Near the end

Our day begins...John is having a cup of coffee and a smoke. We went down to breakfast then started the pack up truck routine. The back has been sealed, well, there was one guy who wanted to look inside. Have I told you about the guys that ride around with black ski-masks covering up their faces? Actually, they're probably not ski masks...I'm sure there isn't any skiing going on but you get the picture.. again I digress-SQUIRREL!-We keep everything really important in the cab with us-the cameras, the lap top, a cardboard box that holds basically everything that was in our bathroom,a bag with all of our important documents, the worlds largest brass lantern given to us by our friend Lonnie before we left and two carry on bags. My bag has been my trusted travel partner for 16 years. I bought it for $12.00 at a discount store just before my first trip to Europe.It has been everywhere with me since, except last years trip to India when I opted to go even smaller and took a day pack. It escorted me to London, Paris, Italy, back to Paris, back to Italy, Kuwait, Greece, Spain and Morrocco- oh, and New york and L.A. Never has it ditched me, gotten lost, broken or stolen. It seems fitting that again it has my back, literally. This trip is by far covering the greatest distance though. Not a span that can be counted in days or measured in miles. This a journey of emotions. Tomorrow we should arrive in Merida and while it's not exactly where our house is, it's close and it is where we have been staying each time we've been down for the last 4 years. we are friends with the owner and he knows what room we like. So you see, tomorrow, the trip, the adventure part of the drive, is over. We are sitting in another hotel room in a town whose name I can't quite remember or pronounce. We are tired but not necessarily from the days drive. It's a culmination of all of the preperation, all of the dinners my girls had for me , all of the purging of possessions, the estate sale, the retirements, the finacial preperations, the packing of the truck, the good byes in the driveway the morning we left and all the miles we've put on since then. As this door closes the next one is within sight. On to the next chapter, the next page..

The drive today was great..sunny and hot, good roads and only two stops by law enforcemnet folks. tomorrow we'll be in Merida where we will spend the night then head out to the house. Thank you all for sharing this with us, all the nights I went over the day with you, the fact that I knew people really cared enough and even enjoyed reading this each day..thanks. Ready for the next installment? More will be revealed.....