Day 116: Oh no.

Something is wrong. Something has been wrong with me for a thousand miles. It come and it goes, and now it's back with a vengeance.

I sleep awful, disturbed by dreams of a serpent living in my stomach (sensory input much?). I'm awake early and stare at the blue cuben fiber of my tent for way too long before breaking camp and heading out ahead of my crew to seek refuge in Williamstown, MA. There's a hospital and a natural foods store there, either one might offer me relief, either in the form of knowledge or witchcraft (tinctures).

It's an easy three miles into town and an easy two mile hitch.!

Oh no, the hospital doesn't take walk ins. Oh no, the store doesn't have tinctures. Oh no, the nearest walk in clinic is 20 miles away.

I'm loitering in the health food store when a little old lady offers to drive me up to Bennington, VT to the clinic. Cool. She even waits on me whilst I'm being seen by a doctor. This is my third doctor's visit for this particular problem and it's more of the same. "Have you drank any contaminated water? Like water from a stream." I almost laugh in their face every time. Yeah, nothing but contaminated water, but don't worry, I push it through a 2 ounce filter before I drink it. They push on my stomach in various spots, no it doesn't hurt doc. No, I've never had surgery, yes I have my appendix, no I have never had diverticulitis. They want to do a stool sample, this is what I'm here for, to get a stool sample. Nice, they give me some weird containers to put my shit into, and a "hat". The hat is a piece of plastic you put on a toilet seat to catch your feces. Gross. I put it on my head and ask if I'm wearing it right. One nurse thinks I'm funny, the other thinks I'm an idiot.

The little old lady's name is Rachel and she says she's really into "community justice". She has a public access show called Solution's Rising. The drive back to Williamstown is pleasant and we talk about why fracking sucks, environmental racism, and social justice issues.

The rest of my day is spent in a hotel on a toilet seat with the bathroom door open watching reality television shows from my porcelain throne. 

It could be worse.