DAY FOUR - May 25, 2004

Day Four began with a night stop in Fort Stockton, Texas at a convenience store, where I bought 3 T-shirts for $10. We also realized that another bus was going the same way we were which caused Martin some confusion as to who exactly were the passengers on our bus. When I voiced my concern about when we were supposed to get back on the bus, Martin pointed to a person behind us and said "He's not back on yet", causing the guy some confusion since he did not know who the heck we were being that he was not on our bus. There was some debate on the subject between Martin and I until Martin saw him get back on the other bus. Before leaving the vicinity, we were surprised to find a new man in uniform on the bus, who asked Martin and I both at different times if we were American citizens. We both were taken off guard and both asked him to repeat the question. We consulted the map before we left and I realized that my brother Paul's current residence was very close to our route. I looked in my wallet to find his number and could not.

We slept until daylight and upon awakening, we were pleased to discover that mountains were plentiful and El Paso, Texas was near. We were both pleased to find that El Paso was a beautiful city, mostly desert surrounded by mountains, one of which had something written on it that neither Martin nor I could make out. It was very Hispanic, obviously due to the fact that the Rio Grande separated Mexico and America directly south of the city. The Rio Grande wasn't very grand at all, by the way, and I suggested that we should change the name of it to the Rio Grandito, which prompted our first discussion of the Spanish suffix "-ito" added onto nouns. It must have been their dry season since it was little more than a trickle.

Upon stopping at the station, we came upon the realization that our bus driver had not taken his job seriously. We were very late (an hour or more) and that meant our layover was shorter. Martin and I scrambled to get our breakfast before we had to get back in line. However, that driver was done and we got a new driver who thought my name sounded like I should be famous. I told him I have been told that before, which is very true. Upon returning to the bus, Martin and I thought for a few minutes that we would have our own seats until two girls and a child needed a whole set of two and I gave up mine. They were quite grateful and we talked in bits until Deming, which was their stop.

When the bus driver made his announcement at the beginning of the ride, he mentioned that once we pass into Arizona, we had to set our watches back. Martin and I concurred that this seemed too soon after setting them back before El Paso and we consulted the map. Pacific time did start after Arizona and Martin wondered if we should tell the driver. I volunteered to do so and when I did he asked me how many time zones I wanted to go through. I said no more but I also wasn't in a hurry to get to the next one and he laughed and told me to sit down. I did so and then had the sudden flashback of hearing or reading somewhere that Arizona didn't follow Daylight Savings Time. I told this to Martin and he was somewhat dubious.

More desert and beautiful mountains came after El Paso and we passed into New Mexico, me hardly noticing the state change until Martin took a picture of the sign.

Our first stop in New Mexico was Las Cruces. There wasn't that much memorable going on there other than a strong aroma in the air that Martin identified as pizza, but it was a nice ciggie break in another Hispanic town. Martin and I were definitely the minority by this time as most of the passengers were either Mexican or Native American. We had a moment when we thought we were going to be stopped by border patrol and we thought of some sarcastic lines; the Mexican girl ready to say "Soy de Mexico", Martin ready to speak French, and me saying in Spanish that I was an American citizen who refused to speak English. Luckily we never got stopped. After Deming, New Mexico and a McDonald's stop in Lordsburg and calling home to get my brother's number off my cell phone from Dan (which Martin wrote on a McDonald's bag) we realized that this part of New Mexico had no postcards to offer and our layovers were shortened by our lateness. We passed into Arizona soon after, Martin missing the Arizona sign but getting the New Mexico sign on the other side of the highway. I mentioned that he already got the sign on the way in and he said he forgot about that, and we laughed about it a little.

Once inside Arizona, Martin did to his cell phone what he calls "ping"-ing (I guess resetting the signal somehow) and we found our bus driver had been correct, the time had changed to an hour earlier.

It took a while to get to Tucson, Arizona, and when we did we found quite a traffic jam. We assumed that there was an accident up ahead and the bus driver exited the freeway to try to get to the bus station quicker. Unfortunately he did not know the town very well and after about 15 minutes of driving around aimlessly and getting a good view of Tucson (a mainly Hispanic and American mixed style run-down town), he admitted that he did not know where we were. One of the passengers offered his cell phone's GPS service and went up front to guide the driver. Meanwhile Martin found the bus station on the detailed Rand McNally map of Tucson and jumped out of his seat. I told him someone was already helping him out with a GPS thingy and he sat back down.

