San Miguel de Allende....aka Gringo Town Mexico

This was a hip little city, and i mean hip replacement! ha. that joke never gets old. but serioulsly folks, if you qualify for a senior citizens discount and are looking for a quaint little Mexican city to move to, this is the place for you. The best part of this city was meeting the nice gentlemen that bought us a drink and conversed with us about the failures of the United States population. It was glorious. Actually, it is pretty grand meeing so many people with so many varying view points on life and religion and social responsability. All the things you would hope people would have something to say about. A lot of people out there are looking for change or truth all kinds of things. It really has made for great conversation. Here are a few fun pics from this fine little place. This first one is from the high security Mexican prison Christian and i were locked in for disturbing the peace.
We went "White Men Can't Jump" style hustle on the gaurds though and won our freedom.
I have lots of picures overlooking cities. I think all Mexican cities are built knowing they must be overlooked. wait. that doesn't sound right.
Nope. Not Disney Land. That neon cross atop the church is pretty commonplace and neon-tastic if you ask me.

we are failing to keep you up to date!

All apologies to our devoted followers, but internet access has been harder to come by recently. I will try to update you in succession as to our escapades, but it may be hard to remember. We last spoke of Real de Catorce eh? Well after that little excursion we spent a couple nights in a city called San Luis Potosi. I may have even spelled that wrong? who knows. There were a few highlights from this experience, but they will be brief. First, this is the city where we experienced our first, and thus far only, Mexican Police encounter. We were driving around looking for the address of our couchsurfer host for the night and a motorcycle cop pulled along side and motioned for me to follow. After a brief inspection of the VIN and a quick conversation about how i did not speak spanish he said we were free. yes, free. free at last. After telling him where we were headed he said just follow him at his break kneck speed through the traffic of the city. After blowing a few reds and cutting a few people off to keep up we got to one of the two independencia aves in the city. Didn't know there were two? yeah, neither did we. The cop jumped off his bike and started walking the street with us saying "i don't know gringo. i don't think there's a 45 on this street." That was the end of his help for us and the end of our first mexi-po-piggy-po experience. Second good thing about this city was being present at our host Octavios house when he got running water for the first time in years at his families long and forgotten home. mmmm. running water. Finally, we got to meet up with our Real de Catorce friends for dinner and a brief tour of the city. They again proved to be great new friends by tricking Christian into eating a taco filled with "testiculos del toro" (you're a bright bunch eh? figure it out) and forcing me into some karaoke...which i nailed. BAM! Oh St. Louis Potosi. We shant miss yeee.

Route map so far...

Spoiler alert...this map shows us getting all the the way to Oaxaca(wah-hah-kah) Sorry Lyle we havent been beaten or held at gun point or even extorted. Although we were robbed of one spare tire and charged 2 dollars for a 30 cent coke.
After many emails and blog comments demanding a map of our route...really just one. I made a map in paint of our progress thus far as you can see there is a back track where we drove by our exit for about an hour and a half. Marco says its because his navigator was sleeping in the back seat. I say it was driver error. In the end we added one gringo retirement town to our itineray. San Migel Allende. Its a beauiful town still. Our hostel was bueatiful even though we were the only ones there and we met a couple guys in there 50s that drove all over Mexico for 9 months in the 70s they had great stories to tell. After that niether of us was blaming the other for the misdirection into San Migel.

Leaving Real de Catorce

So, this is a fun video. i could have added it to the last post, but here it is all on its own. This town was pretty cool.

The Real Real de Catorce

So Christian led you up to the tunnel, but what we found beyond was nothing less than glorious. Upon finally bursting into the sunlight at the other end we were accosted...err...welcomed by two super hippie chicks who literally jumped in front of our car. It was a unique hitchiking tactic that i may try at some point in the future. After cramming their packs in the car our rabbit, complete with a fetal hippie chick on the passenger side dashboard as well as Christian and hippie chick #2 hanging on the roof rack and standing on the back bumper, we proceed through town like some sort of side show spectacle for the locals. The town may have had some colonial mexican charm, but when your pushing the limits of the rabbits weight capacity steep inclines, rabbit sized potholes and cobblestone roads seem less than charming. After taking the world travelers to their hostel, we decided to park right in front of a mean JEEP semi-circle reminiscent of some sort of manifest destiny-circle the wagons sort of scene complete with pitched tents in the middle. At the time we had no idea our new neighbors thought we were nutso for parking within inches of one of the JEEPs, but for us it made sense. We wanted a free place to camp but at the time were a bit unsure of the rules and regulations of this shabby little parking lot. Before hitting the tent pretty early for the night, we treated ourselves to dinner and a pleasant Mexican circus. As if our gringo wares, especially the sandals, didnt make us stand out, our lack of laughter at the obviously hilarious clown commentary in spanish made us stand out even more, but the magician, acrobat and balancing acts made it all worth it. I think we under the big top with about half of the cities citizens. Finally getting into a sleeping bag was nice, although sleeping next to some sort of high school drinking party complete with acoustic led karaoke did not make for a healthy nights rest.

