getting there is half the fun
as you can imagine, i kept a notebook full of observations made on the way to los angeles. the first journal entry i am going to do is going to involve simply getting there as there was enough action to keep anyone entertained for a while (hopefully).
first off, i would like to just make a list here of the cool signs/things on trucks i saw on my journey
- "Never underestimate an AMERICAN!" : on an 18 wheeler
- "Scrap is Beautiful." : back of a scrap metal truck
- "PLOOF!" : back of a tow truck. still don't know what the hell it means
- "home of the 12th largest Ford dealership in Texas, come see why...ABILENE!" : billboard in abilene
- "HAPPY MUSIC!" : store in chinatown in LA
now, this is my journal that i kept on the bus ride to los angeles. i can't promise it will make sense but i can promise it made as much sense as it does now at the time. so here we go.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
i am sitting beside an apache lesbian. she smelled really bad for the first two hours but i think the air conditioning has aired her out a bit. there is a really cute boy on the bus. he looks like a runaway phil daniels with a tan (probably because he is a runaway in the west). abilene is the silliest place i have ever seen. it is like the baltimore of the southwest, just waiting for john waters to make a movie out of its' rich history.
dammit, runaway boy is getting off in abilene. why run away to abilene? at least in dallas there are overpasses to sleep under. all the resturants here in abilene are comical. they all have murals painted on the side of them depicting happy immigrants preparing happy food. and they are all made of cinderblock. what a happy building material! another interesting thing about abilene is the "martin luther king jr memorial bridge." there are signs advertising it for a good mile before it. when you finally get to it, it passes over one unused railroad track. in-dust-ry!
i left at 8:30 this morning, got to abilene at 1pm and will be in el paso at 9:30 tonight. it has taken me about 6 hours to finally figure out how to recline my seat. but it is actually really comfortable.
cool, border patrol is coming onto the bus! he walked right past me without asking if i was legal. phew, close one! they are questioning someone right now. and now they are taking him out and putting him in a car. eh oohh.
i only have 26 hours left on this bus.
our new driver just got in and this is his introductory speech verbatim:
"hello my name is bob and i will be your driver to el paso which is 465 miles so i hope we get along. now there is no smoking on this bus. bear in mind that i, myself, am a smoker. in order to prevent us smokers on board from chewing our arms off at the elbows, i will be making smoking breaks. for those of you that don't smoke, i might reccomend you try starting. finally, i know you all want to get to know your neighbor but realize that some people have been on this bus two lifetimes and don't want to talk to you or anyone. have a nice trip."
two hours later:
"hi folks, it's me, bob, again. now this stop isn't on the itinerary but in my opinion, this is the place to get the best fried chicken you will ever have in your life. because i am one hell of a nice guy, we are stopping to get some."
bob and i also talked one on one at the gas n grub ("the best little country store in town") and he told me about a place in weatherford where he got a 20 oz steak for $7.99. the waitress had to carry it with two hands. he said he didn't wait for her to bring silverware, he just "picked it up and bit a hunk outta it."
i packed nutri grain bars in case i got hungry. bars i packed:8 bars remaining: 8
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
much like the blair witch project, this is where my journal left off as far as the bus ride out there goes. of course, i have written things about the rest of my trip. and when i get rid of the permanent greyhound swaying feeling, i will transcribe those. until then, take care of yourself, and each other.