Been AWHILE! Im in New Mexico!

Well Well Well, where do we even try and begin?????

The short story is, my girlfriend Adriana is visiting me from Monterrey, Mexico for the summer and I decided to take a big road trip with her through some states I have never been in. We left the Houston area on June 20th and headed for the border so she could renew her permit. After we got all that straightened out we headed to camp for the night in one of my favorite places; Bandera.

We stayed a night in Bandera then another night with a good friend from Mexico who has a 120yr old ranch house around Medina Lakes!!!! Then we hit the road again for west texas and New Mexico and it was quite a drive through some very beautiful ranch lands. I took her to see the famous Luchenbach, Texas (of the song "lets goto luchenbach") and some other cool things. We made it to Hobbs, NM around 12am where we crashed out in a Wal-Mart parking lot.

We headed out to Cloudcroft, NM the next day but most of the national/state parks are closed right now due to serious fire hazards and currently burning wildfires. We found a small RV park on the Apache Reservation that let us camp for $15 so we decided to stay the night there. We parked high up on a hill with a good view of 3 mountain peaks and warmed up some chili with red wine, romantic I know! We left again in the afternoon after a run through the mountains with Adriana that almost killed me.

After Cloudcroft we headed out through some beautiful areas of new mex and visited some ancient ruins of the Anasazi Indians. Then we headed north to Moriarty, NM and jumped on old Route 66 into Albuquerque,NM. We had dinner that night at a fantastic "New Mexican" restaraunt that just blew our minds, especially with the chili sauce. We listened to a really cool musician play who gave me a cd for giving him a $3 tip! The owner of the restaraunt came and personally talked to us about the food and to Adriana because she is from/lives in Mexico. We camped that night again in a damn Wal-Mart.

We arrived in Taos sometime the following day and promptly checked out the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge which definently made both of us nervous walking on. Around 680ft above the river and some 1200ft across, its a doozy of a drop!!! We camped again in a Wal-Mart (Im not advertising for them I swear! Cheap camping sites are a little hard to come by around here) and in the morning we headed out to check out the Taos Pueblo, the oldest continually inhabited place in the USA. Some of the adobe buildings are over 1000yrs old! The Tewa indians are great people if not a little secretive and guarded over their history and lore but who can blame them after the suffering the Spanish and later White settlers inflicted upon them. They claim to have started the revolution against the Spanish with freed all of the Pueblos in NM until the spanish later re-conquered them. Then when the US Govt had control, they assasinated the then Govenor of the territories.

We checked out the Earthships (sustainable livng homes Ive been researching for awhile) and plan to do a tour tomorrow morning before we head out to Colorado. In all its been a pretty awesome trip and we will be at it for the next month or so before we head back to Texas and then Adriana heads back to Mexico. Ill try and get this thing rolling again and see where it may lead and I will try and blog as much as I can from the road!

Boat Work and Thinking About Surf

Been thinking about all that surf Ive been missing lately while Ive been working on this boat. Heard the Pacific is still strangely quiet or so and Mexico hasnt been producing much except for known big spots. Bleh...

I really need to hurry and finish my work here and get this boat to Colombia so I can start working on my summer trip. Ive decided to take a big road trip through the Four Corners area and the pacific coasts of Oregon and Northern California if there is time (and money for the all the freaking gas).

Frankly, Im going stale again. Im drying out. I need to get moving.... do something... see somewhere new. Dammit.

Been Awhile... Yet Again

Been awhile....

Things are going well with the boat, just one day at a time. Its hard not to be totally overwhelmed on a boat this size with work that needs or could be done so Ive just forced myself to take it slowly.

I need a surf soon.... my gills are drying out. Water is warming quickly here, approaching trunkable range in another week maybe so I might be able to start getting some Florida Panhandle beachbreak ... .Until I get over to east coast at Jupiter Inlet, where I here there are several good warm water breaks!

Formulating plans....

Gotta get rolling again soon...

Too long in one spot.

Light at the End of the Tunnel

Work on the boat has been progressing quite well and Im pretty confident I will hit the deadline for everything that is very important for our trip. It has been a long and often cold road but I see light at the end of the tunnel.


The first leg of the trip will be me taking the boat to Jupiter Florida for some serious overhaul work where we will disassemble the boat to rebuild beams and such. I should learn a lot during this time about rigging and boat building in general, especially about Wharrams. After all of that fun stuff, its south to Colombia!

Im pretty excited lately because I have a bunch of fun things coming up. This weekend Im headed to Biloxi to stay the weekend with my brother and his fiancée. We will be attending BeerFest, which is a big festival put on for all the local microbrews to show off their work and products. It should be a full on drunken fest which I wont lie, Im pretty excited about that and hanging with my bro. I need a break from this boat and it will be good to get out of Florida and back around familiar faces for a while.

Im also excited because my love from Monterrey Mexico will be flying in to stay a few days with me while I take a small vacation from boat work. Adriana will take a bus from Monterrey to Houston and from there will catch a flight to Panama City Beach, FL on Saturday afternoon in a few weeks. I wish she could stay longer but she has some commitments back at home to work and school so that’s ok.

I have been working on some plans for this summer and it looks like Ill be taking a 1.5 month road trip with Adriana so we can both see the western United States. Ill be heading through New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, Oregon and Northern (possibly southern) California and then back to Texas. Im pretty excited about this but I wish I had more than just 1.5 months so Ill have to make due. It should be a fun trip and Im pretty excited about it.

Ive also been lining up some ideas for the fall like helping my buddy Chris rebuild his Crowther trimaran. We need to build an ama and do general restoration work including a new mast so it should be fun. I figured I could light a fire under his butt and get him moving if I volunteered all my labor for free. I mean, who in their right mind would turn down hundreds of hours of free labor?? Im hoping it will be enough and we can get her ready for a sail before I head off in search of my next great adventure.

I have been seriously craving surf lately and its driving me nuts. I have been watching videos and looking up places where the swell is good and ohhhhh man do I miss Mexico. I need to get back in some waves and soon!

