My Angels have saved me once again!?!

You are not going to believe this, well maybe you are at this point...

Kevin and I are sitting in the exact same room at the exact same hotel on South Padre Island that I checked out of yesterday when I went to pick him up as he flew into Brownsville! So get a cup of coffee, smoke 'em if you got 'em and I'll fill you in on how my Angels have saved me once again.

You all probably know that I've been downloading movies, TV series, and audio and ebooks like a madman for months now in anticipation of using them as entertainment when I finally found my spot to settle down in. I have them all on a 1 terabyte external hard drive (well actually on two 1 terabyte hard drives because the other is a mirror image of the 1st in case something happens). Now hold that thought!

Kevin and I arrived at the border, on the U.S. side, and were politely questioned by the local county sheriff's department and Border Patrol about what we had in the trailer. They decided to do a routine check. Absolutely no big deal because, like the good citizen and international traveler I am, I don't have any contraband products, too many cigars (thanks to Kevin not smoking and our allotment being double because there are 2 of us), too much liquor, or anything else that I shouldn't be carrying. During an outside walk around one of the officers noticed that the left front trailer tire looked tilted. No kidding it was! Checking it we found that the tire was worn to the metal tread bands on the far inside of the tire. Well, knowing that we were about to hit some pretty iffy roads in Mexico, and having about 1800 miles ahead of us I decided we better have it checked out. We drove to a truck repair shop that I had seen on my travels in and around Brownsville. They looked at the wheel, replaced the tire, and then told me that the axle was bent. I don't know when, where, or how it happened but it did. So I told them to fix the axle and we'd stay the night because they wouldn't be done until 5pm. Kevin and I decided to head back to South Padre Island and visit a bird sanctuary and a turtle rescue facility that we'd seen the day before when we went out there for dinner. He and I packed for the night and I went looking for my hard drive case (holding both of them) and I COULD NOT find it! Crap!!! All that work and now they were gone!? Thinking I, and saying it to Kevin, "I wonder if I left it at the hotel?" Nah, I couldn't be that careless or forgetful. Din,g ding, ding wrong answer! When we got to the hotel desk I asked if they had a black hard sided case and showed him it's twin. Out he came with it! Now I don't know what's worse, having more work done on the trailer that's holding me up from crossing the border or having more work done on the trailer to prevent me from crossing the border and finding out days later, when it was too late to do anything about it, that I couldn't find my hard drives. I always looked at these delays to my trip as my Angels watching out for poor old Rich and not letting me do anything until it was the right time for me to do it. I am a very firm believer in my Angels guiding and protecting me. Those of you that know the story of Angels All Around and our journey finding a store front and all the good works that it allowed us to do know that. And if you haven't heard the stories please go to http://www.angelsallaround.com/ourstory.html and read about it.

I just called the repair shop and learned that the trailer won't be ready until noon tomorrow. Poor Kevin has a return flight from Belize City to Phoenix next Thursday. Leaving tomorrow will not give him time for the photo ops he was anticipating and still get us to Dangringa Belize. He's going to call American tonight to see if he can extend his trip through the following Sunday. He's using frequent flier miles so extending his trip may not be an option. I'm praying that it happens though as I want to see him enjoy his trip and us not be so rushed to get where I'm going so that he can make his flight.

We had a great time at the bird sanctuary and turtle rescue and Kevin was as giddy as a kid at the almost 100 pictures that he took while we were at the sanctuary. He does some kind of photography that used 2 low end out of f-stop focus, 2 high end out of f stop focus, and 1 perfectly focused pictures which are then merged into a single photo using a software program that he says turns out incredibly sharp pictures. It will be interesting to see the results when he's finished.

Trust me when I tell you that I'm not demoralized in any way but now we're waiting until tomorrow to see if we can successfully cross the border and be on our way or if my Angels have something more in store for me...