Epic Trip Out West, Day Forty-Five: Flat Tire

My first true glimpse of the southwest (other than coming to the surface in the middle of the night to hear that we were in Albuquerque) came this morning when I opened my eyes to sunlight, surprised once again that I had managed to sleep. I looked out the Greyhound window to distant pink cliffs, shadowed in faded navy and backed up with a sky and sunrise clouds that seemed to have been painted with creamy chalk. Then I fell right back to sleep.

Also, I think I visited my first foreign country today. At least, that was the best I could presume from the fact that all the signs were in Spanish and nobody around me seemed to speak English. Or maybe, El Paso, Texas, is part of the US, if only technically. I had a two-hour layover in the city of run-down buildings, southwest style, and Hispanic culture. Then I was back on the Greyhound, and it actually looked like the bus was running on schedule for once. Soon we were in Arizona, and I gazed out at the plateaus and sandy water-worn hills and dramatic buttes jutting above the plains of scrub and cacti. The sky was thin and pale, without even a hint of cloud to break its watercolor hue.

I got an even better look at a particular stretch of scenery when the Greyhound bus decided that it was running with too much alacrity, and must face some sort of hold-up. It decided on a flat tire in the middle of nowhere, and consequently, I learned the art of patience through a two-hour delay (I read Walden and watched the last half of Gladiator).

In the end, we safely arrived in Tucson, and my first-cousin-once-removed Sheila and my second cousin Mindy came to pick me up (I haven't seen them in well over ten years, so we have a lot of catching up to do). They drove me home, let me take a much-needed shower, and fed me a hearty dinner of homegrown steak, corn on the cob, and salad. I think I'm going to like it here...

~Lisa Shafter

Money spent today: $0 (This was hard because I was hungry for "real food," but I got my nourishment through apples, almonds, craisins, and a few leftover granola pancakes. The supper my cousins gave me was definitely welcome, though!)
Deficit: $5.27