It is amazing that now Im out and living my dreams, I have found that I still cannot get the time together to do all of the things I want to do. Being on this boat has really got my boat blood boiling and Im dreaming yet again of a small but capable multihull to do some coastal cruising and a Bahama run. We shall see! Financially Im doing well and I think I can maintain this for another 2 years before Ill be looking for serious work. I may have found a niche that I would like to slip into with consulting computer work and chasing a few seasonal type jobs. Some of the locals here in PCB have been telling me of the hundreds they make nightly working in restaurants etc. I mean, its not the work I want to be doing that’s for sure, but if I could make a couple grand quickly by working 2 months, that’s enough for me to run off and travel somewhere for the rest of the year or so. Like I said we shall seeeeeeeee!!!

Feb 5th was my 6 month anniversary since I quit my job from the city of Conroe, man how time flies! I took a look at my bank account and here are some numbers for ya!

180 days traveling

Total spent = $4500

Monthly = $750

Daily rate = $25

Not bad considering that’s not even factoring in the $1300 I spent on van repairs back in September in Zacatecas, Mexico!

Boat Work and Life Philosophies

Ive been steady working away on the boat and trying to get my list of projects knocked out without adding too much to the list in the meantime. It has been very difficult for me to separate my emotions and just do the things that need to be done vs. things I would do if it were my boat. I have to constantly ask myself, is this necessary to sail and act accordingly.


Ive been tearing through the electrical system and basically it will be rebuilt in the upcoming days. The old electrical system was ok but monitoring batteries, charging and usage was really only capable if you know about electrical systems. The solar controller for the panels was old and basically worthless so everything is being updated. The panels will be separated into charging and breakers and will have meters showing incoming amps from solar/wind and outgoing amps via battery banks so the owner can try and keep an eye on battery usage. I found some digital voltmeter panels for not a bad price so I will be grabbing a few of these to indicate battery states. While not always 100% accurate (you must use a hydrometer to be 100%), battery voltage is a good indicator of where you stand and will usually suffice for the average person. For instance, observe the following.

100% 12.7v

90% 12.5v

80% 12.42v

70% 12.32v

60% 12.20v

50% 12.06v

40% 11.9v

30% 11.75v

20% 11.58v

10% 11.31v

0% 10.5v

To maximize the life of a battery bank you must never use more than 50% of available amp hours. One of the banks on the boat for instance is 230Ah, so we can use 115Ah before the voltage of the bank will indicate 12.0-12.06vdc, thus telling us 50% of the capacity has been used. Amp meters will indicate draw on a bank so you can guestimate your usage by hour. After some testing last night, Im a little worried about our draw when sailing at night during the trip to Colombia. I had the running lights on, GPS/Radar and 1 incandescent lamp in the starboard hull on and I was pulling 13A per hour! That’s a little high, especially to not even have the autopilot running either. If we sailed with all of this going for 10-12 hours, that pretty much depletes our bank every night (10hours X 13A/hour = 130Ah). The main draw of that was our running lights as they were pulling around 6-7amps alone. Ill work on a solution for this as time allows, possibly look into replacing our running lights with super bright LEDs.

As it goes right now, I will be taking the boat around to the eastern side of Florida to Jupiter Inlet sometime in early March. We have to deal with the rot in one of the beams and a bottom job so we have decided to take her to the Wharram experts at Boatsmith Inc. Im really excited about this because after speaking with the owner Dave, they are going to teach me some basic carpentry/wood working and boatbuilding, which is a dream of mine. Ive been dreaming about building a boat for some time now as my buddy Chris got me interested in multihulls and homebuilding. During the refit, many things will be checked and analyzed especially the rigging. Right now Im doing some research about rerigging the boat with synthetic standing rigging vs. stainless wire. The synthetic is now at a point where it is stronger and cheaper to rig with this so I might convince the owner to go this route. Some of the big advantages are no swaged terminals to trap water and you can visibly see problems with the lines, whereas with stainless it takes a special dye and a professional to see cracks before it snaps and the whole rig comes crashing down. I dunno, the jury is still out.

Tonight something special happened to me. I have basically 1 one warm pair of clothes to wear and I try my best to keep them clean. The good thing about the cold is Im not sweating hardly at all, so my sweat pants and sweater stay pretty clean overall. When I shower, I change boxers and undershirt and throw the original crap back on. The whole time Ive started this adventure of living in my van and traveling around, I occasionally see people look my way with weird expressions on their faces. I attribute these to my general appearance and living situation and basically shrug it off.

Tonight I was walking into the bathroom of the marina with 2 plates and a bowl to do some dishes. As I was walking, I passed by a mother of more affluent background getting into her mercedez with her kids and she goes “oooo looks… errr yummy”. I got inside and started washing my dishes and looking at my reflection in the mirror, walmart sweatpants and standard white t-shirt, hair wild from the 20kts winds but clean shaven. Im still carrying my Mexican tan so Im darker than most people around here but I guess that gives me the look of a beach bum or a person who labors outside. I thought about the look of pity on her face when she saw me walking to the bathroom with dirty dishes and I wondered what she must think of me. That is when I realized, I am becoming a strong person. Here I am, 6 months into this adventure of life and experiment on living and living at quite low standards at times. To cut back and save more money, I have been eating canned tuna/chicken with mayo and I actually love it! The craziest part of all of this, and what I realized when thinking about that woman and her Mercedez, I CAN END THIS ANY TIME I WANT TO! And yet, I trudge on.

Im very proud of myself tonight for another reason and that is because Im constantly being taught a lesson in humility. I used to be very vain when I was younger and I hated to be seen as “poorer” than someone else. Slowly but surely, I have been letting go of this and what a place to be taught! Im surrounded by retired and rich people, some of whom are living part time on 50+ft boats! Im squandering in the face of utter luxury, and yet I continue down my path and ever so slowly, Im letting go of my worrying about what they think of me. Cheers!

Good Day! Lots of work done.. but lots more problems

Today was a good day for me and the boat. I was able to get the 2 remaining hatch frames scraped free of old sealant and caulking so they will properly glue down to the deck when I put them back on. It was a cold morning and I awoke to find a huge puddle of ice and icicles from where the marina turned on the water on my dock to keep the lines from freezing.


I got up and went straight to work on scraping and just trying to get it over with. Its hard work and with the cold weather my hands are in constant pain from being numb and working the screwdriver and utility knife. I made some calls and am now waiting for quotes to send in the hatch frames to a local company to have them sandblasted and then powder coated black again. The original paint is chipping off at a rapid rate and they don’t look as good as they could so if the price is right we will have them painted.

