The turkey gobbler is getting it on with his hen. So is the bad-ass, big red rooster that is also trying to kill the ducklings the mama goose has raised. Mother Goose and the gander protect the ducklings fiercely. Red menace has managed to kill only two of eleven baby ducks. He has two chickens in his flock. One of which hatched two duck eggs that Red immediately killed. The pigeon recuperated and flew away, only after a close call with big red who had him pinned to the ground. The pig that lived in the cement-floor wallow is where I’m setting up a storage-workshop. The Home residents ate the pig at the New Years Eve celebration.

A mama goose and 11 little ducklings live where I live. Also 2 turkeys, one frustrated big red rooster, adolescent sister and brother ducks, one white one black, and a pigeon with a broken wing (shot out of the sky actually.) Oh, I forgot the fat iguana that lives under the main walkway to the dorms. That’s where I live now, not in the dorms, in my own small, cozy apartment. Forever. Oh yeah, the frog that croaks all night and the rooster who crows at 1:30 AM every morning add to the ambience. Love it.

I kept in touch with Sister Edith and my immediate family while on my travels through El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, and the US. Traveling 5,000 miles to reach my daughter’s home an hour from the Canadian border, I drove north on Mexico’s west Pacific coast. Returning to Honduras I drove 5,000 miles down Mexico’s east Caribbean coast. Leaving HN on May 3rd I returned to La Paz on August 3rd a changed person. My plan is to write an article for a travel magazine to elaborate on that development. Sister Edith and the kids residing at the Foundation Home for at-risk children were fine when I left and fine when I returned. I am convinced that my higher power guided me through precarious situations several times.

The Skagit River, a flowing colossus, races relentlessly past my daughter and son-in-law’s home 20 meters from their elevated outdoor deck. The other side of the seemingly alive, sinuous, green, always moving presence, is 200 meters distant. I marvel at its immense, never-ending quantity of water slipping by; quiet, lethal, both sides bordered by a forest of huge pine and evergreen trees.

The heading reflects the Hispanic acronym for the US of Northamerica. I reached Seattle, Washington after a 25-day drive from La Paz, La Paz, Honduras through Guatemala and Mexico. The trip an unforgettable experience, I intend to write a travel article about my adventure. I drove up Mexico’s west coast to reach the Nogales, Arizona border crossing. When I return to Honduras in a couple of months I intend to drive down along the eastern part of the country bordering the Caribbean Sea. This trip I will take along a GPS unit.

I entered Mexico from Guatemala on May 5, 2019: Cinco de Mayo. 3,000 miles after I left La Paz, La Paz, Honduras, I arrived in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico on May 20th. On the other side of “La Linea” is Nogales, Arizona, USA. Today I arrived in Yuma, Arizona as I continue my journey to my daughter’s house in San Diego. It has been a journey of discovery. A journey with failures, and successes. Also fear. Fear after multiple vivid confrontations with death. I have been fortunate on this “bucket list” leap into the unknown. After San Diego, I journey north to Seattle where family await my arrival. I pray The Lord my soul to keep.

I have been driving for 7 days. I spent 2 days in Tapachula, Mexico and here in Puerto Escondido I have spent 2 days. Tomorrow I head for Acapulco and estimate I will need to drive 10 more days to reach the U.S. border in Nogales, Arizona.

There’s no fool like an old fool. It was 90°F/32°C last Thursday and there I was under a hot sun moving heavy boxes of books to put in storage. By noon I realized I had dehydrated my body as well. When I returned to the home I’m vacating, sopped in sweat, it hit me all at once. Sunstroke/Heatstroke dropped me like gangbusters. I collapsed on my bed and slept all afternoon and 12 hours the next day arising occasionally to void dark-orange urine. At my age it is a miracle I didn’t have a cardiac infarct. It has taken three days to get back into a normal shape. Tomorrow the kids at the Children’s Home will be helping me move the heavy stuff, they’re on a week’s vacation for Semana Santa, the Holy Week before Easter.

The week before the kids returned to school from their three-month vacation, I took them to the Comayagua Archaeological Museum where dinosaur bones millions of years old are on display, bones that have been excavated from the Comayagua Valley. Celia compares her forearm to a dinosaur bone.

Driving a long distance requires careful planning. Think two weeks on the road through three Spanish-speaking countries with the US of Norteamerica near the Canadian border the final destination. When I travel long cross-country distances, I approach the journey like a job. I begin at 7 am, stop for a leisurely lunch and at 4 pm I look for a hotel/motel to spend a relaxing night for a comfortable sleep after a nice dinner. It is wise to stop at a bank when entering a different country to puchase enough of a local currency to carry you to the next country’s customs crossing: credit card thieves inhabit every nook and cranny. Another indispensable item is a good map with your route highlighted from begining to end in addition to purchasing a smart phone with GPS. I am 5 weeks from my start date (I’m also busy vacating my house and putting everything in storage). More travel info in the weeks ahead.