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South again

So for those of you who are interested I find myself back in Mexico again headed for Central America, the meat of it is I sold La Chingadera and am delivering her to the buyer in Costa Rica...

As many of you reading this already know I have had several attempts to get myself out of the states and down south, regardless of my intent, something always seemed to go wrong, generally it has been a mechanical issue that stops me (read previous blogs, or buy me one too many tequilas and you can get the details...

That said, if my adventures begin with mechanical problems this one dropped right into place, my intention this time was to leave on Christmas Day, I was as ready as ever, the car gassed, freshly painted, and in perfect mechanical order.

Since this trip is essentially a delivery, I packed light. A sleeping bag, mosquito net, thermarest a couple flashlights and some clothes, my toolbox, some music an extra fuel tank and thats pretty much it. So with all that crap in my 4Runner I grabbed a driver and had her follow me over to where I was storing the toyota (Kudos to Richie and the boys at the Adobe for babysitting the truck) anyways, I jumped on the highway and headed the couple of miles to Montecito as I revved her up the feeling inside me was one of great excitement, time to get outa town again, I was on the road for less than two miles when out of the corner of my eye a great plume of blue smoke billowed out behind me, showering the cars behind me with a bath of freshly changed motor oil, I immediately pulled of the highway and idled to a stop, got out of the car, rolled around the back and was relieved to see oil still pouring profusely from the engine compartmant, seems that the remote oil cooler hose had given up the ghost (a much simpler and less costly repair that the blown engine that screamed through my head as I saw the smoke) Merry Christmas to me!

So then, here I am, with just enough cash left in my pocket to run the Baja before the next check arrived, no matter really, its Christmas and no parts stores are open, then I called my good friend Star, a local wrench who stays at the shop he works at, worth a try anyways, he answered! Yay! he was at the shop less than a mile from my car, anyways he wasnt doing anything and after dropping Kim possible (the driver of the toyota) off at her car, I went and picked up Star, we grabbed a chunk of hose and repaired La Chingadera.

So one would think, no problem, hose is on, if the car was perfect before the hose blew it should be perfect now, well fear is a funny thing, given my history of pushing too hard to do what I want to do and the history I have heading south ( by boat, car, or whatever) I took some deep breaths, and decided that before I left, I would touch, tighten, torque, replace or do whatever was neccesary to each and every bolt, nut, tire, wire, basically even though I believed everything was in order it was time to step back, chill, get my hands dirty and do whatever it took to be absolutely sure that everything was proper before my departure...

So I did, and when everything was right I waited for a sign, where that sign would come from I had no idea, all I knew was I had already given up my apartment, so I was technically homeless, and the idea of not leaving was tasting pretty bitter, but I had promised myself to await a sign, it wasnt until Thursday that it came, I went to breakfast, grabbed the latest copy of The Independent and turned to the Rob Breznys horoscope column, Rob always seems to peg me every week, this particular one was a gem, I didnt bring it with me, but the gist of it was imagine a Morose Lion, with a wounded roar, tied to a string and feeling like a captive, and not realizing he is not captive at all, he merely needs to break the string and is free to roam.

So I broke my string and down the road I roll, at the moment I write you from Loreto in Baja California MX I am over 1000 miles from Santa Barbara and all is well, I wish all who read this peace, love and prosperity in 2008, more to come...

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