Escape from Pleasantville

This ain’t American Airlines! After a layover in Houston, I took a quick peek to see my bag under the new bus. It wasn’t there, so the attendant took me into the back room to find it with the other lost luggage.
Border baggage check… Psych! Our bus got the red light at the border crossing, so that after the border guards unloaded the bottom of the bus, each of the passengers had to get in line to press the random – a.k.a. every third press, it seems – button to get a green or red light for pass-thru or stop-and-check. I got red, but after looking in every corner of the suitcase of the guy in front of me, the guard glanced at me and my tightly stuffed backpack and acted like he didn’t see me as he proceeded to go look inside the bus. Another guard, who was reloading the bus, waved me over and put my bag back in stow.
I hopped on a Greyhound in Fort Worth in May, and after 3 transfers, 23 hours later, I got off the bus in the middle of August! It’s so hot here! Hopefully, it’s only because I haven’t had a chance to acclimate. By 9AM, I was walking around town drenched in sweat from head to toe. It gave the locals yet another reason to stare at me, but I was happy to see that by afternoon, they all had sweaty faces too.
First stop… Pleasantville, Mexico. My first town to visit in Mexico was Ciudad Victoria. It’s not what I had expected at all. For a town of a quarter of a million people, it has a very small feel. There are parks every couple of blocks filled with lovers, young and old alike, holding hands and flirting on the benches. On the other corners are schools and daycares with school-uniformed children running and shouting on the playground. I thought I might run into Fonzie and the Happy Days gang at any minute. Victoria appears to be a great place that a family might want to raise their children, but I didn't find much for me to do or see. After 2 days, I hit the road for San Luis Potosí. Now, this is a great tourist city – architecture and culture to rival any European city that I’ve seen, clean, cafés and shady plazas aplenty, and I’ve found a hotel I really like. I may spend a week here.