I made some calls to West Marine and had them do some checking on me for our Garmin GPS Chartplotter which doesn’t seem to want to turn on for me. I have checked at the plug in that I have 12vdc and I do but the unit refuses to power up. I tried the factory reset HOME+POWER keys for 30 seconds or so and still nothing. Im researching to whether or not Garmin can honor the factory 1 year warranty but I doubt it as the West Marine guy confirmed that the serial number shows a manufacture date of 2007. There is still a dim hope that this unit sat on a shelf for 2 years but I highly doubt it. The good news is Garmin will honor the fact that we purchased this unit and will take ours and send us a refurbished unit for $500 with a 90 day guarantee. That’s not a bad deal considering a brand new unit will set the owner back $1800 so I guess we are heading down this road.

I also undid all of the steering lines today to get ready to replace them. I demounted the wheel steering until so I could disassemble it but I ran into problems yet again. I need to disassemble the home-made unit so I can remove and repair the Raytheon AutoHelm that is attached to said wheel. However, a few of the set screws that hold the whole thing together are severely seized so I ran it to a local welding shop only to find they were closed. Im considering checking into having this whole thing remade or just making another one from glassed plywood. The drum that the tiller line wraps around is slightly out of sync with the wheel and I think the whole thing can be made to steer a lot better. However, Im trying to save the owner money so I will just try again at the shop tomorrow to see if they can heat the metal and get the set screws out of there.

My problem lately is my infatuation with this boat. Im having so much fun that Im forgetting its not mine. I want to redesign so many things and change this and that to make it even better but then I have to remind myself that this is not my boat and the owner is already throwing a fit over the money he is putting into her. I have tried many times to reassure him that this boat is worth much more money than he paid and anything he puts in is just an investment into the boat and her longevity.

Jason, the owner has paid local author, carpenter and boat builder Scott b. Williams from Mississippi to come out and advise us about some of the damage and rot I have found inside one of the main hull beams. Im pretty excited about meeting him because I have read 2 of his books and been following his blog for about 2 or 3 years while he has been building a very similar boat but at extremely high standards. He should be coming out next week sometime when the weather is supposed to be a little warmer and better. Im also excited about the warmer weather because I have literally been freezing here on this boat and working in 40F everyday with inadequate clothing. Sure I could go buy more but at the rate of pay which I am receiving it would be literally several days boat pay just to get some good working clothes so I have decided to rough it out. When it gets warmer next week I will start preheating my cans of epoxy and hardener and try to keep them at or around 70F so it should go on nice and smooth when I begin glassing the wooden deck frames for the hatches to sit on. A lot of water gets trapped under here and I would feel better if they were sheathed in epoxy before I reseal everything.

Well that about does it for this post. Im headed to my brother’s place in Biloxi this weekend so I should have something fun to write about afterward.

Cold and Wet!

Today was a tough day to get out of bed. The weather has been horribly cold lately, especially this morning. I woke up around 7am and took a glance at my digital thermometer which was indicating a snug 36F inside the hull. I really had to pee and it took about 5 minutes of thinking before I was able to convince myself to get out of my shell of blankets and sleeping bags.

I returned to bed and woke up about an hour later and I promptly hit the deck to begin working on the hatches once again. I was surprised to find a decent amount of frozen water in containers that had been sitting out all night thus ending the debate of whether or not it actually dropped below freezing last night. I worked hard until 11 at scraping off the remaining 5200 Marine Sealant, which is a mixture of silly putty and badass glue. Its extremely difficult to make it come off in large segments and I found myself with a small flat head screwdriver removing bits and pieces from all the sections of a 24”x24” hatch frame.

I went to the nearby McDonalds for lunch at noon. Not so much to eat but to use their free WiFi they have. I sat in my van while checking my email, talking to Adriana and researching a few things for the boat. I made my lunch which was tuna and salteens and I highly enjoyed it! Amazing that such a cheap lunch can do it for me. I need to stick to this because I have been spending a tad too much cash here and I need to save as much as I can for when I get to South America.

The weather has been very cold lately and even just sitting in my van at noon was almost unbearable after half an hour or so. I decided to leave after I noticed my MorningStar SunSaver Duo solar controller flip out for a second and surge my house battery to near 16volts! This caused my inverter to overvolt and my laptop charger stopped working for a bit. My solar controller will “float” charge at 14.5v but this also depends on temperature and it was pretty cold today so 16v might be normal. I need to do some research about possibly some type of circuit protection to ensure nothing higher than 13v hits my lights and inverter.

The boat has been coming slowly as I have been finding a bunch of problems. It’s a 42ft boat and there are a ton of systems that need to be checked and repaired. Right now Im after the electrical system and deck hatches because they leak like crazy. The electrical is fine and working but I just don’t like some of the setup. I also have been doing some checking and it looks like the boats solar controller is on the fritz because it refuses to even try and charge the bank of batteries. The boat has a nice solar setup too so basically its tons of power just going to waste. The AIR-X Marine wind generator was cranking out high speeds the other day so I decided to check it with my multimeter. 5VDC?!?!?! It should be around 20vdc+!!! I isolated the circuit right at the generator and same thing, 5.6Vdc. I have to get her hooked up straight to the batteries because it has an internal regulator so that might have something to do with it but I highly doubt it. Right now I have it shorted and is self braking to prevent wear.

Ill try and get back on this thing because I know I haven’t been writing much lately and I can tell. I need to get these fingers moving again!!!!

In Florida, working on a boat!

I have been here in Florida now for a week. I am working on a Wharram Pahi 42, a traditional type catamaran sailboat to get her ready for a long voyage to Colombia. Our tentative departure date is somewhere around mid March due to weather and other constraints.

I have been working hard on the first thing on my list which is to get the hatches on the boat sealed up. They are leaking water when it rains which means they will be leaking out on the ocean as well and no one likes a wet boat. It doesn’t seem like a big deal at first but when you are on a passage or even living on a boat in such a confined area, the smallest things can bring major discomfort and anger. I have been pulling the hatches completely from the deck and sanding down the deck areas. Next when the weather and temperature permits, I will begin reglassing the hatch frames to help seal and protect the wood below. Then I will reseal the hatches to the wood frames with 3M 5200 Marine Sealant. That stuff can glue/seal anything when it comes to boats. The next step will be replacing the hatch gaskets that we ordered from Bomar and then finally I will be resealing the plexiglass seams in the hatch lids. It’s a lot of work but its worth it to make a dry boat be possible.

