Thunder is rolling in. I haven’t seen any lightning, so I’m counting on it being far enough away.Yesterday we met up with Tom in Tucumcari. He’s a 78 year old retired carpenter working on his own mini school bus. He also has a little property close to the grocery store. His grown children never come to his house, but since he has the bus, it’s easy for him to go visit them. His self proclaimed passion is helping, and he said especially when he sees women travelers while people watching at the truck stops, he has his father-mojo kick in and wants to help out as much as possible. He filled up our tank and invited us to park at his property for the night.
I accepted and followed him to his place. We had a nice evening. The kids really enjoyed exploring his property and sitting on his lap. It was a peaceful spot to park for sleeping too despite the street light in the middle of his yard.This morning we drank coffee together, but I wanted to get onto the road before the storms hit. While backing out through his two gates, I shattered my driversside mirror. I’m beyond lucky he had a spare and the knowledge to just swap it out right quick. I’m sorry about the glas splinters we must’ve left. He was biting back tears when we said good-bye. What a wonderful man to have stumbled upon.
Our drive from Tucumcari took us South. There were so many abandoned buildings crumbling in the landscape. Galixy only slept until we hit Melrose, a small beautiful town , where we headed east towards Clovis.
F
irst we stopped at a playground, but we didn’t stay long. We tried going to a thrift store, but they were on lunch break, so we headed to the Zoo instead. The entry only cost us $6 total. There was quite a large variety of animals. Plenty of which had too small enclosures and had the zoo crazies. Not as bad as the Roswell zoo, which I consider the worst in the country (maybe if they actually charged an entry fee they’d be able to afford better care for their animals?) My favorite part were all the peacocks. There must’ve been ten or more, albinos, females, young ones, and majestic examples.
It started raining on our way out. We headed to Goodwill and found me a bathing suit and the boys got some new shoes. Now we’re sitting in the parking lot with our signs in the windows. Already a total of $30 kickdowns and some groceries delivered to our door. I’m wondering if we’ll be able to stay the night right in this parking lot (harbor freight, Goodwill, Hobby Lobby, Dominoes, Ihop, Albertson, Verizon plaza) there’s also a Walmart up the road, but they close at midnight so it makes me feel a bit unsure if they even allow over night stays. With this wind and storm it’s hard to think about driving very far, which makes for a good excuse if we do get harrassed by law enforcement.We also purchased two movies at the Goodwill: Meet the Robinsons and Ever After. I just shared a thing on my facebook about Ever After being the best Cinderella movie out there, so when I found it in Goodwill, I just couldn’t leave it there. It is my favorite Romance and I’m not one to be watching those very often. I will be tonight though, after the boys watch their show.The boys have been having some fun times today. And by that I mean they’ve been driving me half crazy. First Atreyu went on a path of destruction with a wrench. Then Galixy tipped my Teakettle (not hot) all over the carpet. They have been squabbeling about little things and when they are no, they’ve been in my ear whining, which us unintelligible and a nuisance. When I try to pick up the pace, Atreyu walks the slowest. When I have to stop, he doesn’t notice and runs ahead almost blindly. Then Chikkie is climbing on my counter and eating through the plastic wrap to food. And so I end up yelling to “just leave me alone for a moment!” At least, they clean up when I ask them to.I’m very grateful for my boys. They are a good excuse to explore everything to the fullest. I love them very much, but it’s like they drive me crazy on purpose which I know they don’t. They just need more attention than I can give them. Any child deserves two parents. Both my kids have one, which makes me a half, or even a quarter of what they deserve. So maybe it is me who is driving them crazy and I should really work harder on doing right by them. They come first always.
On a last note, Sleeping in our bus is exponentially more comfortable than sleeping in a Hotel room. I slept a lot better last night and slept fifteen minutes longer than in the hotel. I wish the boys also had slept longer, but they agreed that it’s more comfortable in the bus than anywhere else. This is the only home Galixy has ever known, and I’m very grateful for supplying him that kind of consistency, which I would probably have been incapable of if I was to rent an apartment.Thank you for joining me on my journey. If you would like to donate and be part of the village helping us, please consider purchasing a Matilda Bugus shirt or sweater at bonfire.com/bugus-life
or donating straight to my paypal
Loving you!!
Matilda the Bugus 