The sky looked menacing and gray from the moment we woke after 10 hours of sleep in our second bad bed in as many days. Mounted our bikes, braved the drizzle and headed to Emilio's for a much anticipated hearty breakfast. Emilio and spouse were nowhere to be seen, so we went back towards the motel and had our morning meal there. As we ate we watched the rain fall. Our fellow patrons all knew one another and the conversation was spirited and jocular. We could tell this only from their tone because the words were completely unintelligible to our untrained ears.
Everyone sounded roughly like the redneck character from \"King of the Hill\" named Boomhauser(sp?), whose elocution is equivalent to an auctioneer overdosing on Valium. Surprisingly everyone did speak English and when they addressed us they made special efforts to be understood. While procrastinating over coffee, we watched our fellow patrons' dogs howl as the rain fell on them in the back of their owners\' pickup trucks, neither of us very interested in riding in the rain no matter how short the distance. I looked at this as an opportunity to check out the effectiveness of our rain gear. Andrew, however, was less enthusiastic.
He discovered his booties (rain shoes for bicyclists) did not fit over his cycling shoes. Finally we hit the road and pedaled for Del Rio. Save the rain the trip was uneventful if seemingly without end. When the end of the ride was reached I stood dripping pathetically in the lobby of the Ramada asking for a cyclist discount. No mercy granted; we only received the AAA discount (a bit ironic when you think about it), but the clerk agreed to comp us breakfast if we could come up with some complaint about the accommodation by morning. The afternoon in Del Rio introduced both of us to new aspects of American culture.
On our way into town we both noticed a mall with a theater playing \"Selena: the movie\" and a Wall Mart. Wall Mart was an experience for which neither of us was ready. We stopped into the café for a coffee and watched the American version of the French sidewalk experience unfold for us. After achieving a sufficient caffeine buzz we set out on our shopping adventure. We were both ready to cry, the abundance was shocking. There was an entire aisle of dandruff shampoo (perhaps this is a big problem in Del Rio). We were ready to give up and go somewhere else less confusing for the items we needed when we found someone to ask about their location.
This Wall Mart samaritan did everything but lead us by the hand to find our products. Even then it was confusing to pick from the gazillian types of ziplock bags. In the end we made it out of the store with enough time to make the movie and barely enough cash to pay for it. Selena was a disappointment, not campy enough to be funny and not well written enough to be believable. The one thing that was \"on\" was its target audience. They were there in force singing along with the songs, ooh-ing and ahhh-ing at the right time and even believing the insipid dialog.
After a challenging and great day we are sitting digesting our Thai dinner, writing our web entries and watching CNN. Just now in the Health and Science report this fun fact was revealed: \"gerbils recover from heart attacks more quickly if they consume moderate amounts of alcohol during their convalescence\". I am ready to hit the hay and begin my own convalescence. It would be better if we could have found the beer at Wall Mart which we are a few too many feet from. There is the complaint for tomorrow that will deliver the free breakfast.