Anyways, Im going to have dinner and a few beers and catch this Auburn vs. Oregon game everyone is going crazy about. I have a lot more to write about concerning the boat but that will have to wait for tomorrow.

Ramblings

I wrote this when I was bored one night during a storm on the boat.

The rain patters down on the portlights and wood that makes up her hull. A slow drip from the hatch makes evident a leak in her defenses against the weather and the dark of the night. The storm heightens in strength and the wind howls through the rigging as the docklines stretch. She labors to protect me from the storm and the cold, biting wind.

Pitter patter goes the rain above my head.

Drip drop go the leaks from the hatches.

The dark night presses on as the creaks and groans grow louder with the wind. I lay snugly in my berth, listening to the torrent outside. Visions of wild storms at sea race through my mind, reminding me constantly of where I am and just how small and insignificant I am against the elements of wind and sea.

Ohh how dark it is!

Confined to my small space while this old boat labors on fighting the storm, I lay listening and watching the lightning. The winds howls again and the creaking grows louder. I pray the docklines hold for if not I will be surely blown off the docks and into shallow waters.
The night grows darker yet, thus casting a looming shadow upon my spirit. I pray for her strength and for my own. I pray she keep out the cold and protect me from the endless driving wind and soaking rain. The wind howls on as the hours pass.

The hulls grown with undue stress.

Drip drop go the leaks from the hatches.

Pitter patter goes the rain above my head.

WOW! Long time with no update! Im back in the USA

Well, basically Im back in the USA!

I was getting a little bored living my dreams with no waves. OK, OK... basically I should have pushed on but I had been hanging out with the previous owner of a Wharram Pahi 42' catamaran that Im in love with. He hooked me up with the current owner who is moving to Colombia for awhile and the new owner needs a captain for the trip.

I have been talking with him and basically we came to an agreement about the trip and some work that needs to be done on the boat. So Im headed to Panama City, FL to live on the boat for a month or so while I get the boat ready. Then sometime at the end of Feb or mid March, we will be heading off to Colombia.

Im pretty excited about this trip and the timing is great. Ive talked to friends back where I was in Mexico, apparently still no waves!!!!!! This whole thing is about adventure so I will follow it wherever I have to go.

Im suffering a little heartache though. So many goodbyes and brief welcome homes. I got to see my family and friends for about 4 or 5 days and now Im heading off into the horizon once again. Im missing one of my best friends pretty badly as well and saying goodbye to her is always hard. But the thing Im finding it the hardest to deal with is not having my dog by my side. I left her back in Texas with my parents for awhile and its very hard after traveling with her for 3.5 months and being with her every single day and night. I love that dog... more than I knew. So with a heavy heart, I push on...

Daydreams and Ideas

Today was kind of a slow day and I didn’t accomplish a whole lot that I needed to do. I talked with the mechanic for a little while on the phone and we tested a few things and he gave me a few things to check out but looks like I will be taking him my car on Monday morning. I stopped by the local welder who is working to put a water tank under my van but he pulled yet another Mexican Manana on me, meaning tomorrow. That is their favorite word down here and he has been using it a lot lately!

I stupidly decided to look at boats for sale for craigslist and I found myself totally in love with a couple. One of them was just perfect, something I have been looking for and right in my price range! Arrrrhhh why do I do this to myself? Gets the ole head rolling and the day dreams start working and pretty soon Ive got my whole story worked out as to how I can get that boat, where I will live while I work on it and how much money I need for this or that. You think I would learn from repeatedly doing this to myself but no… its fun to daydream right?

Project “reorganize the van” kicked off yesterday and we got a little done. I think I can save some space here and there and Im working on an idea to have a table mounted on my back doors so when I open them, I can swing the table up from each door and they will meet and lock in the middle. I can cook very well like this and I wouldn’t even have to remove my propane tank anymore! Ill explore more of this later.

There was another huge Quince last night. As I have written before these are celebrations for a girl when she turns 15 and it’s a huge party if the family has money. Well needless to say, this family had a ton of money and they rented out the dance place here in town and pretty much blasted music until 5am along with fireworks and the whole shebang. I got invited in when I was walking past for some tacos but I declined, opting for more of a quiet night. I kind of regret not going because those things can be a blast but it was probably for the better and I saved a lot of money not going so Im happy.

I started tossing around the idea lately of heading out to the Yucatan to Cozumel or Isla Mujeres and getting a job for a few months to put some more cash back in my pocket. I wrote in a previous post about how much money I have been spending and I would like to re-earn a little of that which I have blown so stupidly. I was talking to a buddy who sailed through that area almost 2 years ago and he seemed pretty confident I could find some work somewhere on a boat or a bar or something along those lines. Im not looking for anything crazy but Id like to make a grand or so in a couple of months before I move on. We shall see how this pans out.

Narcotraficantes and Van Fun

It has been awhile since I have written anything. Not much has been going on as the surf has been next to flat for the past 2 weeks. Every surfer in town is starting to go nuts and if waves don’t show up soon, who knows what kinds of atrocities could aspire!

Lately Ive been working on my car and trying to get it fully ready for the upcoming parts of my trip. I have been working with a local welder about mounting my tanks under the van and this should be happening tomorrow afternoon. He is building a custom mount that will allow me to remove the tanks for refilling and inspection from the military and federales. By getting the tanks under the van I can start carrying a decent amount of water for cooking and cleaning which will be nice. Currently Im living out of water bottles and that is really starting to SUCK! I need to figure out some form of food storage because living out of plastic bags is just not working for me either. I was working on something in the van the other day and I sat on almost an entire loaf of good wheat bread and I smashed it to smithereens! Im thinking about getting a decent size cooler or a small bin to store food and other things I need when Im cooking.

