Bónus Day

5. Wednesday. After breakfast we wander around the guesthouse farmstead taking iPhone photos of cows and horses. One sees these horses throughout the island. The cows are seen in the more settled areas, such as this oasis. Much fewer than sheep.

Before leaving town, we venture into a supermarket, one of the many examples of the Bónus chain throughout the island. We go just for fun but also for snacks. One sees these supermarkets in any settled area. Seeing one of them as one comes into town, or leaves, becomes part of the road experience in Iceland, along with the similarly situated N1 gas stations and convenience stores, where we refuel the Renault daily. We patrol the many items inside just for fun, and remark and the subtle differences from an American truck stop.

Iceland reminds of the way America used to be, back in my small town youth. People were much more relaxed at casual things. In Iceland, for example, children are still mostly "feral" by American standards.  And when I take pictures of things, no one seems to care. Or at least I can't imagine anyone caring, the way I used to imagine that in America---the no one cared about a guy just doing his thing.

Outside of town the road goes quickly up into the mountains, like the Colorado Rockies, and turns into gravel for a section. On the other side of the pass the road is steep with switchbacks coming down into a massive chasm leftover from recent glaciation. This is the coldest coast of the island---the southeast---where the massive ice caps come right up to the sea in places. At the bottom of the wide valley, the road skirts the placid coast weaving in and out of the fjords, close to the rock wall and the ancient farmsteads that cling there.

We stay the night in a hotel in quiet Hof, right along the coast near the edge of the massive ice cap of Vatnajökull. The hotel is in a house, and has a shared bathroom. Across the street is a lobster restaurant where we dine on bisque. The house has a pleasant dining room with a view of the sea. kitchen. We take our breakfast with a couple from Spain. The Spaniards seem to love Iceland.