You really should know better than believing everything I write when it comes to our next destination. I am not talking about Piedras Negras which I did briefly visit, but about where we are now. Garner Park did not materialized, instead we headed north east a bit, passing the outskirts of San Antonio and are now parked in Luling, still Texas.  We are visiting a friend which we have been corresponding with and reading her Blog for a while, Donna Yeaw. She is also a motorcyclist, quite a story of a solo ride on her Harley not too long ago, and now on her BMW 650GS, you know the one perfect for an around the World tour. Her base camp is a 28" RV… they will be more about her as the credits of her own Journey are so much worth mentioning. Either way one looks at it, tent camping, RV’ing, living on the road is filled with learning experiences on a daily basis, even more for a single woman, but determined, in her first steps following a path that had been a dream for such a long time.

We arrived in Eagles Pass a couple days ago, after having our heater fixed by a great shop in Del Rio, Del Tex, learning that yes, there are coincidences in Life… good battery does not = good heater!!! The battery had gone bad and also a "thermo switch" was fried. So much for my logic. We were back on the road in a couple hours, and pulled in Eagles Pass early afternoon, only to find out, regardless of my research, that this town did not have anywhere for us to camp… Yes, we did find the couple names listed on the search, but I think we would have been at risk even with Spirit keeping a watch up all night! I am being diplomatic… I did want to see Piedras Negras the next day, silly to have come this far and not. The single battery again, even new, would have never made it through the cold night running the fan, we could not park anywhere and run the generator to stay warm… so the Walmart or Casino parking lots where out of the question. It turned out to be an out of budget experience, for the first time in a long time we had to get a motel room! And I don’t know how you feel about motel rooms, but to me they are the most depressing four walls one can find. I am not talking about a Resort… just a plain, least expensive motel room! This has definitely brought up a situation that needs to be solved, specially getting back more into civilization. More batteries… more electric reserve power is needed… an expensive proposition!

 

Anyhow… such is the road ahead at times, one must bite the bullet as they say (kind of a strange expression if you think about it… very dramatic…) and go on, which is absolutely what we did. After a sleepless night and our free breakfast (they had mini soft tacos…) we headed toward the crossing of the Rio Grande, another bridge separating the two countries. And again the vibes to take Spirit with me across did not set in very well. I have learned to follow my vibes, the motions have always paid off, a price to pay going against them on the other hand has generally been the result. He does real well for a short time by himself, there was a City parking lot within a few feet of the bridge, I locked everything up, and left for the walk in some cold windy weather… looking back often… to be or not to be!

I arrived to town early, the shops were just opening, a few locals in the welcoming Park on a quiet mod, hopefully they had not spend the night outdoor as the temperature had dropped tremendously. A large Church across of it was inviting me to go in and I did. Suddenly I felt in another world, all sounds muffled by the thick walls, the lights beautifully diffused coming through the many stained glass windows, and more locals kneeled down conversating in silence through their own beliefs. I sat down myself for a while, suddenly deep in thoughts, hard to explain, seemed as the thoughts were slowly leaving me to lighten up my heart, they were passing through me peacefully, quietly. There has been a lot of weight lately, if I might express it as is, the Holidays without Lance, the return to the East Coast leaving the vast empty lands tightening our space, and as much as I try everyday to keep my feet planted and my head high up on the taken path, the inner difficulties never cease to exist. One can never run away from their own thoughts, feelings, personal situation… one can only enhance their own life and displace the mind’s effects a bit by surrounding themselves with what they long after the most… in my case, vast spaces, Deserts, Forests, Canyons… and I am loosing those precious sights and sounds right now.

The cause is good, spending one month with my mother I feel will be such a revelation at this stage of both of our lives. It probably will be one of the last chapters written… her being 81 and myself reaching 60. Savannah, the Golden Isles and such I know will be a delight to both of our senses… still, how strange that I cannot let go missing already these past months living as we did. I feel that I have to try harder to live for the "now", nothing can transform the present into something it is not as the Journey’s direction will change a bit. Maybe that is just faith to reaffirm the fashion of the life I do not want to experience anymore as March will see us riding West, all over again… just as we did 15 months ago! It will be a different route, but I also know that even if the same route was taken, it would be a different mind set as I have changed so much these past months, seeing as I have never seen before, feeling as I have never felt before, smelling as I have never smelt before. All almost as a new childhood throughout the learning of new steps that will take us through this new life I have come to cherish as never before.  

