tucson after dallas

Writing from Tucson, Arizona at a Marriott where hotel wi-fi service costs $9.99 a day, but I can still connect to the University of Arizona's open wifi network. For free. Anyway, the drive here was alright. We went through El Paso, passing dangerously close to the Mexican border. We could see the Rio Grande and an enormous Mexican flag flying across it. The highlight of the day occured shortly thereafter. When we got into New Mexico, we were actually caught in a U.S. Border Patrol's dragnet. The patrolwoman asked me and Patrick individually if we were U.S. citizens. Haha, it was pretty intense for me at least. Here's a picture of the Border Patrol checkpoint:

After eating dinner at KFC because McDonald's was overpriced, we hit the road again, going west on Interstate 10 after the sun set and the moon shone brightly. Let me tell you.. driving in the desert at night feels so unreal.. in a good way. I10 has two lanes in each direction and in Arizona on a Sunday night, there aren't many cars on the road. It felt great to essentially have the road to myself and the slight fear of the unknown and of possible perils made it even more exhilirating. Here's a picture from during the drive, which I'd like to think is blurry because I was driving that fast.

So, since the last post on this blog we spent Saturday and Saturday night in Dallas with Mischa. We went to Dealey Plaza, the place where President John F. Kennedy was assassinated allegedly by a lone gunman named Lee Harvey Oswald. We went to the Sixth Floor museum about the assassination where I stood from the window from which Oswald allegedly fired his shots at the President. It was overwhelming to see Dealey Plaza, Elm St, and the Grassy Knoll from the 6th floor window. My knowledge of the tragedy comes only from Wikipedia and the Oliver Stone movie "JFK" but I was still in awe of the fact that I was actually standing at the historic scene.

Anyway here's a picture of two tourists standing on Elm Street on an "x" which, I'm guessing, marks the spot where Kennedy received the fatal headshot. The picture was taken from the fence on the Grassy Knoll, from which the most popular conspiracy theory claims at a (at least) second gunman stood and delivered the fatal shot. They and other tourists who also thought it would be cool to stand there were almost hit by cars (cause Elm St is actually a road.. on which cars drive..) and proved to be one of the most entertaining moments of our stay in Dallas.

Later that evening we got some steak fajitas at a TexMex place, which were delicious. Anyway, we need to move the car by 8 a.m. tomorrow to have free parking, so I'm going to sleep soon. Bonne nuit!