I have made it, somewhat to my own surprise, to San Antonio.
It’s been an exhausting time of it. Since I decided to skip Houston, I had to leave Baton Rouge on a 12:30am bus, making Greyhound even more of an appealing prospect than usual. However, I hadn’t slept that well the previous night and soon after I had said goodbye to TheRoadVirus and friends I found myself in that dim twilight world between sleep and sleeplessness. I needed to sleep, but couldn’t, and if I did, I might miss my stop and end up in Dallas. And nobody wants to end up in Dallas.
Well, maybe Debbie.
But I soon learned I couldn’t rely on the driver. We had a lay-by stop scheduled about an hour in, and as we pulled up and the bus regurgitated its tired cargo, the driver informed us we had 35 minutes. Staying on the bus was about as appealing as something not very appealing, so I wandered in to the generic Food Mart. In fact, that was its name – ‘Food Mart’. There was a little café area with chairs and tables, and that translated to a bed well enough for me. I set my alarm for 30 minutes hence and put my head down in what seemed like the most luxurious four-poster imaginable.
Twenty-nine minutes later I saw my alarm was about to go off, and looked up. The place was eerily empty. Not auspicious. The man at the counter was looking at me rather worriedly.
‘You bus?’ he asked.
‘Yes?’
He was not impressed by this answer, and impressed upon me the impression that unless I pressed myself, I would soon find myself in rather pressing circumstances. I ran out the door to find the bus pulling out on to the freeway. Thankfully, the driver saw me and stopped. I stumbled aboard.
‘You said thirty-five minutes!’ I accused in a kind of incredulous gasp, trying to ignore the fact that I would have been in clear view of him when he left the shop.
‘How long were we?’
‘Thirty!’ I said. The driver, however, was implacable.
‘You wanna go back?’
…
The remainder of the trip was spent in similar conditions; trying not to fall asleep so much that I’d overshoot, yet desperate for some rest. I made it, however, and met up with TK at San Antonio station as planned. I didn’t really get a chance to see the city as we drove through it, but after we got home and had a revitalizing deli sandwich (the healthiest thing I’ve eaten in days), we started planning the evening – or rather, I sat back and munched away whilst TK and his lovely fiance discussed the options. It was going to be impossible not to grab an hour or two rest, though, so at three in the afternoon I said I’d turn in for a while, and that I’d be up at five.
And indeed I was up at five. I mean, a five. It was just that it was the kind of five that would draw a rather arch comment from Professor McGonagall, and probably a detention. Ten points from Flippyndor, etc. There was a very nice and understanding note on the door from my hosts, though.
Anyway, it’s 6:13am, and I should probably go do something productive. I must see something of San An today, if only so I have more to write about than my somnambulist adventures.
Flippy vs. America '09 
