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Published: November 3rd 2006
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Shawne and Jo say...
Day 27
Mileage Today: 0
Flats Today: 0
DAY OFF
We slept in today...the curtains keeping the sunrise away from our eyes. Tony jumped on the city bus with us and headed for the Downtown Library. It's been a long time since either one of us have ridden on a city bus. After traveling by bicycle for so long, the speed of the bus seemed excessive, and the driver out of control. We zipped down city streets and cornered sharply, causing us to cling to the handrails. Instead of pulling a cord to signal the driver to stop, there is a touch-sensitive yellow strip that, once pressed, activates a voice recording that says, "Stop Requested". We exited the bus and walked down to the library.
Today was the grand opening for the new El Paso Downtown Library! We saw a story about it on the news last night. When we walked to the front door, it wasn't very grand or open. The hours read a 1:00 pm opening time. It was about 9:15 am, so we had some time to kill. Tony mentioned that Shawne's father's great Aunt Eustolia was in a retirement home nearby. We
decided it would be great to go meet her.
Hopping onto another bus, we cruised across town on I-10. Looking through the large windows, we could see Mexico just a few hundred feet away. A long row of tall floodlights lined the edge of the border, following the banks of the Rio Grande. Border Patrol vehicles lay in wait along the ratty chainlink fence as Mexican citizens walked along the river's south side. A railroad trestle towered over the freeway coming straight out of Mexico and crossing onto U.S. soil. We wondered how officials deterred people from simply jumping on the trains or walking across the trestle into the United States.
We arrived at our stop and walked to the retirement home. Inside the activity room, the place was extremely busy...almost chaotic. 1980's music blasted from a stereo, and a television added to the racket. People were talking loudly as they took part in Arts and Crafts activities. Some of the people, who were in poor mental health, yelled random uncomprehensible statements, startling us. After a brief search, we found Eustolia. Tony introduced us, and after a bit of explaining, she understood who Shawne was. It was very difficult to
Another cyclist we met.
He was in Downtown El Paso. have a conversation with all the noise in the room. We had to lean very close to her to hear her soft voice. Shawne often had to repeat what he'd said several times for her.
She told us that she, "would have never thought that she would live long enough to see Glenn's son at thirty years old." Eustolia is now ninety-six years old and still cracking jokes. When Shawne's father was a young boy, he lived with her for a time. Eustolia told the two of us, "You should never have kids. That way you can have fun for your whole life! I hate children!"
Eustolia told us stories of the Great Depression, and of Shawne's great-grandfather. She thought it was great that we are doing this ride. "So many people in my time were born and raised in a city, and never left. They never saw any of the country...they died there. It's good that you are doing this while you are young," she said. Remembering times when Shawne's dad was a boy brought a smile to Eustolia's face. Sometimes she would laugh out loud while she tried to finish a story. It was great to see her
face light up like that.
Lunchtime arrived, and large carts stacked high with trays of food appeared. Cloth bibs were tied around everyone's necks (except ours of course) in preparation for the feast. We said goodbye and snapped a few pictures. Lunch sounded like a good idea so we headed for the nearest mexican restaurant.
We dragged poor Tony all across town to run errands and do some shopping. We rode all day on six different buses on just $2.00! you couldn't do that kind of mileage in your car on $2.00 worth of gas, that's for sure.
Back at the house, we fixed a huge pot of spaghetti with a loaf of garlic bread. We ate dinner as Tony told us stories about the house and it's history. With our bellies filled to capacity, we cleaned up the kitchen and hit the sack. We decided to leave in the morning, even though Tony assured us that we could stay longer. We think he enjoyed the company, as did we. 😊
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Shawne's mom
non-member comment
Texas
I'm so glad you got to meet your dad's family there. I remember him speaking of his Aunt Eustolia. We can only hope to live that long of a life. Thanksgiving is almost here and Christmas next month. Can you believe it?