I woke up just after dawn to hike to the rest room. Went immediately back to bed and woke after 11am.

Sunday was the benediction and gospel brunch for Padre’s. I got there a little late, and sat in the back yard for a while with Ty. He was reading a Blackbook article Claudia had read the night before right before she walked into the bar to find Ty standing in front of her.

David was slaving away on breakfast tacos in the kitchen, and the bar got slammed after the service. I spent most of the afternoon hanging out on the patio and chatting with various people. Talked for quite a while with Claudia who is from Houston and a long-time friend of David’s.

One of the local’s took us on a community bike ride all about town. I used David’s old bike. We ended up on a hill out of town on Pinto Canyon Road watching the sun set. We all stood in silence for the last several minutes, then headed past the closed army base south of town.

After that we went to the house that Claudia and her friends were staying at, we partied there, I left about 11pm and went to Padres where Element was playing. Great old funky R&B. That was the end of the music for the weekend, and most of the out of towners were leaving on Monday.

I got to bed about 3:00a the night before, was woken a few times because I was slightly cold, but got out of bed by about 9:30a. I started to make my way to Padre’s, but the previous day’s rain had cleared for a scattered clouds day, and decided to return to get my hat.

Just about then, Tina Rose poked her head out and yelled over to me, offering coffee. I took her up on some tea instead and we sat on the patio outside her trailer and had a nice morning conversation, her aging dogs mostly lounging about.

After tea I walked over to Padre’s, found John prepping the kitchen, and soon Yvonne (and Avery) arrived. She had some breakfast with her, and offered me some. Some omelet, french bread toast, and waffle. A very nice addition to the Dr Pepper I was already having.

At 11:30 the doors opened and people started pouring in. It was a steady stream of people coming for lunch. The investors of course wanting to be here as much as possible. Enjoying some food and the patio outside.

I hung out a while, then borrowed Yvonne’s bike to ride around town. I only got a few blocks before I overtorqued her superglued crank and had to walk the bike back to Padre’s.

James offered me his bike and I took it back to the trailer for a short nap before heading back for my 3pm training in the kitchen.

I have never worked in a kitchen and after telling me a hundred things I needed to know, David disappeared on an errand. Undercooking burger number two was the only real problem. I made a few orders incorrectly and remade them before sending them out.

But I cooked till after 11:30, and was there till after 2am cleaning. It was almost 4am by the time I walked home.

Almost immediately after finishing a rather good sandwhich I saw David crossing the street from the train station. He hadn’t yet seen me and was greeting three other guys who were eating on the Mural patio. Various local musicians and instrument makers.

David had several errands to run in Alpine, including visiting the bank and two grocery stores. He had come in the Mercedes we had retrieved from Florida almost two years ago.

Since then the hood unmatched at speed destroying the windshield (replaced), the driver’s window has shattered (not replaced), and the sky light has jammed open.

So, we were of course treated to a rare desert rain on the ride back to Marfa.

I hung out for a while meeting a variety of locals, employees, and investors. Some were old acquaintances, some new.

Father Bill, Doug Pecore. Yvonne was training Tina Rose who seemed very familiar. Both are Austin transplants. Met Yvonne’s husband and daughter, James and 7 y.o. Avery. Sotol Johnny and his wife Beverly. Ty and Tyler. And later in the evening, (off duty) beer girl spirited East Texas transplant Christy.

When we got back with the groceries, David took over the cook duties from John.

I got a ride back to David’s Airstream with my luggage and crashed out.