute any success or failure, any experience good or bad to any particular community, state or region. As far as the good people of Sioux Falls were concerned they never knew of my existence or adventure happening right under their nose. But all it took was for one bad apple to make my struggle even more difficult and left me with such a bad taste in my mouth that I had to wait a few hours before I could sit down and write my blog without including a few expletives in both languages! Let me explain.

After four days of sitting around and doing nothing  and then sleeping in the cold, I decided to post my own ad in the local CL. I had done  it a couple of times before, once in Utah where I had success and a few other times when finding work had been difficult, just a basic post offering my skills and services to anyone who might be in need. On Monday night I received a response and as you can imagine I was thrilled after four days of nothing. The person, and that’s as kind as I will be to this guy, texted me if I could help him with some drywall the next day. I agreed and he told me he would call me the next morning for details, I was ecstatic and went to sleep cold but relieved to finally be hired. I even posted my standard update on my gigs page.

By 9:30 am I was having my coffee and yucky Micky Dee’s breakfast waiting to hear from this guy. He sent me a text saying the basement was locked and that he didn’t have the key. He told me to sit tight and he would get the key at lunch time. I sat at the McDonalds until 1pm and finally texted him whether the job was going to happen or not. He apologized for the delay and said he never got ahold of the owner. He asked me if I would be available the next day and if I would be interested in helping him with some other job just in case he couldn’t get any keys. To get some kind of reassurance I asked him to give me an exact time and location for the next day. He told me to meet him in the morning at the Home Depot, that he would call me early with the time to make contact.

After five days of agonizing frustration and fruitless efforts to score a job by any means; what choice did I have but to be optimistic and cheerful with him?  Shit happens I thought and he still reached out and offered me another opportunity to work. Despite my weary condition I prepared myself mentally and emotionally for another day and I still felt like my patience and endurance would eventually pay off in the end, it had for thirty some states and it would again I believed. My trust in people and what I’m doing hadn’t failed me, abut it would prove to be an eye opener when all was said and done.

At 10:30 in the morning I sat in my idling truck with the heater on trying to stay warm while I waited for this dude to call me, a call I’m still waiting for as I write you. Maybe because of my fatigue or desperation I tend to be a little cynical but this #*!3-@! never had any intention of hiring me I believe. He saw my ad on the CL along with my Arizona area code and decided to play a cruel and heartless game with a stranger he knew or cared anything about. I can’t prove it folks and maybe I am out of line but I can’t come up with any other explanation. I could pick up the phone and call him and say a few choice words and probably get my anger out and pour out my feelings of the last six days but the satisfaction would only be temporary. I don’t and have never begged for work from anyone and I’m not going to start now. I rather move on and try South Dakota from the Rapid City side in a few weeks than spend another day in Sioux Falls.

By noon it was obvious that he had just played me like a fiddle and probably got a big laugh about giving me the round a round for a couple of days, while I spent what precious few dollars believing his lies and false promises. He will never know what he put me through and the deception I feel for having my time, energy and hopes wasted on such a needless foray. I will tell this kid that the next person he decides to jerk around might not take so well to his little game as I did. I will turn the page on that episode and will assure you that my trust and hope of the kindness and goodness of people, even in Sioux Falls, is not one bit shaken by this event. I will move forward and score my South Dakota gig eventually and all the bad experiences of the past week will be a faded memory in the end. Well that is all I have to say about that, I hope I didn’t offend anyone.

 Now I have the Day family and Iowa to keep me busy as I continue on with my journey. be sure to check my gig album #2 for my lates pictures. Thanks for your time, support and well wishes from the bottom of my heart. Have a great day!  #Yo-Ga-Fla

Juanjohn

Hello friends,

Greetings once again from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, I hope all are well and getting ready for the work week this fourth day of December. I wish I could say the same as I finish my third day full here with still nothing to show for my efforts to land a gig. I was hoping as I last posted that I would have some good news for you by this time but unfortunately this state has been the toughest stop thus far.

I knew it would be rough based on my research and it has proved me correct. I have kept positive knowing that things could and have turned in an instant as in so many other stops. I have struggled in other states and cities that I eventually scored gigs in but they at least had something to work with. This city and state have absolutely nothing for me and my unique circumstances. I have searched the region over and over, every hour on the hour since Friday afternoon. My head hurts from scanning the internet constantly for days.

Using not only the C.L. but also local and state wide jobbing sites and even the social media streams. I had a guy on the hook yesterday with a small repair on a boat and another who needed construction help. Both never returned my calls so here I sit at the local Hy-Vee superstore, watching football and editing my books for future publication. Sometimes I have waited as much as five days to find a job but that is after responding to dozens of ads. Two ads in three days is not much to work with and very frustrating for the Johnny Man, especially since my bills and the bad weather loom in the short distance.

My patience is being tested to the limit and my butt is tired of sitting! Sitting in my truck, sitting at the truck stop, sitting at the library and sitting here at the store. I’m afraid I’m going to develop some type of secretary spread or hemorrhoids on my tushy!  Not that there is anything wrong with it folks, I’m just saying. The city is not that small and that is what surprises me I guess. I have scored gigs in small communities before but they had plenty of postings available. I suppose this state is not that big on the CL or on line job services as other regions are and my Facebook connections have come up empty here as well. I’m still sleeping every night at the Flying J parking lot and showering in their facilities but a deep freeze is coming Tuesday so finding something is getting urgent for me now. The local folks seem friendly and the town is quiet and homey with a large Native American population it seems but everyone seems to keep to themselves. This is why I can’t keep my mouth shut when I finally find work or someone lets me stay in their home, because I go days without conversing with anyone, except the clerks and attendants at the truck stops! Just ask Patrick, Stacy in Alexandria or Juliette in Fargo! I could converse with anyone about anything but in a town like this people might think I’m a weirdo or something. They're probably right!  #Yo-Ga-Fla

Juanjohn