My cousin Kevin Dre's, who owns a construction/remodeling company in Phoenix, decided he needed a break and will be taking a week off to drive through Mexico and down to Belize with me. I can't tell you how much I appreciate his doing this with me! Besides having the company he has a lot more experience towing a trailer than I (and you'll see how little I have in a minute) and speaks some Spanish. Not sure if I wrote why I'm still in the U.S. or now so I'll briefly tell you, and if I did please bear with me.
Early last week one of my nieces posted on Facebook that my step-mother Jean had passed away. After a panic phone call I found out that she was still alive but Hospice was now taking care of her. She passed early Saturday morning. I've been having sniggle little problems keeping me from crossing into Mexico and I decided that my Angels were holding me up until Jean left us and I while I was still in the family loop. Friday Kevin sent me an email asking if I was up for company. I jumped at the chance and he booked a flight to Brownsville for Wednesday so he could take care of some outstanding business. So, once again my Angels helped me out.
So now I have a few days to wait so I thought I'd take a ride out to South Padre Island. My Houston cousin Pat Coyle loves the place and it's one of his top two beaches in the country, Destin FL being the other. I hitched the trailer yesterday and dragged it out and parked along the road and walked onto the beach to talk with some of the RVers parked on the sand. I found out it only costs $18 for a 90 day stay. Of course there are no facilities and you're living off the grid but who cares! Here's what happened though. I drove onto the beach and looked for a suitable spot to park until Wednesday morning, finding one about a mile from the beach access building. Now I'd passed quite a few RVs and trailers parked prettily on spots with excellent views. So I found one that I liked and did a U-turn so that I was parked parallel to the water and where I thought it was above the high tide mark. Bad move!!! I immediately started to bog down and tried heading back for the firmer wet sand of the beach path. I didn't make it. Well thought I that's why I got a 4 wheel drive jeep, for just such situations. Wrong answer. The sand was just too soft and the trailer a bit too heavy to pull forward or push back. I placed a couple of the 2x12's I carry for placing under the stabilizer jacks under the 4 wheels of the jeep and was just about to unhook from the trailer. My thought was to get the Jeep out using the 4 wheel drive and then hook to the rear of the trailer, since it was closest to the firmer sand, and yank it out with towing straps. My Angels are always around me though and sent a 4-some with a monster pickup to help me out of my predicament. They hailed from northwest Iowa and are "winter Texans" as the snowbirds are called here. We soon had their pickup and my Jeep secured and they pulled me out with one big tug. I certainly thanked them, God, and my Angels as soon as I hit firmer sand. One of the guys mentioned that they were staying at the Best Western and had remembered seeing my trailer parked in the McDonalds parking lot. He laughingly remembered the large blue garbage can (about 75-80 gallons) on the back storage deck. The 4 of them jokingly said I must be planning on generating a lot of garbage but were glad that I had somewhere to put it. I actually brought it for water storage (I have another 40 gal one that will go on top of the trailer for showering, heated by the sun) for when I find my plot of land in Belize. I won't have access to city water or a well, at least not in the near future. I'm familiar with the water catch containers on the Cayes. There aren't any wells and no city water so they catch rain water and use reverse osmosis to purify it. Me, I'll use household bleach. Don't believe me? Here's a website that gives you all the info on using bleach. Bookmark it because it may come in handy one day when your city water is turned off due to a water main break and they tell you to boil your water until further notice.
http://www.newjerusalem.com/PureWater.htm
So anyway on with my tale. I drove up the beach toward the entrance and stopped to talk with a guy who had a trailer much like mine. I came to find out that they use sections of 2x12 plank to ease up to where they will park and then leave the final section under the tires. Since I didn't think of that in my earlier planning I decided to be safe and head for somewhere off the beach. I'll have to hit Home Depot and pick up some planks for the trip because I may run into the same situation when I go looking for my plot of paradise. As I was headed back to the local Walmart to park I passed a really nice small motel offering $23 a night. Hmmm...a hot shower, free continental breakfast, and 24 hour Internet... So here I sit, checked in for 2 nights for a total of $52, writing on my blog and waiting for Kevin to fly in at 5pm Wednesday. Not sure what the next couple of days will have to offer but I know I'll be spending a few hours of it in my beach chair, enjoying the warn sunny weather staring out at the Gulf Of Mexico, smoking cigars and reading a book. Another of my TX cousins, Matt, recommended a seafood joint that he says is really good so I may try it tonight. But if nothing else I'm getting in some very restful days. Now you may think that all I'm doing since I retired is resting but that truly is not the case. I've spent many long days investigating the requirements for possibly living off the grid, finding a trailer to live in, outfitting it foremost for basic survival and then comfort, and preparing for the drive. So I'm pretty worn out from all that and having a few days to just kick back before the long drive to Dangringa BZ is just what the doctor ordered!
More later!
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