7:00 a.m. I wake up, I have to drive to Boston today. I wanted to take the train but there’s no trains going into North Station due to work on the tracks. Today I’m heading into Boston to meet up with my friend Tyshawn to do an interview. I go through my morning routines of taking my caffeine and vitamin C and getting My gear together to leave the tent. I have time so I look through my phones at stuff on social media and YouTube. My biggest plan is to create a larger camp with all the amenities that an urban outdoorsman would ever need. I do a short video and I’m still not even sure if I’m going to upload it.
9:15 a.m. I Make the hike out of the woods to my vehicle where it’s parked. I have a destination of s&p parking in Boston near the federal courthouse off of Ash Street. I always park here when I go to Boston in the vehicle. It’s only 23 bucks a day, which is really good as far as city standards go for parking. I park my car at s&p and I unlatched the bike from the back of the vehicle and ride the bike to Macy’s on Winter Street near the Commons. While I’m walking my bike up I hear someone say my name and I turn around and it’s Tyshawn. This is the first time I’ve met Tyshawn in person, we’ve always talked through messages and on the phone. He’s definitely taller than I expected.
11:15 a.m. Tyshawn and I went to Nero coffee, I asked the barista if we could sit upstairs, and she said that it’s closed. The place has a lot of customers, so Tyshawn and I just sit down and I start to do the interview. While we’re doing the interview a man comes over and says that if we’re going to do recording we can do it upstairs, so Tyshawn and I work our way upstairs and continue the interview.
Tyshawn works for some of the bigger agencies in Massachusetts that handle addiction recovery. Tyshawn’s story is powerful, and one of the things that I admire about Tyshawn is He’s very intelligent and knowledgeable about a multitude of things including health care and addiction recovery, Tyshawn is also very street savvy. A mixture you don’t find very often in this world. I always learn something new from Tyshawn, and during the interview he brings up collaborative care which is something I’ve been speaking about for a while and I didn’t even know that it was becoming a thing. It was really good to hear that this concept is being put out by the funding agencies.
1:15 p.m. After the interview Ty and I talked for a while. And then we go our separate ways. I see that The Mountain Warehouse on Winter Street is going out of business so I go in there to see what kind of get deals they have. They have the stretchy cargo pants that I like that usually cost about 70 bucks and they’re selling for 20 bucks so I buy two pairs of those. They also have a 70 l hiking pack that usually runs about 170 bucks if they’re willing to sell for $70 so I decide to go on a limb and buy that to have an extra considering mine is very heavy.
2:00 p.m. I know that they are doing a review of an addiction bill at the state house so I head over there on my bike. I go through security and they take my Swiss army knife and defensive devices to be picked up when I leave the building. I head into the room with the senators and the people that are advocating for the bill. I listen to some of the conversation. It is my goal to get more involved in addiction healthcare reform and homeless care reform and advocate for the best policies.
4:30 p.m. there’s no way I want to drive in traffic for 2 hours to get back to my campsite. I decide to hang around Boston for a while until traffic dies out around 7:00 p.m. I bike around seeing the sites. I take some pictures. I get a video of the Boston improvement Band I often see while in Boston and A man that I always see preaching in the streets. I bike back to the area where my car is parked, and I get food from a convenience store.
6:50 p.m. I drive my vehicle north through Boston. I get turned around on my maps by taking a wrong turn which throws me about 4 miles off, I have to drive south of Boston, turnaround to head back north and this pisses me off. This happens time to time, The off ramps in Boston are stacked on top of each other and sometimes it’s easy to make a mistake on which exit to take. There was also a detour which threw me off.
7:40 p.m. I park my car and I hike back to my campsite. It’s always sketchy walking through the dark alone at night. There’s a calm comfort once I reach my tent. It’s cold out, so I settle in, cover myself with blankets, and go to sleep.