8:30 a.m. It’s Friday, I wake up and record a camp breakdown. Once all my gear’s packed up and I’m ready to go, I leave the swamp and I head out to the bus stop. I take the bus to the hub in Worcester and from there I bike over to the train station. I literally got there just in time to take the train into Boston. When the conductor sees me on the train I buy a ticket because of Veterans Day I get the $10 deal which allows you to ride on the commuter rails all weekend for only 10 bucks.
11:30 a.m. When I arrive at South Station I head out and get ready to ride over to North Station. I see a man sitting up against the wall and I think he might be overdosed. It looks as if he’s not even breathing so I began to yell in his face to see if he’s awake. The guy next to him says oh he’s always like that. I have my narcan ready, and the man wakes up. He thanks me for waking him up, and I tell him I’m doing a documentary and he gives me a quick 1 minute video about homelessness. I ride my bike over to North Station and it’s about an hour wait for the next train into Salem. I grab a bite to eat at Star Market, tuna fish on a croissant and some Fritos chips.
1:05 p.m. I take the train to Salem and then ride my bike to a friend’s house where my truck is stored. On the train ride I reached out to a few friends and I’ve made plans to spend the night with a good friend of mine. I take some time at my friend’s place where my truck is to wash my clothes, wash my gear, and get the stink out my boots, which I do by spraying disinfectant on them, putting them up against the heater to dry them out, then spraying more disinfectant, washing the insoles, and then spraying febreze in them, drying them out again, and spraying febreze and them again.
6:00 p.m. Once my phones are all charged and my gear is all cleaned I shower and get myself ready to spend the night with another good friend. It’s always a stark contrast from sleeping out in the woods in a small tent by myself, to sleeping in a nice place, watching funny movies, and having all the luxuries of modern human society. Although I like the survival aspect of this project, the comfort and pleasures of modern luxury saturate my being like some pleasurable drug.