Sam And Saundra's Year Long Adventure - Part 31

Sam And Saundra’s Year Long Adventure – Part 31

1/25/09 - 2/2/09  Pharr  -  Getting ready to travel Mainland Mexico :

Sam is definitely in overdrive.  He appears to be totally focused on tasks that need to be done to make our trip more comfortable and enjoyable.  But then he suddenly stops, his eyes go unfocused, his breathing becomes slow and regular. He’s either practicing yoga or he’s stressed out.  He has washed the trailer and Brutus, taken Brutus in for wash/wax/detail, taken Brutus in for tire rotation/check-up (got totally screwed by Firestone), took Brutus elsewhere for new brakes and yet another for all new tires. He has gone to at least three auto part stores for parts and gone to Walmart an unknown number of times for various trailer needs. He has read an online journal of someone who has gone through a similar trip through Mexico and made notes of more things we need and need to do.  He used a cleaning system on our clean water tank to clean it, then filled and rinsed it out totally three times - yesterday.  The fresh, clean water tank water now comes out murky and foamy, so he plans to rinse it out just a few more times, until it is clean, again.  He has cleaned rugs, fixed a door catch, tightened lug nuts on the trailer, cleaned and reorganized all of the storage bins and the toolboxes, lubed the chassis, put in a new ‘gate’ on our gray water holding tank, and the only thing I knew was a problem was Brutus’ shoes. We have gone golfing, then again did not go golfing because he was wearing a ‘tank top’ (I think they were jealous of the bright orange color).  We have gone swimming. Sam is teaching me to snorkel and we ate at Whataburger – twice. He is reading all the material sent to us from Vagabundos for the trip and we exchanged our USD for pesos.  We have obtained our trip permits/visas and heard stories from the border patrol that would … He has arranged telephone service and limited internet for his IPhone, but only out-going.  He still has to get me back to the golf course before we leave, so I can get pictures of the critters there –and golf while we’re at it. (Diesel is down to $2.07 and I am trying to convince him to fill up before it goes back the other direction, giving him no excuse for getting me back golfing.)

He’s doing all this and I am keeping busy watching him and trying to help him figure out what he ‘needs’ to do next.  The golf course is my choice.  This time with my camera.  This course has running water all the way around and through it. (We both caused several big splashes when we last were allowed to play there.) We have plenty of new balls.  The birds and long-eared jackrabbits are prolific. No cardinals or coots, but one of the types of birds have a very long, slender beak.  They appear to be loners, as they do not join the flocks and flocks of intermingling birds that like to sit by the water and judge the quality of your game.  These loners are obviously embarrassed by the bend in their beaks that I am sure was caused by the wind blowing them off their feet while their beaks were lodged in the earth going after a tasty morsels.  They did not get blown totally away, but at the cost of a straight beak.  I mean the winds can be really cruel here. All of these birds have the same problem, but they never seem to walk anywhere near each other. I am hoping that I can get close up pictures of all of the critters to try and match them with the field and bird books we bought to do this sort of thing. (Did you know there really are Snipes in this world? Next time someone tries to make you feel silly by setting you up on a snipe hunt – go!) 

It's Time

It’s 9 at night and we have to be up at O dark hundred to start our trip to Mexico.  We never made it back to the golf course, but did have some of the best oranges and jicama  from a man at the side of the road.  The oranges are easily the sweetest I have ever eaten.  All of the other caravaners have arrived and there are eleven of us total.  Four from California, one from Idaho, two from Canada, one from Maryland, one from Alaska, one from Maine and us (Oregon).  We’ve had our pre-trip meetings and are ready to go.  Since I do not have ready access to the internet, I will send when I can.  You all be careful!!! Wagon Master Connie told us that we cannot get lost on this trip.  Little does she know…