7:30 a.m. I wake up. I get all my stuff together to travel to Haverhill. I check in on my buddy. He’s in a better mood. I ask him how he’s doing. He says, “how does it look like I’m doing?” We have a conversation about taking steps towards working on the issue at hand in his life.
8:30 a.m. I drove to Haverhill. My first stop is the library. I parked my car there. I take the bike off the rack on the car, and I bike over to common ground Cafe, a homeless day shelter that serves food, coffee, and snacks and provides a place for people to hang out that are homeless during the day. I got some chili and a piece of cake, and I charge my phone’s. There’s probably about 25 people in a small space. There’s an older gentleman, who is dressed in the fashion of someone that lives outside. He begins to argue with another gentleman. This escalates and then it subsides. I feel confined and I get bored in this space. I decided to ride my bike back to the library and hang out there for a while.
9:30 a.m. I arrived at the library. The library in Haverhill is nice. I take a few pictures. They have a fountain. There’s also a statue of general Washington. I’m able to find a table to sit at. I have not been in the mood to write, or do any work for the last couple days. I mostly spend my time scrolling online looking at stuff.
12:30 p.m. Once again I feel like moving around. I collect my stuff and I take my bike for a ride around town. I checked out the crunch fitness in Haverhill. And I look at a nearby graveyard which I scout as a place to possibly sleep. From the graveyard I ride the bike to The Ray of Light recovery center that I can’t tell online if it’s open or soon to be open. When I get to the location of the recovery center there’s a row of doors and a big building and I can’t tell where this recovery center is. I see Inari Recovery Services on a door directory, I recognize the name, and then I realize it’s my friend Ryuan’s addiction counseling service. There’s also a Zen center in the practice. I go down to check on her to see how she’s doing. When I get into the Zen center, I’m confronted with a little furry Chihuahua who is barking loudly and aggressively protecting her master. I can hear that Ryuan is on a Telehealth call, so I back out of the Zen center, and go back to find the recovery center. I find the door that leads to the recovery center and it is locked. There’s a doorbell so I ring it and nobody comes. After I wait a few minutes I decide to go back down and see if Ryaun is off the telehealth call. Once again I enter the Zen Center and I am berated by a little fur ball. I can hear that Ryaun’s getting off the call, so I wait and then I announce myself. We both end up sitting down and discussing different topics like addiction treatment, homelessness, work, Buddhism, and best practices. I think the conclusion is that so much could be done in the improvement of overall care in Massachusetts on all levels of society.
2:00 p.m. I leave the Zen center and continue to ride around and explore. I travel over two bridges and I look at the spaces under the bridge to find them to be good camping spots. It’s obvious people have slept under here many times. People always seem to leave their refuse in the places they makeshift camps for themselves. There’s lots of graffiti, which I take pictures of. There’s lots of garbage. One thing I do not do is make a mess where I rest. What I don’t like is the human propensity to have such a little respect for the environment. I guess when the goal is to get more pleasure, money, power, popularity, and status It’s hard to remember we all come from the forests, the jungles, the savannas, waterfronts, ocean shores, and all kinds of other places in nature.
3:30 p.m. I stopped at Market Basket to get some food. I received a text from a friend of mine in the area who has agreed to let me stay with them for a couple days while I’m in Haverhill. They say that they’ll be home from work around 4:30. After I eat the food I get from Market Basket, which is sushi and dumplings, that I eat cold, I ride my bike back over to the library which is a short distance away.
4:10 p.m. I lock my bike up to the car that’s parked at the library. I decided to go into the library and charge my phones all the way.
At about 4:45, I drove out to my friend’s condo. It’s good to see this person. And we end up hanging out together for the evening. And I spend the night in the spare bedroom.