RAISED WITH WOLVES

June 19th

Stephanie and I made pancakes this morning in the parking lot outside the bus. It’s pretty nice having her around as my partner; if I were alone I probably would have had a stick of celery for breakfast. We washed our dishes at a water hose on the side of a gas station and filled up our water jugs. It’s funny how doing something so insignificant as washing dishes and getting water becomes something of an awkward chore, scrubbing on pots and pans as people pump gas into their SUVs ten feet away.

We finally managed to convince everyone it was time to go, which has also become a chore. It’s hard working around everyone’s sleeping schedules. I just can’t stand sleeping when I know I could be driving to our next destination. Don’t get me wrong, I love to sleep, but when I know there is something to be done, I feel guilty for wasting my time sleeping. But everyone was finally ready to go, and after Ben and Saray hopped back on the bus from brushing their teeth in Wal-mart, we headed out.

We have this ritual before we leave where we all call out our designated numbers, from one to seven, to make sure everyone is on the bus. With seven of us, it is just too easy to lose someone. Pual could be napping on top of the bus, or hitting on some girl with bad hair. Tyler could be doing a ridiculous myriad of things from playing video games inside Wal-mart to putting his “big sexy hair” product in his mane, to achieve that “bed-head” look. And Ben and Saray are almost always missing, and we never ask what exactly they are off doing because we don’t want to get the heebie-jeebies. So we count off, I start at one, and 234567 and then we drive away, this time to Carlsbad Caverns. Continue reading →