Cooking is something I have been trying to do more of lately because its time I learn and its time that I get my spending back under control. Im not living horribly out of my means but I need to save cash and cut corners wherever I can and cooking is just too easy to not do this. I realize now that not having a table or some form of platform to cook on is a huge pain in the ass, so Ill be working to solve that problem very soon. I have only been cooking eggs and beans which is super easy but tomorrow Ill start hunting the internet for some good recipes to try out but I must build some type of a stable platform for cooking because right now working with vegetables or anything of the sort is just out of the question.

I have also been working on the van trying to solve my gas mileage problem. Currently Vanny is drinking gas like no other and Im not sure exactly why. I have been working hard on this problem but Im at a turning point where I can start buying unneeded parts or I can turn to a mechanic. I have put the car into diagnostic mode so Im watching the Open/Closed loop modes change and everything is ok. I have een testing sensors and so far they are all coming back ok save for my O2 sensor which is operating a little whacked. Right now that’s my main suspect but tomorrow I will work with a local mechanic who has an OBD1 reader and we can query individual sensors and get his opinion on what is wrong. This is one of the hardest problems I have ever had to tackle on a car and its tough to say the least without a good source of tools and information! Id like to possibly drop my gas tank and blow all the lines clean too but we shall see if I follow through with this.

The other night I was reading my buddy Tioga George’s blog and he mentioned he was heading to a place very near me and was going to leave his RV there while he flew back to the states for a few weeks. I dropped him an email but decided to go meet him on a whim and so I drove up to Penitas RV part in La Penita, about 1 hour north of me. He wasn’t due in until the next day so I stayed the night in the park and soon met some friends at the get-together all the RVers were having. I met the only 2 girls near my age in the entire park (32 &36) and we decided to head into town and check out a band that was playing bluegrass music. We had fun listening to them and I talked with the girls for a bit and figured out their stories which is always fun. One of the girls is from Canada and works seasonal work up there for 6 months and the other 6 months she comes with her parents and works in the RV park in Mexico. The other girl was from Germany and was just traveling Mexico for a few weeks alone and had seen some cool places.

We left the first bar and headed to a local karaoke place because the German girl wanted to sing. Listening to her sing in English was pretty funny but I gave her major credit for going for it. I couldn’t even imagine myself trying to sing some of my favorite Mexican songs in Spanish! There was another Mexican girl in the bar by herself and she was singing a few songs. I asked her if she would sing one of my favorite songs for me and she agreed and sang it pretty good. Later on she started talking to me and I asked her where she learned her English.

“I lived in Chicago and Los Angeles for awhile” she said.
“Ohh really? Why are you back in Mexico? Did you get deported?”
“Yes I did. I spent one year in jail in Chicago. I am a narcotraficante, so is my whole family”
“Mmmm, how interesting” I said feigning interest and scanning the exits.
“Yes… quieres una novia Mexicana? Eres muy guapo y quiero balair contigo!”. Which basically means ‘do you want a Mexican girlfriend? You are very cute and I want to dance with you!’.

We talked a little while longer and she wanted to come back to Punta Mita with me but I played it cool and avoided the topic. She was very pretty but messing around with girls who have a history in drug trafficking is not exactly my idea of fun. In fact I was beginning to wonder how in the world I could have such luck lately but that’s another story. I did think briefly about what could be the worst situation and I know tons of guys who would have gone for it anyways and just dealt with the problems as they come along. I figured this would be an excellent way for me to face my fears and try and regain some trust in myself and those around me, I mean… would they really want to kill a gringo just for hooking up with their sister? I left those questions unanswered and went back to the RV park with the girls I had come with. I went to bed as soon as we got back because I had to get up early and wait for George’s arrival!

I woke up the next morning and while walking around the van I noticed my left rear shock hanging by a thread. SHIT! The nut on the top mounting bolt had fallen off somewhere on the road and the shock let go but thank God the bolt was still hanging on. I unmounted the shock and threw it in the van figuring Id just deal with this later as my air bags were still supporting the rear end quite well. I took Chica for a walk on the beach where she made a new friend and they played for awhile chasing each other up and down the beach and through some of the waves until they both gave up in total exhaustion. Right about that time George pulls into the RV park and I let him get settled before I went to meet him.

I walked up the hill and saw the famous Tioga RV from his blog that I have been following for the past year. I introduced myself to George and I spent the morning chatting with him about his adventures through Mexico, life and the recent suicide of his son back in California. I knew he needed a ride back into Puerto Vallarta for the plane and offered him a ride back as I was headed that way anyway. He accepted and we left around 12:30pm just in case there was traffic on the bridge in Vallarta that recently collapsed due to heavy rains. We arrived at the airport right in time, shared a lunch of Carl’s Jr and went out separate ways. George is a very cool guy and Im glad I had the chance to meet and talk with him. You can follow his blog here.

Well its been an interesting couple of days but nothing more to write about, just the normal day to day life in Mexico. Ive been considering a new plan of settling in long term somewhere and getting a job and making it through the winter and saving my money for summer time. There has been little to no swell in the pacific so far and its getting old watching my bank account dwindle. I know Im down here living the dream and having fun but I need to get my spending back under control. I checked out a few numbers tonight and it looks like basically I have spent $3800 dollars in 3 months of living here and that’s just unacceptable. I need to get this back down to around $600 a month if I have any hopes of staying here long term.

Surf Movie I Made!

Put this together with my GoPro Hero camera. Footage is all from Punta Mita and its relatively small but hey, still a ton of fun!

Video Work - Old post

I didn’t do much today. The surf has been pretty small overall so today I focused on working on my surfing video I have been putting together. That led to other events and overall is was quite a busy day.

I finished the overall editing of the video last night before I went to sleep and it wasn’t too much work. I was quite happy with the overall product and after a few test renders I was quite happy. I couldn’t do the final render however because I needed an internet connection to check up on the latest Youtube requirements and recommendations for video encoding and I needed some software. I spent the entire afternoon working on the encoding process for youtube and getting some software I needed. I ate a can of tuna for lunch with a coke. I have been craving some fruit but the local shops have been severely lacking on the fruit front lately. All of their products are usually rotten after 3 days if you don’t catch the fresh batch.