Unfortunately the GPS did not help and we got back on the freeway to deal with the traffic jam and get to the right exit. Through this we found out that someone had ran off the road and had taken out a part that connected that part of the city's power, so we were enlightened as to why, amidst the wandering, the streetlights had also been out. When we finally got to the bus station we had a half an hour break where I immediately went for a smoke. Another driver mentioned we were late and I told him exactly why, what happened before and during the ride here that contributed to our lateness. He was quite amused.

When I finished my cigarette, I went to the gift shop to ask Martin where he put my brother's number and he berated himself because he had thrown it away with the rest of the trash upon exiting the bus. I asked him which garbage can he used and he told me it was the closest one to the bus. I immediately went out and checked all three garbage cans and found nothing. When Martin emerged I relayed this to him and he checked all three once again and also asked the driver I had talked to before if someone had emptied them and he confirmed this notion. I called Dan back and got the number again and wrote it on a piece of paper that wouldn't be thrown away.

Before reboarding the bus, I ran to the gift shop and got a humorous postcard. Martin and I sat together (just in case) when I reboarded and we waited for a while because the new driver was also running late from her previous route. I decided to try to get a hold of my brother and got a hold of his daughter instead, who mentioned she would relay this to all parties involved since my brother wouldn't get home until 5:30pm. I gave the don't-kill-yourself-over-seeing-me disclaimer and she scoffed at that, saying they would get there.

A woman got on the bus to drive this time and we could tell by her Greyhound bus announcement she was very Hispanic and a very nice lady. There was one rest stop in Casa Grande, Arizona, which spawned a few jokes about calling people up and telling them we were in the "big house". Our ride between Tucson and Phoenix was very pleasant and Martin and I enjoyed many photo opportunities of mountains and mesas and the way they were being used or not. My brother's wife also called at this time and told me that they would definitely meet us in Flagstaff for dinner. I did my disclaimer again and she opined that while it was indeed short notice, they would not pass up the opportunity to see me.

Then we got to Phoenix, Arizona. The place was a madhouse with one person working the ticket information counter while her co-workers did other things, so it was impossible to hang around long enough to ask a question or for confirmation when your layover has been shrunk by cumulative lateness. We also had to take time to check in and tag our bags for Flagstaff since we had not even thought about that when the final destination question was asked and we had both said Phoenix on occasion. The lines were announced wrong and we had to switch. Martin called to confirm our reservations for our tour of the Grand Canyon the next day and ended up getting the runaround by a phone bureaucracy where no one knew the answer to his questions. He got off the phone just in time and we boarded the bus, very glad to shake off the dust of Phoenix.

I would highly recommend that anyone who can should someday take the drive on I-17 between Phoenix and Flagstaff. If you're going to visit the Grand Canyon for the first time, you should warm up with this 90-minute stretch. Many red rocks, mesas, mountains, and displays of constant erosion were quite visible from the highway. Martin and I were in awe and so we took a lot of pictures. My brother also called on this leg of the trip and told me he'd meet up with the both of us at the bus station in Flagstaff at around 8:30pm. I was very excited and relieved to hear back from him.

After climbing about 3,000 feet since Phoenix, the land dipped down dramatically (showing an unnervingly accessible steep drop on the way downhill) and we came into Camp Verde, Arizona. It was a beautiful green valley area surrounded by every massive stone formation imaginable. Our bus stop in this town was very amusing since we procured one person from a bus stop consisting of a tree and a rock on top of wood chips. We took a break with the awesomely easygoing driver we had since Phoenix and Martin entertained the crowds with photography mishap stories. We got back on the bus, enjoyed more breathtaking scenery continuing north until darkfall, and soon after we stopped in Flagstaff, Arizona.

My brother met us right at the bus station, both of us able to see him before we even got off the bus. We walked in and after all the hugs I introduced Martin to everyone. My brother asked if Chili's was all right and I mentioned I lived down the street from one in my hometown and never went there, so it would be a new experience. We drove over there and while everyone but my brother's wife and I went in to get a table, we stayed in the van and smoked and talked of current events. When we rejoined the group I saw that Martin was entertaining them quite efficiently and this was also the case throughout dinner. Him and my brother exchanged comedy routine lines and house construction stories. We had a very pleasant dinner and afterward my brother drove us to the Holiday Inn where we were staying overnight. After huge hugs and a very close to emotional moment, I promised I would come back for longer next time and we proceeded to our hotel room.

Showers came immediately and bed soon after. We were so grateful to be able to sleep in a normal position that Day Four ended in a coma.