Del Rio: Book Number one Accomplished

Book: So, I’m burying book number one. I decided to kill two birds with one stone and bury my book at the same place I was going to extract clay.

Off of Interstate 90 in the city of Del Rio, Texas, Farm to Market road 2325 veers north. About 1 mile north of the intersection of 90 and 2325, on the east side of the road, is a barren field which is different from most of West Texas. Instead of a caliche rock covering, there is a loamy, soft clay covering. I had found exactly what I what I was looking for.

Del Rio is a bustling small southwest Texas border town. There is a small historic downtown with the traditional Catholic influences and the limestone County Courthouse was created by an Italian team, which was common in small town Texas in the 1880s. I was clearly not home.

The day was a bit overcast and cloudy and a bit chilly, around 50 degrees or so. The field I chose was about 100 yards off the road, and where I chose to dig was in a naturally occurring low area. I was 300 yards from the County Corrections lockup facility.

At about 5 till noon I started digging. I felt odd. Uncomfortable. I had a ceremony planned and I wanted cars to drive by, to watch what was going on, but not to see. I got everything I wanted.

When the hole was deep enough and I placed in the book. I was reeling. 400 miles from my home and very much outside my comfort zone. I placed the book in the hole and dusted with some Ellis County pine needles.

Now it was noon, and the county tested their sirens. The book I was covering looked like a baby, swaddled in burlap. More clay covered. And people kept on driving by. Watching but not seeing. Witnesses to nothing yet everything. And I covered it with the clay I was going to dig in a bit.

When it was over, I felt relieved and accomplished. The first of four to go into the ground.