I was working on my video when a girl I met the other day came inside the courtyard of the hotel where I camp and asked if she could have an old towel for a dying dog nearby. I got her a towel from Lisa (owner of the hotel) and I went with her to help her with the dog. The dog was the average homeless Mexican street dog and was in very poor condition. He was bleeding pretty badly from what appeared to be a wound on his neck and he was covered in ticks and in overall very bad condition. He was extremely malnourished and every bone in his ribcage and hip was showing. She called a vet and then went to find her while I helped the supposed “owner” move the dog into the shade and out of the sun. I got my muzzle for this task because I didn’t want to risk a bite from a street dog with no history of a single vaccination.

The girl returned with the vet and I tried to help the best I could The vet set out to rescue the poor dog but I had to intervene and ask if possibly euthanizing the animal would be the best option. Adoption for dogs down here is almost non existent, especially for a 9 year old Mexican street dog but the vet seemed positive about the situation so I let her work. Turns out the wound on his throat was some type of tumor or serious infection that had opened up. She had to give him a mild anesthetic so she could open it more and drain the fluid and blood and I watched this girl lance open this dogs very swollen throat with a razor blade. She took very good care of him and overall he seemed to just be happy for the attention he was getting. Its such a sad sight…

I finished working on my video and uploaded it to youtube only to find out that for some reason the youtube compression schemes changed what I sent in, and interlaced the project. Interlacing is more complicated than I can explain but basically, its horizontal lines, usually visible in fast motion on the screen. The video quality overall is pretty impressive but I have a better video that is de-interlaced that I need to upload in its place.

Me and the surfer crew all went to dinner at a local place and returned back to one of their rooms to watch Borat and that’s pretty much the conclusion of my night.

Good Waves and the Balance of Life

Well we ended up going to Sayulita last night and boy did we have fun. We didn’t back to Mita until 5am so that meant I didn’t wake up until 12:30pm today, it’s a hard life let me tell you.


I ran over to Debo’s because I had to meet and talk to these two guys that wanted to discuss a small side trip with me to explore. I had hung up some business cards on her board as a joke and they wrote “Surf Guide – Have Van, Will Travel” and these two guys inquired. We talked for awhile about the area they wanted to go and they changed their minds. We are thinking now like a 2 day camping trip up into the Sierra outside of Vallarta, to a small town called San Sebastian. They came down to Mexico after crewing on a sailboat in the Baja Ha Ha regatta and have been boat hopping ever since. Currently, they are working on and watching (for room and board) the 62ft catamaran of the owners of Latitude 38 magazine! The cat is huge and has been anchored off the beach for awhile and I have been wondering about it.

I came back to catch Tim and we decided to head out for a surf. We chose Anclote because its close, easy and extremely fun on a longboard. It wasn’t that big out there, maybe knee to thigh high but it’s a long wave and it just peels for yards. I caught a few rides that were close to 100 yards even in the small conditions! The sets were few and far between though so we basically decided it would all be party waves and drop ins would be allowed due to lack of waves. I dropped in on Tim several times and it was fun to look back behind me and see him gliding along maybe 20ft behind. The sunset was absolutely perfect as I watched it sink behind the hills and condos, casting an orange glow over the water and the rest of Mita. I looked back at shore for awhile, everything being bathed in that orange glow. The palm trees blowing in the offshore winds and the fishing boats zoomed by to return and sell their catch for dinner in the restaurants. I could see Chica, sitting on the beach waiting patiently for me to return, occasionally playing with other dogs and barking furiously at innocent passersby’s. I realized that this is what I came here for. I relaxed some of the constant shit Ive been giving myself for staying here so long and realized that happiness is happiness. Good waves, good friends and a good town. Really, what more can I ask for? Im living my dream and in paradise with consistent surf. That is enough for me and Im working to tone down my constant bashing of myself and this place.

Tim, Christian (the newly arrived aussie) and I are heading out Sunday to a secret spot Tim and I know about 2 hours south of here. We are hoping to score some juicy powerful waves that will pick up the southern swell better than here and this place is known for pull in barrels and fast down the line beachbreak. I got my ass handed to me here about 4 years ago but my surfing has much improved since then so Im looking for a barrel to get myself into, even if I have to take a few beatings from mother ocean. That’s the price for hiding in the green room a little. With surfing and almost all things involving our mother ocean, you must give in order to receive from her and that is the balance of life I guess.

Mind Ramblings...

My day started off pretty good. I woke up early around 8am and went to help out Debo with the opening of her restaurant. Turns out she didn’t need much help so I ordered some food and hung out. I ended up hanging out all day at her place with nothing else better to do but talk with some of her customers, friends and more friends. Not a bad day that’s for sure as I could think of a million other things I’d hate to be doing.


After a while my Argentinean friend Alvaro showed up and we hung out for the remainder of the day at Debo’s. We talked about many things, women, the world and traveling. He came from Argentina on a whim and ended up staying and working here. He used to work at a restaurant here in town but that didn’t pan out for him and now he is freelancing selling boat trips and renting kayaks to tourists. He also gets together with other spear fishermen like himself and heads out into the ocean and spear fish for money and sometimes they do pretty well!

Later that night a girl I met exactly 1 month ago on my birthday night showed up and by then we had started in on the beers. I have been taking it very slow the past 2 weeks so I decided to reward myself and step it up a notch with these good friends. We hung out until Debo couldn’t keep her eyes open anymore and we headed out into the night to Alvaro’s apartment where he had beers waiting for us. First we swung by his old work to pick up his girlfriend so he and I killed time on the jetty with my baseball bat knocking rocks out to sea which ended up being great fun if not a bit difficult due to low lighting and beers. We went back to his place with his girlfriend who is the chef at the restaurant. That girl is an amazing cook and is super cool and we spent a few hours talking and trying to convince her to quit her job and go work for Debo.

