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NE Day 1 – Staging in San Diego

I worked this morning a bit while I completed my checklists for the trip. Went through and tried to make sure everything would continue to work for Linda while I was away. Technology in the house seems to revolt when I leave.

Flew to San Diego in the afternoon and was met at the airport by Jim and Luis. Plan was that Luis was going to fly down to Guatemala today and prep the vehicle while Jim and I took care of some other preparations. That was the plan… Volaris apparently had a different plan.

Volaris (Mexican airline) somehow found a way to print the reservation and make it look like Luis was leaving today. I saw it myself. We planned on him leaving today, we really did. The reservation however was for yesterday. He had missed his flight and didn’t know it. He will now be flying down on the same flights with Jim and myself.

Luis has family in Guatemala and was planning on spending time with them while getting the vehicle prepared. It’s also his birthday Friday! So with this small delay the timeline may slip… a bit.

I also lost the bet on how much the tool bag weighed. It’s a large piece of luggage that contains a spare wheel for the G-Wagon and a bunch of other items I am sure we will be needing. I guessed 87. It’s 115 pounds. Way off! I am buying first round…

So back to the car to head to Jim’s for the night. Driving away Luis noticed a sound. We stopped and found a nice addition to the tire. It’s now our good luck charm!

Of course we had a spare…. with no air. So we drove daintily to a station, aired up and changed the tire.

Great conversation and bullshitting so far! Tomorrow we are headed for Tijuana and then onto Guatemala. Going to be a long day!!!

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The Newmann Expedition

I will be heading out on an expedition from Guatemala to Tijuana with my long time friend Jim Newmann and two other soon to be good friends Van Johnson and Luis Reyes. The trip is estimated at around 3,000 miles.

Jim has purchased a 1985 Mercedes Geländewagen or G-Wagon. Just so happens it belonged to Luis’s uncle who lives in Guatemala City. So we are going to go get it!

I will be flying from Tucson to San Diego on Sept 26 and Jim and I will depart Tijuana, Mexico the evening of Sept 27. We plan on spending a few days in Guatemala and then heading out. This is NOT the exact route we will be taking, I just used it to calculate possible mileage and tolls. We will only be traveling during the day and staying on toll roads as much as possible.

Stupid WordPress wont let me embed the map… grrr.

We hope to return back to Tijuana around November 8th. However given the length of the journey, the age of the vehicle (and its passengers) we are not able to predict for sure when we will return. It’s going to be a great time!

I have started growing a beard for low maintenance and have all sorts of new immunizations. I am packing light! Two pairs of ExOfficio travel underwear (they better work as promised ExOfficio!) 4 pairs of KÜHL Stealth Liberators, a few shirts, two pair Merrels and other “stuff”.

I am taking some newly acquired tech gear to help along they way as well, so we should have internet access the entire trip, thanks to the Solis Skyroam.We may also have a couple of Spots with us just in case.

I will try to remember to update the blog at least each day with that days follies.

“A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find after years of struggle that we not take a trip; a trip takes us.”
― John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley: In Search of America

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No shave November in August

I like to participate in No Shave November when I can. This year, due to some Elk hunting related scouting trips, hunting itself coming in October and some other trips coming up where a beard will be handy, I am starting a bit early.

In August. Today as a matter of fact.

I will try to remember to post update pictures here maybe weekly so my Mom and Dad (and you because your reading this as well) can observe my progress and because I like time lapse things. I loathe selfies. Especially the duck faced selfie which is a particularly loathsome version. There will be none of that here.

So here goes. Warn small children if they are in the room. I tend to scare them.

August 13

I will continue to shave my head. That does not count for No-Shave November.

August 24

Wow – what a dork. I do not like selfies. Mom – hope your getting a kick out of this.

55925876493__a7303f6a-680d-41e1-81e2-22ed184c451eSeptember 21

Starting to look like an aging hipster….

September 30

In Guatemala

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The Ultimate Uber

In March I spoke at a little IBM convention in Las Vegas called “Think 2018” – it’s actually a very large convention – but that isn’t the point. They have cool stuff in Las Vegas. Its not my favorite town by any stretch of the imagination but it surprised me this year.

I needed an Uber to pick me up along with my good friend Mark Leaser so we could go have a nice steak. This is the Uber vehicle that arrived – not what I was expecting!

Yes – that is a Tesla Model X, the ultimate Uber! The driver was just getting started with a company that will be providing car services with multiple Tesla’s in Las Vegas.

