Go, you chicken fat, go away!

This morning I felt pretty tired, and I was just going to do my 2.5 mile loop.  I run on the east side of the Floodway until I hit Brown Road, then I run on the west side of the Floodway which is the east side of the RWCD canal.  As I got about half way between Brown and Adobe, I saw a guy in the trees.  He appeared to be dancing to the beat.  But there was no beat.  The closer I got it looked more like he was having a heated conversation with someone.  But there was no one.  It became obvious pretty quickly that the guy was either high on drugs or was not all there together mentally.  Either way it made me concerned for the many old ladies that walk along the canal every morning.  As I ran by he purposely kept his back to me.  I saw an old lady down the way with her dog.  I made up my mind to warn her about him.  I realized she was heading the same way I was, so I asked if she had seen him.  She said she did not see him at first, but that her dog had sniffed him out in the trees.  We both skirted around saying that we thought he was a nut job, but the more we talked, we finally felt at ease enough with one another to come out and say it.  We discussed whether or not to call the police.  For all we know he was perfectly harmless, but still, we agreed this was a great place for a murder.  I told her that I had planned on running down another half mile, so I would instead just run another loop and see what he was up to.  Then I would decide if I should call the police.  She told me about a guy years ago that used to expose himself "for the benefit of the ladies."  We bid adieu and I ran back around to the east side of the Floodway.  I kept an eye out for him because we could see that he had started walking down the canal.  By the time I got back to Brown Road he was there.  I stopped on the catwalk by the canal gate and watched him.  He was definitely crazy.  Poor guy.  Was he dangerous to others?  I don't know.  But I decided to call the police anyway at the very least for his sake.  He was kind of hovering around a power pole with his backpack leaned up against it.  Then he crossed the other catwalk by the radial gates and went into the orange orchard on the west side of the canal.  That was the last time I saw him.  But I told the dispatcher that he wouldn't go far because his backpack was still there.  I gave her the best description of him that I could, which was not very good.  I suck.  Green jacket, brown hair, possibly facial hair, can't remember what color his pants were, 5' 10", 150 lbs.  So, I figured I'd done my civic duty and I started to run back towards home.  I looked at his backpack as I ran past the power pole.  It wasn't a backpack.  It was indeed just part of the power pole.  A covering for some of the wires at the base, I suppose.  Yeah, I felt a little dumb.  I got about a quarter mile away and I saw the officer arrive.  I kept running, but then the guilt of the backpack made me turn around.  Just then Mesa PD called me back and asked me if the guy was on the south side or the north side of Brown Road.  I told her south and that I was jogging back that way and I saw the officer so I would speak with him.  The officer never asked me about the backpack so I didn't bring it up.  I told him he had gone into the orchard, so you may not find him.  He asked if there was another locked gate over at Adobe.  I said yes.  Then I told him I used to work here and I could make a phone call to see if someone was around that could unlock it.  As I was calling my former coworker another officer pulled up.  He told him to go look around Greenfield Road.  By the time I had explained to my friend what was going on, the other officer had found another way to get in through the orchard.  So, they both went around and the second officer who had entered the orchard first drove down the west side of the RWCD canal.  I jogged behind him on the east side.  He came up to a lady and stopped to talk to her.  It was the same lady that I had talked to.  So when I caught up I told him that he was in the orange grove somewhere.  Anyway, that's about it.  Nothing too exciting.  But maybe I'll see him again some day.