Is this the way to Amarillo?

Me and Thomas Wade Landry, something of a icon in Dallas

No, its the way to Denver, however I can now say I have been to Amarillo.

I have also changed my plans. Out of the window are Phoenix & Vegas and say hello to Denver & Salt Lake City. I was shorter to get to Denver, it seems a nicer city than Phoenix and It works out well logistically by doing it this way.

So, my last day in Dallas was interesting, Mike took me to see the Dallas Cowboys new stadium, this thing is HUGE! It is obvious that Jerry Jones (the owner of the Cowboys) has just a little bit of money! From there we went to say bye to Tony. I had said bye to everyone else the night before and Me, Laura, Krystal and Mike all went for some ace Mexican food.

Artistic shot of Cowboys Stadium

After saying goodbye to Tony, we headed to Fort Worth Stockyards for my last night. I have to admit, I really dont remember too much about it. These are the things that I am certain happened - I drank a lot of beer, I also drank a lot of shots. I was going to sing the Beatles with Mike, but ran out of time. Oh, and I got a tattoo. Now I am certain I got said tattoo because I look down as I am writing this and it is there, I cannot remember how much it cost, when I got it done, or why the hell I decided to get a outline of the state of Texas on my arm. I do love this state, but not as much as Tottenham Hotspur, and I haven't got a spurs tattoo, yet!

Thursday was just written off with a fluffy head and me feeling rough. I caught my coach at 19:50 from Fort Worth. It was due to arrive in Denver at 11:30ish on Friday. So a nice, fairly short coach journey awaits (or so I thought). Whilst we were travelling throughout Texas I saw the most amazing lightning storm I have ever seen. Over here they don't have thunderstorms with rain etc. They have heat storms, so its still lighting bolts, just no wet stuff. As we travelled throughout the night I could see this storm in the distance and we just got closer and closer until we were effectively travelling right next to the thing. The bolts were striking about a mile away, very impressive.

Yes, its the state of Texas!

We kept travelling throughout the night and at about 01:00 the coach started slowing down. I couldn't see any obvious coach stop or greyhound station in sight, but these Americans slap them anywhere so you can never be sure. It then transpired that we were actually being pulled over by the police. Now I was under the impression that the driver must have been speeding, hence the '50 getting involved. It wasn't until one of the officers came onboard and started shining a torch in everyones face. This (as you can imagine) went down really well with the sleeping section of the coach. After he left, and as I was sitting fairly near the front (made the mistake of sitting near the back before) I asked the driver what was going one. Turns out that a bomb threat had been phoned in against Greyhound. I asked was it all Greyhounds, she responded, calm as you like with a 'no, just our route'. GREAT! As if I needed any more issues with trying to sleep.

Best picture I could get of the 'feds covertly.

So we arrived into Amarillo and was told that our bus was going to be leaving in a hours time. This hour turned into 2,3 and eventually 4 hours later. They couldn't find a driver (in all fairness I would wanna drive a bus that has just had a bomb threat on it, I didn't really want to travel on it!). Eventually they got a driver from El Paso to come up and drive the bus however this wasn't his normal route and as such it was a case of  'Is this the way out of Amarillo' as it took him 3 attempts to get out of the town. But at least we were travelling. I slept most of the rest of the way. The views as we came through New Mexico were outstanding and I tried to get a few pictures of the snow covered mountains.

We arrived into Denver about 14:30. I walked out the front of the Greyhound station for a well deserved cigarette, it was my last one (genuinely) but I thought that I would get some more on my way to the Hotel I was staying out. I was approached buy a 'rough' looking fella and just as I finished my cigarette he asked me if I had and left. I did explain to him that it was honestly my last one, he then lifted up him shirt, showed me a swasticker on hist chest (american history X style) and said 'if I had my mate with me then I bet you would have some'. I just explained that no, I wouldnt as I had none on me and made a VERY swift exit towards my hotel. I did notice that as I did he went and asked two black guys for a cigarette. Baffelled doesn't even begin to explain my thoughts.

Outstanding views of New Mexico.

I got to my Hotel in the end. Checked in and was given my room number. Went to my room to discover that it was a single room. Quite impressed as I have only paid for a bed in a 8 bed dorm, not complaining at all. The bathroom is down the corridor, but that is about it. It is very basic, but will do the job. After the nightmare of a journey last night I decided to have a well deserved drink. I found a British Micro Brewery Pub (yes I hate people who just go away and don't experience local culture too, but after bomb threats 4 hour delays and Nazi's me and local culture aren't on good terms.) I had rather a few Blackthorn ciders, It was glorious and went back to my room for a early night.

Today I am thinking that I might go to the art gallery and then maybe tomorrow I might go to watch some more baseball if I get stuck for things to do.





Tom