I leave Las Vages without laying a finger on a pokie or gaming table! How boring is that! To get to Phoenix I decide to do an overnight bus trip for a change. It saves on an overnight’s accommodation and you do get a different view of the scenery. Not dull at all. The sky was clear of course and the moon and stars put on their own show. And passing through the casino-clad towns provided a colorful display as well, in typical casino style.
Traveling by bus is entertaining in itself! This trip is my longest and is fully packed – bugger. I spend the night with John who is sly drinking alcohol from a bottle of something in a bag at his feet (definitely not allowed to take alcohol onto the bus). The driver is a retired military man I suspect, going by his over-officious behavior and enjoyment for bellowing instructions. He runs a tight ship for sure but John manages to slip past his keen eye! John is in the meat business. He imports and distributes meat, including lamb and mutton from Australia. I now know why it is difficult to buy mutton in Australia – it comes here! It’s favored strongly by the Mexicans who use it in a traditional dish. It’s a soup like dish that used to be made using the gut lining from cattle but the gut lining is being replaced by our mutton – and it is very popular. He can’t get enough of it. John is about fifth generation American from Mexico and started this business from scratch. His father used to be a boxer. He lives in Phoenix where all his family is and spent the week with a good mate in Vegas, who at 48 has just had his first child to a 23 year-old girlfriend. John came up for the birth. John’s knees are buggered. He’s overweight and a previous life with football (gridiron) has eventually caught up with him. He needs both knees replaced but keeps coming up with excuses to postpone the operations. Having to dance at his daughters wedding was a good one. Fear is his latest excuse.
There are plenty of other characters here as well. A young lady managed to trick her way into the bus for free but instead of keeping her mouth shut, she proceeded to skier about her ruse to fellow passengers. Sargent bus driver got wind of it and the police escorted her off to jail in Flagstaff. Some love to broadcast their lives, particularly over mobile phone conversations. On my two-hour bus trip from Barstow to Las Vegas there was a young overweight Afro-American guy in front of me who spoke continuously on his mobile for the duration of the trip. When one conversation finished, he would initiate another – a chain caller! He has three kids and has done time in prison but is sensitive about people knowing that (well…the whole bus knows now!). The young lady across the aisle is trying to talk to her past boyfriend but the new girlfriend keeps answering the phone. ‘You’re a dumb-ass bitch. You’re as dumb as mud you dumb-ass bitch now put him on’. Of course she doesn’t but after several loud abusive attempts the old boyfriend does get on. ‘What are you doing with that dumb-ass bitch? She’s married you know. That’s sick’. And so it goes on. He’s supposed to be meeting up with her in Vegas but that seems unlikely now!
‘Sorry mate, you can’t bring your guns in here’.
angusmccoll 