As we continued our walk, as the shops were starting to open up, the lingering smells of food being prepared for the day were making their way through the narrow streets. I noticed that every store keeper was washing their their own sidewalk space in front of their store. All in the same fashion, big bucket filled with water and detergent, small bucket to empty it and hard at it, sweeping the wet pavement with a broom. The town was being cleaned up from the day before, the stores themselves were being mopped, it gave a good feeling of care and pride from the local merchants.

Slowly the neighborhood was coming to life. As every city is different, this one was also different from the experience in Acuna. More street shops here, a giant square block of shops, filled with Ponchos, blankets, hats, boots… for sale. I was the only one walking around and the merchant already were trying to get me to lighten up my wallet.

The one thing I really regret when in Mexico is not knowing the language. I do understand it as being fluent in French, there are similarities, but expressing myself is a totally different ball game. I promised myself that by next year, when we probably come back, maybe live in Baja next winter for a while, I will have learned the language by then. Enough to express myself, regarding the food anyhow!!!

Hunger was starting to set in, I had left right after feeding Spirit and forgetting to have breakfast myself. And it is so hard to order without some serious communication. I stood by a little restaurant, on the sidewalk, just observing what people where doing… There was some ham rotating vertically on an open flame salamander, like a gyro, there was a grill inside where the very small corn tortillas, their edges dipped in oil, were being heated up, and another station in the front where this young man was chopping away more meat, the onion and cilantro always ready near by! After familiarizing myself with it all, I ordered 2 of this and 3 of that as everyone was ordering a total of 5 of these miniature tacos.

One lady sitting at a table near by knew English and made me understood that I had made the right choice as far as location and what to eat. It was excellent… this was not Taco Bell… this is the real flavorful tacos, simple, fresh, made right in front of you. I probably could have had 5 more, 10 more? I did not. Time had passed by pretty quickly, Spirit had been on my mind and so was the rig, the open trailer on a unattended City Parking lot.

I was going to miss out on the Gorditas, like little Pita breads made out of potato flour, nice lady making them with always a big smile and not minding me taking pictures of her. Next time as a reader who lives here, Homero, which I had been in touch with, is going to show me the town some day. With the Holidays and his work, we just could not connect this time. I had some Pesos left, one more stop on the way back for a delicious fresh banana milk drink…

Time to walk back over the bridge, again I yet had to see a single dog on the street, maybe everyone leaves them at home. The traffic to the US had increased tremendously, many policeman manning it, whistles blowing, some on little motorcycles… and so was actually the Pepsi Cola rep… great job I told him, but I don’t think he understood…

Even a Pepsi helmet! No problem with customs, the line was already long, I was getting anxious to get back, and was relieved to see the rig and Spirit as all was fine… we were back home!!!

 

I almost forgot the picture of this life size Rotweiler made out of clay and painted, for sale. Almost looked real from far… We are about 60 miles east of San Antonio, the weather is cold, mid thirties at night. I have been thinking about a ride to see the lights at night at the River Walk, Donna might tag along, it will be a cold ride back but we both have heated gear. Something to think about. Till next time…

Don’t forget the "Spirited Doggie Treats" and "Art Cards"…. Dogs cannot live of Love and food alone… they need treats, they like treats… we know! Put Spirit to work!

The feedbacks are coming in… this is from real people… with real dogs!!!

* My dogs went crazy over the Spirited Pumpkin Treats!

*I just got the pumpkin doggy treats. JC loves them. He’s prancing around my apartment with one hanging out of his mouth..

* Ara, just wanted you to know someone ordered our dogs some of your treats and they loved them.

We are always under deep appreciation toward the readers that have send in a contribution helping this website’s expenditures. For those who have not, continue enjoying the site, pictures, recipes, and if you feel it’s worth $1 a month, the contribution button is above, snail mail is below…

Ara Gureghian   853 Vanderbilt Beach Rd #245   Naples, Fl 34108

You be well…. Ara & Spirit

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 29th, 2007 at 6:48 am and is filed under travel, spirituality, pit bull, sidecar, motorcycle, cooking, photography, riding, homeless. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.