The Folks You Meet in Buckeye (Day 8)

While hanging out at a Burger King waiting for some bicycle repair men to arrive (I will elaborate more on that in the next entry), I met a self proclaimed nomad. I don't know what his name was because he kept changing it... it was either Bill or Joe or Martin (he referred to himself by all three names).



While he and I sat on a bench outside the BK for nearly two hours, here are some of the amazing (and somewhat doubtful) claims he made:

• He walked across the country three times.
• He hasn't had a fixed address since he was 14.
• He owned three flower shops in Southern California which were fronts to launder money for the mob.
• He spent 21 days in a Wichita city jail for walking on a toll highway.
• Simon and Garfunkel stole one of his poems and put the lyrics in their song "Homeward Bound"
• He lived under an Atlantic City boardwalk for 8 years.
• When working for a 7-11 in Compton, the Bloods and the Crips used to accompany him to the bank when he had to make the weekly deposit.
• He has over 40 "godchildren" all across the country.
• He got tasered by the cops three times in Louisiana and simply pulled the wires off and walked away.
• He took three trains from Philadelphia to Atlantic City just to punch a guy in the jaw.
• One of his poems got sold to someone for over $30,000.
• He is the only survivor from his platoon in the Vietnam War -- all the others have died under "mysterious circumstances."