I woke up at 5 o’clock (and also at 1 and 3 o’clock), and was not tired at all. This must have been the first time I was out of bed before 9 and wide awake. One of the upsides of a jetlag I suppose. The friendly managers of the motel drove me back to the airport, where I got a wide selection of car rental companies to pick from. On the internet, I found a company advertising a small car rental for 5 $/day. I wanted a car for 2 days. With insurance and all kind of taxes they charged me 150 dollars. My first rip off in the USA! But they did let me choose which car I wanted. I could choose between 2 brands I never heard before. The lady at the counter advised me to go for a black Avenger, that would better suit me than a white something-else. I was happy she didn’t advise a pink bicycle, so accepted her offer.

The first day in El Paso was spent on dropping by at the plane rental FBO, picking up the charts and other stuff I had ordered and getting checked out on the Cessna 172 I had booked. Since I booked the airplane for a month, and was planning to fly about 90 hours, Suzie decided it would be nice to put my name on the plane. Of course I agreed! This was also the 4th of july, which was the reason I was invited to a typical 4th of July picnic on a winery. It was very hard to refrain myself from joining the little children on the water slide. When I arrived back at the hotel, there was still no sign of my bag. Excitement!

Still fighting with the jet lag I went to bed early. Hoping to sleep a bit longer than 4 hours in a row.