Our saving grace ended up being our still cautious neighbors who treated us to coffee, protien filled meaty breakfast, partially translated and completely hilarious jokes and a JEEP ride to boot. Oh, did i mention he was a mechanic? Our video speaks of different first impressions of them, but they turned out to be some of our best friends from the trip so far and judging by the ski goggles it was tough to decide who exactly thought who was crazy.

Before we left Monterrey....

We jumped the gun a bit on the Real de Catorse trip. The end of our stay in Monterrey was fun and relaxing as well. I was able to get a nice haircut from an old mexican barber, as well as being watched by the friend of an old mexican barber. Through a friend of a friend of a friend of a church of an orphanage, we ended up playing with some ninos for a couple days. It was a bizarre scene as we tried to help them memorize paragraphs for their upcoming science fair about how a female lion heights to 175 meters and how dinosaurs died of mass suicide and constipation. It was mostly bizarre because the children were pretending to speak english. For some unknown reason their science fair was all in english forcing them to mimic sounds taught by volunteers. It was somewhat entertaining watching a whole paragraph turn into one long word from the mouth of a 6 year old mexican child, but beyond that im not sure much was being gained.
For those of you not able to enjoy 80 degree weather every day, this is what a lazy day at the park looks like. We also had time to tour the city at night a bit and take some fun pics at the river walk.

We were also able to eat a fine meal off of our hosts new metal Coca-cola table, presented by his vagabond couchsurfers. Sure we found it in a ditch and it was possibly...if not probably covered in various diseases, but it was way cheaper than IKEA and victor dusted it with a broom before we at off of it. We arent animals.

Real Del Catorce

After a week in Monterrey with our fabulous host Victor and friends. We headed for the town that the mediocure film "The Mexican" was filmed. After 4 hours of Mexican Highway and 40 minutes of secondary roads complete with every type of speed bump at intervals that seemed like 10 meters. We take a left on to a cobble stone road the sign reads "Real Del Catorce 24km" After an hour or so on this road that both of us thought was going to give Chito some broken bones or at least a fracture. We arrived at a one way tunnel where we waited for about 15 minutes for the out bound traffic to make its way through the tunnel. That should give you a clue as to how long the tunnel is some one estimated it at about 3 km or 1.8 miles for those of us who are metricly challenged. That's all you get for now. We'll blog more about Real Del Catorce and the people we met there later. Were starting to fall behind as the internet access has been limiting.

Single Foreigner, Gay Guy, Foreigner with a Girlfriend...Victor

Although some may disagree about where our host Victor belongs on a list of possible future husbands, one thing is for sure...He does in fact know how to cook.





He cooked us a beautiful meal last night out of a hodge-podge of groceries. So on top of a free place to stay, our welcoming tour or Monterrey, a night out under the anti-full moon, free medical advice and so much more, he even cooks for us! If you´re ever traveling through Monterrey and need a place to crash check out couchsurfing.com and lookup Victor. He´s the best.

Full Moon Crazy? No Moon Loco...

Our great host here in Monterrey, Mexico took us out to the mountains to watch the lunar eclipse the other night in full Mexican tradition. For those of you unfamiliar with mexican tradition as it pertains to lunar eclipses it includes the followïng: pitas with AT LEAST three cheeses, one bottle of wine, zero glasses, six people, two cars, multiple bikers with no bike lights and, of course, gorgeous mountain scenery. Hopefully these pictures will give a good idea of what it´s all about.

The Great Mexican Highway...for the low low price of $17

Toughest Trip Moments: Volume 1

I know many of you have voiced concern over the safety of this trip. We know it´s because you love us both so. We strongly believe God is in control, and hopefully you all do too. If your tender hearts need further confirmation about our ability to take care of ourselves in dangerous situations, let these images burn deep into you thoughts. WARNING! ladies, you may not want to look at these images, but if you do control your thoughts.
That´s right. Welcome to the gun show, and yes, that is THE Alamo. Were you niave enough to think we were the first two New Hampshirians to visit the Alamo? Maybe you should do a little research on the possibly the toughest man from NH ever...

ROBERT E. COCHRAN

Moment of silence please....

RIP Bob. RIP.

Shout out to our on the road roomies!

