Mizumoto visited the Badlands during his three-week hitchhikcing trip. Subitted photo
EMILY SCHMITT KNIGHTLIFE EDITOR
In the last edition of The Trumpet, Kazushi Mizumoto’s hitchhiking adventure took him from Waverly to Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming and South Dakota. The story ended as a police car pulled over to question him along a highway in South Dakota.
Mizumoto said he had no option but to talk to the police officers. He told them he was just on a walk, enjoying the sunshine.
“They [the police officers] asked me some questions about what I was doing and who I was,” he said.
They accepted his answer and said he could continue on his way.
His encounter with the police scared him, and he hoped he could find a ride quickly so he would not be questioned again.
He soon met a college student who was driving to Minneapolis to visit his brother. Mizumoto was grateful when the student offered him a ride to Minnesota.
“I arrived in Minneapolis at midnight in downtown. I was super tired and it was so busy and [there were] a lot of people,” he said. “I was afraid, so I looked for a hotel. I was lucky to find one.”
After he stopped in his hotel room, he wandered the hotel, winding up in the main floor bar.
He relaxed and took in his surroundings, eventually realizing it was a gay bar. He was surprised but said he was excited to know that Americans have the freedom to operate a bar like that.
Mizumoto spent the next day with a friend who lived nearby, but his friend was busy and he could only stay for the day.
“After, I looked for a safe place in Minneapolis,” he said. “Two men appeared in front of me. One said ‘give me money,’ so I gave them my sleeping bag.”
Mizumoto spent the night sleeping in a park with no sleeping bag to keep him warm.
When he woke up, he hitchhiked toward Illinois to visit another friend. He got to Chicago, but was disappointed when his friend was unable to meet him.
Discouraged and exhausted, Mizumoto boarded a bus headed to Iowa. He arrived in Waverly on June 17, proud of his three-week experience as a vagabond.
“My friends said I was crazy,” he said. “I didn’t tell anyone I was going. They were worried about me during my journey.”
His e-mail inbox was filled with messages from concerned friends. Keeping his trip a secret was part of the adventure, he said.
Mizumoto reflected on his journey and said he will never sleep outside in a strange place again.
He said it was an eye-opening experience that he would like to repeat, only on a larger scale.
Someday, Mizumoto wants to be able to tell a story of a summer spent hitchhiking across America.