Disaster averted

This morning I left early from El Paso as I knew I had a very long drive to San Antonio. Apparently I was not quite awake as I left a bag sitting next to my car when I was loading it. Was it a bag of snacks? No, it was the bag with my computer and other electronics. This computer is now on its third life. It had a liquid incident soon after I purchased it (too long a story to tell here) and I actually left it on a plane (and got it back, thank you Delta). I arrived in San Antonio at 7 PM after a looooooong drive and saw that I was missing the bag when I went to unload the car. I immediately called my hotel in El Paso and - miraculously - one of the valets saw it and brought it back in. My first thought was that I was going to have to drive back to El Paso to pick it up, but the woman at the front desk had a cooler head and said they would ship it first thing tomorrow morning. So hopefully I will have it back on Wednesday. But, as you can imagine, it was a heart-stopping moment. And I won’t completely relax until it is back in my hands.

I did bring an old back-up computer, which is what I am working on now. But - heads up - after installing the new Apple end-to-end encryption on all of my new devices, this one is now limited as I can’t get into anything that requires an Apple ID. I guess the encryption works. Mostly what this means is that I won’t be able to download and process photos in the near term. So those will get added later this week.

I can, however tell you about my day. Driving into and out of El Paso is always a bit of an adventure. Electronic signs warn you that one exit in particular takes you to Juarez, Mexico . And you do not want to take that one. In trying to make sure I avoided it, I almost missed the exit I needed to take! Based on a recommendation, I decided to break up the drive by detouring to Marfa . Marfa is a funky art town that boasts galleries and festivals. Of course I was passing through on a Monday and - do you detect a theme? - everything was closed. I ended up stopping for lunch as The Water Stop , a funky eatery where I met Frank and Jimmy. (Fortuitously I took their photo with my phone!) They gave me the low-down on the restaurant (it used to be a gas station) and the town (all of the art galleries were closed on Monday). I did stop briefly at the Marfa Lights viewing area. Reports of these seemingly unexplainable lights began during the 19th century and continue today. Whether or not one believes that these lights are truly paranormal, or whether they have some mundane explanation, they draw visitors from around the globe. They are sufficiently popular that there is a structure, plaques and fixed binoculars. The town even hosts a Marfa Lights festival each year. I did not stay to see for myself as apparently 3 AM to 4 AM is prime viewing time.

San Antonio is another one-nighter, but I will have at least the morning to walk around as it is a relatively short drive to Austin tomorrow afternoon.