I smiled as I stepped in. “Red Hat Society.”

Fedora lady smiled. “Red Hot Society. And where were you last night at our Red Ball when I was looking for a dance partner.”

“I was resting my legs,” I said. “I’ve been doing a lot of walking.”

“You look like it,” she said. “How about losing the robe and giving us a little peek?”

“Janet!” Doris said.

“Oh, don’t be such a prude,” Janet replied. “He’s probably a male model. He’s used to this.”

“I’m not a model.”

“You could be,” Doris said.

“Ought to be,” Janet corrected.

“Sorry,” I said.

Just then the bell rang for my floor.

“Oh, come on,” Janet said. “Just a little peeksy.”

I stepped out of the elevator. “Have a good day, ladies.”

As the elevator door shut I heard Janet say, “Get his room number, Doris. That man is hot.”

The next morning I went downstairs and ate at the hotel’s restaurant. There were still red hats all around, but the women seemed subdued, as if a wild night had done them in.

I left the hotel by eight o’clock, getting back on 29 south. The road led through an industrial area and my walk was slowed considerably. I spent a lot of time maneuvering the on- and off-ramps, searching for roads that paralleled the freeway. It was difficult walking, but sometimes there’s no easy route.

I had walked for eight miles, to a town with the fantastic name of Tea, before the construction ended and the traffic started to thin out. The landscape turned again to plains, which I was glad to see again. That night I slept under an overpass. It had been a tedious day of walking and I was exhausted. I don’t know why some days are harder than others, but I had thought of McKale all day and my chest ached with loneliness. I was glad to finally sleep.

Chapter Seventeen

C H A P T E R

Seventeen

One cannot judge someone by the

city they’re from, any more than

one can judge a book by which

bookstore sold it. Yet, still we do.

Alan Christoffersen’s diary

Over the next four days I covered the distance between Sioux Falls and Sioux City with little worth writing about in between. From Sioux City, my next major destination was St. Joseph, approximately 225 miles away. At my current pace I would make it in ten days.

The freeway leaving Sioux City was too busy and too narrow to safely traverse, so I walked along the Floyd River, which was beautiful with its sandy shore.