End of chapter 1!

It turns out that I’ve been here for just over a month! It’s gone incredibly quick and very well so far (all fingers and toes crossed on that one still…). The good stuff and the bad stuff, it’s been pretty much what the doctor had ordered. This past month I’ve seen cities, deserts, canyons, mountains, ghost towns, highway services, beautiful night skies, sunsets and sunrises over the desert; I’ve taken long distance buses, countless of city buses, a slow train, driven over 1300 miles on windy roads, on dead straight highways, on desert roads... I’ve listened to brilliant live music, and to more country music on the radio than I ever thought I would (and more than I was hoping to tbh), I’ve seen good and random art, weird giant things on the side of the road, tacky things, drank beer and margaritas and many, many other things…. And I’ve photographed.

I have also made connections with a lot of super nice people, some of which I hope will remain friends with forever more. So, in no particular order, there are a few encounters that have stuck with me: meeting long lost friends of my dad’s and now becoming friends with them myself in McKinney Tx (that was very special); forming the NOLA magic crew after talking on a bench for over an hour pretending we were in a French movie; Inviting myself to a real New Orleans brass band gig with a jetlagged Londoner; getting excellent and detailed travel tips from a bar tender lady in Houston, who’s looked after me ever since and has even put me in touch with her best friend in Santa Fe; having margaritas with aforementioned best friend and finding common artistic grounds; Sharing beers and looking for shooting stars with Puerto Rican and Texan fire fighters in Big Bend National Park; Meeting a very good PhD friend for beef ribs and brisket, and being looked after by an Exeter friend with live music and a bat flight (!) in Austin; Whingeing about Brexit (yes… us foreigners still haven’t let that one go!) and putting the world to right with newly Houston based, ex Londoner and fellow EU citizen… Thank you all of you!

Chapter 2 is starting now with a trip to Mexico before heading West again.

So long!