Day Thirteen: Arizona
From: Dandelion Snailrider To: Mr. A-- Subject: Day Thirteen: Chugging Along Date: December 22, 2002 Dear Mr. A--, My deepest and most sincere apologies for not writing to you yesterday! As we were leaving Australia, the Dread Snail Roberts mentioned his deep sadness at not having seen his family for many, many years. Snails, as you know, have extensive and largefamilies with intricate kinship systems and personal histories that may go back for generations upon generations. The Dread Snail Roberts comes from one of the older, more noble snail families, which holds considerably-sized fiedoms in Timbuktu, Milan, and Bakersfield, California. So, naturally, we found ourselves in Timbuktu, with dozens of snail relations but no Internet access. I took a number of photographs, but none of them developed properly. So after a long night of drinking tea and munching on leaves with my snail's sisters and parents and siblings and cousins, the Dread Snail Roberts and I finally made our way from Africa. Because of our detour, and our already dreadfully slow pace (a Patagonian Warrior Snail is still a snail, after all), we were able to travel no further than Arizona. However, I know that you will be most pleased to know that we have, indeed, arrived safe and sound within the United States! As I mentioned, we arrived in Arizona, where we had an exciting time visiting the Grand Canyon. My snail was most excited about taking one of the burro rides down to the river at the bottom of the canyon, but I was firmly opposed to the idea. Our trip has experienced enough delays and detours already. However, I did agree to take a train ride along the Grand Canyon. Attached to this e-mail, in fact, is a photograph of myself standing onthe bac of the train, just before we arrived at Zeke's Horse Tack and Internet Cafe. In fact, I am sitting in Zeke's at this very moment, enjoying a bowl of nice popcorn and a bottle of fresh sarsaprilla. Very soon we shall make our way from here to Bakersfield to visit some more of my snail's familyand relations, and then we shall go north to Campbell! My journey is nearly complete! I have kept the Alaskan salmon haggis safe and cool and it should be quite delicious on Christmas Eve. I do look forward to meeting your family. Until then, I remain Your steadfast and ardent journeyer, Sir Dandelion Snailrider, Esq.