June 9, 10, 2008

Oakland, California to Farmington, New Mexico
This morning we went to tour an old Navy installation that has been closed down. Parts of it have been resurrected into new stores and such. Probably next will come the condos! There were also some cool ships there. We went in one to see the quarantine area for when the astronauts came home from the moon so long ago. It was an old airstream trailor!

I caught the bus at 1:30 to start my long journey east. There was a curious young person on one of my buses today. I am not a person who is offended by tatoos or piercings or anything like that, but this seemed a little overboard. He wore bright purple tight pants, and a sweatshirt that showed cartoon characters on it in pink and light purple. His dark hair, well, his bangs were down to his nose, so he couldn't look forward without seeing hair. And he had two black lip rings through his lower lip. He kept running his fingers through his hair and then touching his two lip rings, as if to make sure everything was still where he left it. His large belt buckle said "666" on it. He also wore those gloves without fingers . . . they were black with "HIM" on the outside and a pentacle on the palm part. What an interesting character he was!

Now back to the journey! Through the parched, yellow rolling hills of California and heading toward Reno. I lived only an hour from Reno . . . this was kind of rolling through my past. We went through Grand Junction, Colorado which was the "big city" we'd go to when I was in college. Then through Ouray, Colorado . . . one of the most beautiful places I've ever been . . . these gorgeous red rocks. The road was one of the scariest I've ever been on . . . hairpin turns in this big bus. Very scary. But then came Silverton, an old mining town at the top of a mountain. I think it's around twelve thousand feet. After leaving Silverton, we headed toward Durango, Colorado . . . another town that I had lived in many moons ago. It is a regular metropolis now . . . even has a Wal Mart. Yuck. Not my kind of place anymore. Then further south till we finally reached Farmington, New Mexico. Over two hours late.

I had called the people who were going to pick me up, but I had to leave a message, so I wasn't sure if they had gotten the call, or if they were willing to wait. But, when I got off the bus, there was Pat smiling and waiting and hugging me like a long lost friend. She had two kids with her, R and T, who are at the ranch working with horses and learning to ride.

Counselor, New Mexico
We arrived at the ranch after it was dark. Pat parked the car toward the hay barn, and I helped her feed the horses. Then we drove back to the house, and she showed me my room. It is simple, with two beds that are similar to the beds in India. The bathroom is outside in another building. I fell asleep quickly!