There hasn’t been much surf lately, I mean its waist high but I just can’t seem to get my shit together right now. I’m happy but not truly happy. I figured out some of the problem by thinking a lot into what it is that is bothering me. I spent 4 years dreaming of this trip and putting the money together to make it happen. That dream, that goal was my sole reason for waking up in the morning and keeping my life together. Without it, I was lost. Now that I am living that dream, that huge goal I now have a bad vacuum in my life. I no longer see the reasons for waking up in the morning to lounge around doing nothing. To some people this sounds like heaven, to me its almost hell at times. Without a purpose, a goal or a dream what the hell are we doing here and what the hell do we do when we accomplish that dream? I need to sit down and try and build a new goal system for myself. Ive never had a problem in my life making goals like so many people do but right now Im struggling for reasons. Im struggling for dreams. Im finding myself more and more stuck in the town of Punta Mita. Why move on? Why even be here? I love surfing but the stoke is dead right now. I did such a good job of killing my desire to ride waves for the past 3 years. I was working and I knew it was silly to keep filling my head with visions of surfing waves and desires to take side trips and now I find it very difficult to turn it BACK ON! Here I am in a prime surfing destination and I haven’t done a morning and afternoon session even once! I surf for a few hours and get my fill and that’s it for the day! What the hell is wrong with me???? Ive been talking to a surfing friend on the internet and he advised me to head to Baja for great cheap camping, cool people and great waves in the wintertime. Baja isn’t too far for me and riding the 18 hour ferry across the Sea of Cortez sounds appealing but I can hardly make myself stir at this thought. Truly stuck. What the hell??? I should be taking off at a moments notice and heading for new destinations and sunsets. I have the money, the means and sure as hell have the ability and yet I find myself unable to do anything more than drive 5 minutes to my nearest break. I haven’t even tried to surf any of the other 5 spots in this area!!! I need to get out of this rut. I need to find a purpose again, a good goal. Im not thinking suicidal or anything so please don’t be concerned. Ive always loathed suicides as such a waste of a good opportunity. When you no longer fear death and actually wish for it, you have become the most powerful person in the world and you should put it to good use or go out like a champ, not in your closet with a shotgun. Im just in a slump and I don’t really know why. I hate to sound like im bitching to all my readers but basically my blog is also my form of a journal and Im trying to get somewhere on the path of recovery by writing this and getting it out of me. This is very therapeutic for me and I enjoy it so just skip this post if you find it annoying to read about the kid who has everything and lives the dream in his van down in Mexico and is now depressed. Im at least waiting until I get my foam (should be tomorrow) to repair my surfboard before I move on because I do not know when I may be able to score some again. Anyways… Im headed to bed.

Small Surf...

Today was an interesting day in the sense that I didn’t do a single thing all day long and man did it feel good! I woke up around 11am in the van parked out front of my friends place in Nuevo Vallarta and grabbed all my cooking stuff and made us eggs with refried beans and it wasn’t bad. The eggs weren’t anything special but the beans I decided to get a little creative and added some diced jalepinos and a few other things like some Salsa Huichol and boy they turned out great!


I sat around all day doing nothing but watching movies because I just could not bring myself to find a reason to do anything else. Finally I decided to go surfing and get out of Nuevo Vallarta and back out to Mita for some camping and alone time. Im really starting to like some of my time being semi alone most of the day. I pulled up at La Lancha and caught a friend walking out saying it was small and 20 people out due to the Mexican holiday and he didn’t even bother paddling out. Well crap, me neither. I know it sounds shallow but I was just not in the mood to fight crowds for small surf so I headed into Mita to check out Anclote, another surf spot that has long slow peeling waves, perfect for longboarding. I found it barely breaking with only one guy out so I decided that surfing was not going to happen that day. I swung by Debo’s and talked with her for a minute and got an invitation to join her for dinner. She had several large fillets of Castel or something and wanted to take it to a nearby restaurant.

I took a shower back at Lisa’s place and headed back over to meet Debo and we walked down to a local restaurant and had them cook the fillets in coconut with a side of mango sauce. The fish was incredible and I highly enjoyed it! We had way too much on our hands so I ate like 5 fillets and became totally sick of coconut by the end of that experience.

After dinner I retired to my van in my normal camping location. I started reading Hunter S. Thompson’s “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” for the first time. I have seen the movie but like always the book was just better. It did however make it a much funnier read because I could play out the movie in my head as I was reading the lines and I could picture the crazy insanity that was being described. One of my favorite lines in the book is “We had several narrow escapes: at one point I tried to drive the Great Red Shark into the laundry room of the Landmark Hotel – but the door was too narrow, and the people inside seemed dangerously excited.”. That line just makes me roll with laughter at the hilarity of the statement, dangerously excited? Really?

I also dug into an interesting book I had been wanting to start reading called “Sex, Drugs, Einstein, & Elves” by Clifford A. Pickover. It’s a book about highly complicated and at times esoteric topics like DMT and alternate universes, the concepts of language and if it limits the human ability to think. I love the book so far and you can read the mini topics easily and put it down for another night. I read about DMT and other mind expanding drugs and the debate if alternate dimensions do in fact exist and people can indeed visit them with the help of drugs, or if they are just really high and our super powerful brains are creating alternate realities and experiences. DMT is a chemical found naturally in the body in the pineal gland in the brain and some scientists believe it is responsible for the images and sights commonly described by people that have “near-death” experiences. It is highly hallucinogenic and mind altering and actually used with success to treat heroin addicts and alcoholics, often with the patients never having the desire to abuse their drugs again!

Well that’s about it for this journal entry.

Day of Exploring - No Swell

Today was an awesome day! I spent the night at my friend Mar’s house last night with plans to show her some beaches she hasn’t had the time or energy to visit since moving to Vallarta almost 2 years ago. Its kind of sad really considering how accessible all of these beaches are and how close they are! Most people know that I try to encourage others to get out and explore their world around them. A lot of people complain that they do not have the money to go on vacation but they don’t know anything about the very world around them that I easily and cheaply accessible.


We took off to an unmentioned beach and when we arrived we were surprised to see the very small town packed out with Mexican tourists. This town and beach are not very big so it was super crowded and overall I don’t think she liked it. We sat in the sand and talked for a bit and then she wanted to go back to Rincon de Guayabitos, another beach town in the area. We headed out in the car back to the main highway when she mentioned offhand about going to San Blas, which I know a little. There is are several beautiful beaches on the way and Matanchen bay is just awesome with a great view of the sunset. I told her it was a bit of a drive, which it was and so we headed out through the country side. We had a great drive and when she saw the beach she was super excited. We caught an awesome sunset and are now back at her house where Im camping in my car out front. I thought I could write more about today but I just don’t feel like it.

Closeout Sets!

