Day 7: train to santa fe/santa fe

i woke up in the morning feeling less lonely but also very cold. they turn the air up in these trains and it was miserable. in the middle of the night i had to put on another shirt and a sweater because i didn't have blanket or anything. i woke up and looked out the window. behind me and grandmother was trying to teach her daughter manners in spanish. she kept telling her to say 'excuse me'. then the baby started crying and the grandmother said, 'you don't love me anymore? huh? you don't love me? i'm your grandmother. you don't love me?' i don't know what the baby did. it was about 10:00 and we would roll into santa fe around 2. a few hours later i got seatmate. i wasn't in the mood for a seatmate so i went to the lounge car and stayed there for the rest of the trip. in the lounge car there were sassy little kids who were loud and kept bothering me. and yelling. i didn't talk to anyone. i started writing a letter to a friend i was at odds with. my stop finally came and i was happy to get off. i got in my car and drove to santa fe. at a stop sign i finally, for the first time in 4 days, got to hear nothing. silence. the desert was open and beautiful. the sky was huge. i stayed at that stop sign just a little bit longer. it felt so so so good. i found danielle's house and let myself in. i took a shower and when i came out one of her roommates was there. i had met him last year. we talked for some time but mostly just hung out. then i remembered i hadn't registered to vote. it was a big to do. i printed out the forms. filled them out. and ran to a post office. got it postmarked by the right date. i was so excited. now i go around asking people if they are registered. before i didn't even think about it. then we went to dinner at this small thai cafe. when you walk in you are hit with this wall of beautiful smells. we had good food. and then left. went home and i decided to go to sleep. however i kept findings things to do online. then the gay aerliast guy came home and i talked to him for a while. very interesting. then i went to sleep in a stranger's bedroom.