If you don’t know anything about Tesla, they build and sell electric vehicles. Actually I would say they are more in the software industry. Every Tesla they sell within a specific model is the same hardware, but they can enable and disable features based on what you pay for with the software that runs the car. Yeah – wrap your head around that for a while.

They do some pretty cool things besides never needing an oil change or engine maintenance or overhaul. They have a “Mars Rover Mode” (video 1) and they will also perform a Christmas Song for you! (even better video 2). Kaylan, the second one is for you!

Mars Rover Mode:

Christmas Performance! I get a bit excited….

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Nugget Ice

Some call it “the good ice”, others call it “sonic ice”. I now get to call it “Indecision Ice”!

I am a fan of crunchy nugget ice. You know the stuff, its airy and not solid which makes it simple to chew.

I will go out of my way to get it. I had often wondered how I could make the stuff at home myself, assuming the commercial machines were expensive.

I then ran into a nugget ice machine while visiting the IBM office in Austin and found it on Amazon – for $3,887.00!!! Well, no way I am spending that on myself.

I did some further research and found the Opal. At $500, its still expensive but hey, I can save money. Its been on my list for a while.

So I surprised Linda for our sixth wedding anniversary with a trip to San Diego. Great trip. Nothing nugget ice related happened but it was nice to get away! She is difficult to surprise mainly because I usually blow it or she does mental algebra connecting 37 different and independent data points to determine what is REALLY happening. But I pulled it off. I surprised her. I thought I was the only one with a surprise. My male ego was about to take a most wonderful hit on the surprise front.

We returned and Linda surprised me with the Opal! She had it shipped to Shelbie’s new In-Laws so I would not find it.

I am still floored!

It even has a bluetooth connection to a mobile app with which you can turn off and on the light, get status from the machine and set a schedule telling the machine when to make ice. Very handy.

Oh – and you can name the Opal, ours is now called “Indecision Ice”. See what I did there?

 

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Scorpions in January

The great thing about living in Arizona is that while most other areas of the country are complaining about the cold, snow and spending $500 a week on propane to heat the house for someone who really can’t even ever get warm, we don’t have those particular complaints.

But as they say “there must be balance in the Force”. I bet nobody in Boston killed a scorpion before breakfast this morning.

My wife found this little guy taking a nice nap on the floor in front of our door. I personally didn’t know scorpions were back sleepers.

I woke him gently with the bottom of my wife’s fuzzy lined pink Croc’s I just happened to be sporting and escorted him outside.

So we have 75 degrees while y’all have snow. But we have scorpions in January.

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“Gotta pet the puppy!!!!”

That’s the text I received from Linda on her way…

Michael (the newly minted son-in-law) had sent a picture of a puppy he was trying to find a home for. I guess it was on Facebook as well. But I don’t do Facebook. I had no warning.

Apparently someone, somewhere along his chain of co-workers or friends or something had thought a new puppy was a good idea, brought it home and was told to get rid of it. I would like to someday meet this person. Anyway, a couple of friends passed her along until Michael ended up with her.

Now I know that Michael has a kind heart, I made sure of that over a year ago, so it really didn’t surprise me that he would take in a puppy. What surprised me was the multi-way text that included Linda and Shelbie with a picture of said puppy.

You see, Linda has been talking about getting a female dog, so I knew the outcome. We were going to go “pet” the puppy.

At the time I didn’t realize that her text was actually a typo. She may have typed “pet the puppy” but her heart meant “Get the puppy”. I am also a smart guy and adore my wife so you know the rest of the story.

Meet “Bella”, Italian for “Beautiful”.

Now I have two girls in my life who’s names mean “Beautiful”!

Milo and Tank are still getting used to their new sister. This is Tank watching over her in a rare moment of zero inertia.

I am going to send Linda a text later today. “Hey Honey, lets go pet the BMW R1200 GS Adventure!!”. How do you think that will go?

Yeah, I thought so.

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Trip to Germany – Day 3

Very successful meetings today. Long ago I learned that the best way to transfer complex ideas to others is to describe and guide. Notice that “convince” is not listed as a step.

If a complex idea has merit your job is to first describe it in full detail. Paint a picture for the other person of the destination. Then guide them on their journey to it.

They need to take the their journey to come to understanding. They may go a different direction or take a wrong turn. This is where you need to sit back, be patient, answer questions and let them come to the destination themselves. Along the way they will come to understand it. The way they need to – which may not be the way you did or even wanted them to. Be open to guiding their process.

You will both end up in the same place.