From Whats Left of My Stream of Consciousness

I was posting from a beautiful Office Max place this morning. Now I am posting from a dark little neighood place with all the letters worn off the keyboards.

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GO TO THE BARGAINING TABLE
Learn a bit of the political philosophy behind collective bargaining. Basically it´s simple: You benefit from friendly, honest, cooperation with your workmates.
The drawback is that you must participate rather than leave it to others.
Some potential benefits may be: improved quality of information, greater safety, greater security, being heard, learning to listen.
Go to the bargaining table. Fair pay could be part of the deal.

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On this present trip on the morning of my second day I headed to Andrade, Mexico to buy drugs. Stopped at the new Quechan Casino Resort on the way. They are still working out some kinks, but are in pretty good shape. If you like Indian Casinos you will like it. I enjoyed a nice paninii there.
I went on to pick up some blood pressure medication because I still expected to be traveling in the States and felt myself to be on the way to San Antonio. It was after heading east from Yuma that I began to feel the ´reality´of my poverty.

I´ll be darned; there is English spellcheck here!

More soon.

Old but Here

I`m lodged in an apartamento on the oceanfront in Matzatlan in México.
My spellcheck is in Spanish, sorry.
Matzatlan is `full` of turists and expensive.
Still I am paying $27 for an aparmnent with a terrace facing the sea and a small bacony with a nice view inland.
It was quiet enough for a good nights sleep last night.
The car entrance was of a size that allowed me to smash up the right side of the Astro. It is the worst damage I have ever done a car.
I see a day when I will drive a car no more.

Thoughts While Driving

My calculations did not keep me from enjoying the countryside. Did not stay completely in the `here and now` for my memory was taken back to times of WW II. Seem to be getting ahead of myself a bit. Still let me give you a sample memory.
I was not yet five years old, I find myself sitting with my father at a tiny fire far out on the desert. He is drunk. With us (or we with them) are two indians; they do not speak English. They do not speak much at all. They are thin muscular men as short as my father. They have open white shirts and dark skin. The dark skin shines in the fire light. They look very much alike and could be brothers. They may have drunk some with my father, but I now suspet that they were high on something other than alcohol. Thinking back I now also suspect that they were Yaqui.
They `sang` to the coyotes. Maybe it is better said that they spoke beautifully with the coyotes. I liked it. It seem that they spoke and the coyotes answered. It seemed that the coyotes spoke and they answered. It was an intimate than loud conversation.
I may have felt safer had my father been sober, but still the memory is good.

Looking back I suspect that it was not a good time for my parents. I think my father was having troubling thoughts about being a husband and father. I think he had just hepled my mother to get a late term abortion and that she was begining a depression. I think that the abortion was badly done and left long term phisycal damage as well as lasting psychological damage.

The spell check here is in Spanish. I hope you will forgive my spelling errors.

Thoughts while traveling often differ from the thoughts typical of home.

East by Southeast

From my parking spot near Salton sea I drove to Yuma, Arizona and on toward Tucson. As I drove I began some mental calculations and came to some conclusions. I concluded that I could not now afford long term travel in the US. I find that to enjoy myself these days it costs me a minimum of about $200 a day while driving my own vehicle.
I continued my claculations and was forced to conclude that not only could I not afford long term travel in the US, but that I could not afford to do so even without a car and in cheaper `third world` countries. So, not only am I too old and weak for varieties of travel, but also do not have the wealth to do so within my comfort zone.
Sometimes reality comes with clarity as one drives.

Tripping

Began by driving down to Palm Springs and on to Palm Desert. In Palm Desert I found a Best Buy and their bought a lap top. Planned to spend about $500, but ended up spending a bit more than $900!
As they were setting up my machine at Best Buy, I drove into Indian Wells and rented a room for the night. freshend up a bit and then returned to pick up my new purchace. I was tired so turned in.
Within hours I realized that the motel room I had selected would be to noisey for me. I packed up and found a place to park near the south east end of the Salton Sea and there slept.

Memories are Made of This

I was just writing an email to my sister about me having nightmares last night. A very rare happening. I was dreaming of my enormous forgetfulness and diminishing capacities. I dreamt a lot. I'll give you a few examples:
~ I dreamt of the many times I have had people running after me with my forgotten passport in their hands.
~ I dreamt of the time I walked home 15 miles in a sandstorm because I had for gotten that I had driven my car to work.
~ I dreamt of the time in Laos or Paraguay when carried two credit cards as my only source of funds. I had so damaged one that it was useless in an ATM and then discovered that was unable to find the other one.
~ Then I dreamt of the time I found that I was too weak to change my own tire.
~ Then I dreamt of the time I decided that I'd take no more driving trips. That was the time I had four blowouts in less than ten days.
Each time I awoke from these dreams I'd think of similar experiences. Like the times had lost watches and jackets during my school years.
As I wrote of these things, and more, to my sister, I was interrupted by a phone call. A kind lady was calling to tell me I had left my drivers license in her shop this morning.

Met an interesting man in her shop. Seems he has connections for buying and selling real estate in Mexico, Central America, and Colombia. He had brought money here from Mexico during the boom to build spec houses. He seemed very up to date on the action in Baja and western Sonora.
I asked him about property between La Paz and Cabo in Baja California. He said that his own family had land for sale in that area! I told him that I hasn't interested in land, but did have some interest in modest homes. The conversation got me thinking that it could turn out to be more interesting to head into Mexico instead of into Texas.

Anyway, I plan to head toward Palm Springs, California in the morning.

Having my license at hand may help me to sleep a bit better tonight.

Now may be a good time for me to tell Hughes Satellite people to suspend my service for a time.

Oh, remembered the time I walked home in the sandstorm. The next morning I woke up and not seeing my car in the drive way proceeded to report it stolen.

What Kind of Trip is This?

No cruising eastern European rivers. No flights to New Zealand or Australia.

I'm very ready for a trip, except for one embarrassing detail; I don't have the money. I guess I could blame 'the economy,' but it is me. It's my fault. It's my own fault. I had put aside a bit for a trip, but just used it to put up $3000 worth of cyclone fencing here at Camp Thunderbird. I made the mistake of thinking I could replace it before I was ready to travel. I haven't replaced it and I am ready.
The meanderer, wanderer, ambler in me is ready for a couple of months of ambling, wandering, and meandering.
So, I've cleaned out the back of my old van and put a futon there with some nice fresh bedding.
That done, I tried making a travel budget. I see that I have just over $46 a day available. Of course that is only for food, lodging, gas, nightclubs, doctors, dentists, mechanics, laundromats, maps, flights, cruises, honey, van parts and so on.

Once I had my budget well I hand I began to consider my other resources. First there is me. I am 71 years old and not as swift as once I was. But I am fully ready to compensate for my decrepitude with my great planning and budgeting capabilities. Then there is my '97 Astro Van; a vehicle of great experience, but 'in van years, not young. So much for resources.

If it wasn't for the fact that I have nearly a full tank of gas, I might have to camp in the driveway.

I still have some details to take care of before I can leave the house for over a month, but I intend to sally forth as soon as they are taken care of.... or forgotten.

In the meantime, I'll use as little of my gas as possible.

I hope to keep you posted!

Camp Thunderbird

Eight thunderbirds in the nearby tree have just closed their wings after warming themselves in the early morning sun.