The Long Drive South

Picture of me and my new surf kayak (Fluid Element) in San Carlos, Sonora.

Picture of Mom on the Colorado National Monument at home.

Driving some nearly 2,000 miles in the American Southwest and down Western Mexico all in the name of having the freedom of a car, bike and a kayak. Lot's of military checkpoints and roadside tacos. I also learned I have no desire to return to Mazatlan even though I broke in my new surf kayak at Playa Brujas there- a day I will never forget. There were about 30 or 40 surfers out there. I was nervous knowing that surfers guard their waves jealously and have bad tempers. But upon thinking about I realized I have a paddle and am sitting up. Even if they had something to say about it there wouldn't be much they could do. So I headed out into the olas and mostly I just got confused looks. Then looks of astonishment as I caught wave and began gliding down the face throwing spins left and right.

Back to school today after a two week break for the PanAmerican games. It was great to see the kids and friends at school. Feels like the first day of school; nervous and exciting all over again. And in a couple weeks it will be Thanksgiving week and I'm headed off to climb Orizaba near Puebla. At 18,500 ft tall it's the third tallest mountain in N. America and it's in Mexico! Can't wait!

Click here to see a 1 minute time travel video of a little of the scenery from the drive.

Pan Ams

The Pan American Games are coming up, and Guadalajara is sprucing up it's streets. I've heard the city has extra police and federales from Mexico City to make sure there's no trouble from the cartels during the next couple weeks. All around the city streets have been repaved, outdoor artwork has gone up and advertisements like this one are everywhere.

The rumor is as soon as the games are over the zetas (a split off from the Gulf cartel) may try to take Guadalajara as their territory. We'll see. School is out for the next two weeks mostly because traffic will be so bad the kids won't be able to get to school. The Pan Am's will have all sorts of events, much like the Olympics but only for the Americas. To bad it's also a great time to travel, so I won't get a chance to see any of the events.