Here´s a quick thanks for all the little people who have helped us on our way thus far. The beautiful slew of girls from MillCo brought us to dinner, which may have led to a contact in Belize, and enlightened us with a new song about how we look at the outside, but Jesus looks at the heart (and yes...it had hand motions). The entertained in ways that only MAJK can. From TN, we moved through Arkansas. No offense to the Jeff Terrells of the world, but we didn´t stop nor do we feel that we missed much. Now that Jeff is in NC, there´s nothing left to see in the AK. Straight on to Fort Worth, TX where we met up with some more beautiful ladies (proclaimed so by single Christian, not taken Marco). Bridget ¨Cute Boots¨Riley put us up in her kick butt HUGE apartment for a few nights. With just her and her psychotic cat Smitten the Kitten, there was plenty of room to be had by a few vagabonds. We saw the festive water garden, which was made morbid by constant talk of people dying there, got to meet up with Bethany, another SHELTERFOREVER friend, and hit up a 12 hour church service. we left early. i think it just ended now, one week later. actually the service was super hip and strangers were interested enough to not only speak with us, but also pray and give prophecy over our trip. it was nice. Thanks Liz and Bridget!

From there we hit up San Antonio and stayed with...yes...another shelterite. Melanie and Rich Swan put us up in their ¨2 person okay, 4 person cramped¨ accomodations. I know most of the people reading this don´t know who rich or melanie are, but keep rich in your prayers as he´s nearly complete with his chemotherapy. They were very gracious to let us stick around, and take care of Christian when i skipped town for a few days, PLUS we got a nice tour of San Antonio out of it AND paid $7 too much for parking. All of you are great. We´ve prayed blessings on you for your hospitality and love, love, love.

Generosity in Memphis

We had a contact that was selling filtered veggie oil for $2.00 a gallon. We were reluctant to purchase something we could get for free, but we decided to do it. We met Steve at his shop. Steve's shop is in a sketchy neighborhood in Memphis. We pulled up to his garage and there was veggie oil in every type of container 55 gallon drums, cubes, 275 gallon containers. Steve was definitely a product of the 70's. We filled up and when we were finished Steve said we didn't owe him anything. He was onboard with our mission as someone who has enjoyed many road trips in his 53 years.

5-Star Sleeps and Eats

The dangerous trek across Tennessee was very fruitful mostly in that it led to our first night in the 5-star rated "VW Inn." Somewhere on route 40 we were passed by some Samaritans Purse trucks. Yes...passed by some trucks. I think some of you at this point don't fully appreciate the Rabbit, or CHITO, and all his glory. For those unaware, our top speed is not 80 or 85. It's downhill with the wind in our hair at about 77, and uphill with the slight breeze on our faces at 55...maybe. Anyway, we called the Samaritans Purse home base and found out where there Jackson, TN site was being based out of. We headed to the church to see if we could lend a hand in the tornado disaster relief. When we were told to come back in the morning we decided to check in to our accommodations for the night. Upon waking in the morning we found that Chito was unwilling to wake with us. We walked to the church to find that our extra hands weren't really needed, so we moved on to the 5-star eats. The Waffle House is a reputable establishment regardless of what ya'll....errrr....you all might think. After a brisk walk back to the car, 2 attempted jump starts, a wal-mart battery on a dolly, a nice guy named Michael, a couple hours and a can of ether we were on our way again. Enjoy the video of our night with Chito.

Trying to start a cold diesel is like.....

Trying to start the 18-0 New England Patriots offense in the superbowl. Apparently impossible. We woke in Johnson City, TN at about 8:30 ready to roll out. We followed our host out to the car confident we were well on our way. After he locked up behind us and drove off we quickly realized we were going nowhere. We took the next hour or so to change the fuel filter...no help. We grabbed a friends car to pick up an extension cord and plug in the the block heater...no help. We did get to shower with the extra time though. That sort of helped us both. Then i noticed Christians sleeping bag still sitting on the sofa. I said "God just didn't want us to leave without your sleeping bag." Of course the car fired right up with the bag snug in the back seat. I came out the back door to a "purring" rabbit and Christian exclaiming "Amen!"

The first of the car problems arrives on day 2.

Chito is a bit loud and a bit smelly. Thank you to Delta Airlines and Virgin Atlantic for their contribution of the earplugs. I've been hanging on to a Virgin Atlantic pack of goodies since my Senior trip in high school. It finally paid off today by saving one of the few sense I have from permanent damage. And a special thank you to Courtney MacDonald for the contribution of incense hopefully lasting the entire 3 months.

So even though Chito is loud and smelly, what more could really be expected from a 25 year old diesel? I think we're all a little loud and smelly sometimes...

Chito Hits the Road!

The much anticipated trip has begun on this day, February 6th, 2008. Chito was raring to go, as were his "bandit" counterparts. Enjoy the whimsicle and chaotic adventures of Chito and his pals as they head south over the next few months. Tune in often and tell your friends!