I didn’t do very much today as I was slightly hung over in the morning from Tim and I’s trip to Sayluita the night before. We hung out with a bunch of people and met some cool people, including this crazy Chilean dude I met that probably cheerzed me like 50 times before the night was over. He just kept saying over and over, “Vive Chile!! Vive Houston!!!” hahahah, good times. We didn’t actually drink that much, it was just more of the late night and the 6pack we split of Bohemia Dark, and dark beer always hurts me the next morning.


When I finally woke up I decided I wouldn’t do much that day except for start a new book. I have been wanting to read this book by Scott Williams that I bought before I left. Its about his adventures kayaking through the Caribbean, literally crossing almost the whole thing in a 17ft sea kayak. It was very inspiring to say the least and when I say I couldn’t set it down, Im not lying. I read the whole damn book in one sitting! It really made me think about my future and what I would like my next set of dreams to be and now that I know its totally possible to cross through these areas on such a small craft, my ideas for a nice beachable 24ft catamaran might be doable.

I was heading to my friend’s house so we could go explore some beaches the next day and I decided that I HAD to get wet. I couldn’t spend the whole damn day just sitting in my van reading and resting right? I caught La Lancha right at sunset and I knew I had to make the most of the maybe 40 minutes remaining until sunset. I immediately started catching waves and working on a fear Ive been having lately in the water that cost me dearly the other day. I went to surf a very sketchy spot with a friend that I have been fearing for a while due to the rocks and reef in the line up. Even the paddle out can be a bitch but we made it out unscathed but I beefed it chasing a smaller wave to the inside and basically when right into the rocks. My problem is I have been fearing waves with super lined up walls thinking that they are about to pitch and closeout and catch me down on the inside. So that afternoon at La Lancha I started working on taking waves that looked like closeouts to me and tried racing the lips. I caught one that pitched so I told myself to shoot to the bottom and work around the closed section and sure enough it worked! I need to keep this up because these waves are usually the most fun anyways as they give a racy section to beat and surf up and down with long cutbacks after you make it. I surfed past sundown and thoroughly enjoyed the amazing sunset before I caught a huge closeout wave to the beach. I made it to Mar’s house where we hung out for a bit and crashed. And that’s the conclusion to that day!

More Great Surf and Car Troubles

Today I woke up on a mission to get in some surf so I took off around 10am to La Lancha with my longboard in tow. I didn’t make it very far before I realized I had left my board shorts back at the hotel as they were drying from a washing the previous day. I finally got back to the break and decided to gear up the camera and see if I could get some decent footage of some good drops and nice down the line surfing without all the whitewater washing over the tail of the board.


I got the camera mounted and secured and tied off its leash to my leash just in case it decides to go for a swim. The break was a little packed and there were a few boats out with students, my perfect type of surf. Even though it looks crowded, a close observation reveals that no one is really catching waves on their save for a few guys and the instructors. Perfect. I paddle out right into the thick of it getting some odd stares for the camera mounted on the tail end of my board but I held my ground. I got a wave pretty quickly but I fell off going backside. I took a few on the head but Im getting my turtle roll down pretty well and slowly letting go of my fear of being in decent size surf on a longboard. See, with a shortboard or a fish, which are normally what I ride, you can go down below the water when a breaking wave is in front of you. We call this move a “duckdive” after the ducks that do it so well in the ocean! Just watch them next time you have a chance, the birds will duck just in front of big waves and go right below them! A longboard is a totally different story. It is almost impossible to duckdive a longboard so surfers have come up with several other methods for not getting annihilated in breaking waves. Sometimes you can paddle through some of the whitewater but mostly we do a move called the “turtle-roll” and that’s pretty much what you do. You roll the board upside down with you below it under the water hanging on to the board. Your body effectively acts like an anchor and you can kind of hold your position. Today I learned to hang on a little in front of the board to force the nose down through the whitewater.

I got a few more good rides before I finally noticed my camera wasn’t taking video like it was supposed to because the batteries were dead. CRAP! I took a few more good waves and my last ride was basically what every surfer dreams of. I paddled in for a semi late drop and made it with a nice long bottom turn off the bottom and shot down the line. However La Lancha is easy to outrun so I had a nice long cutback to get back into the curl of the wave and here I did another long bottom turn and shot off the line again. I did another long cutback and really felt it this time. I extended my front leg to the max and forced the board with my back foot to turn back the other direction to the left and really cranked on it and boy was it fun! I did another good bottom turn and practiced my pumping Im learning off the bottom. Pumping is the way a surfer generates speed in slow or flat sections of the wave and it is a concept Im finally getting the hang of and its pretty fun too! I made a small cut back straight to let the wave catch up and I noticed Im nearing the beach rapidly. I watch the wave line up and get ready to explode into a close out so I turn back straight and laid down and rode the whitewater straight into the beach, terminating the ride in 1.5ft of water. I unleashed and walked up the sand and noticed these 3 guys sitting there with dumbfounded looks on their faces as I had just pulled off the move every surfer dreams of, to practically step off your board from a long good ride onto the beach. I was so damn happy about the ride I totally forgot about the camera batteries being dead but I really wish I would have gotten that one on video.

I went into Nuevo Vallarta to pick up a few things for Chica and me, namely dog food and rechargeable AAA batteries for my surfing camera. Then I grabbed a burger at Carls Jr. and it was pretty epic. I went over to Mar’s house and chatted with her for a bit and she seemed to be doing well. I haven’t talked to or seen her in over a week so I was wondering how she was doing. We talked for a while and she had to run to a quincenera, or a sweet 15 party so I headed back to Mita. I went over to Debo’s and chatted with her for a second and got invited to this new place just a couple of houses from her so I joined her and her friend Dianne and Alejandro. The food was pretty good and I spent my time talking with Alejandro and it wasn’t until the end of the meal that I finally figured out where I knew him from. Some weeks ago I was drunk with Paul and Mel and we were driving through the main street of Mita when we happened upon some friends drinking on the street corner so we bailed out, paid our mariachi friend to play some songs and drank with them in the street for a bit. Alejandro and I laughed about this for a while as we both remembered at once and it turns out I know his dad very well. He is the security for the place we have been camping for the past 4 years when we come here!

I then met up with Alvaro, a friend from the restaurant Si Senor. I told him the other day I would sell him my wettie (wetsuit) for a good price and I let it go for $400 pesos, about $35usd which is what I paid for it anyways. He is a spear fishermen and his suit was donated to him and its old and torn, letting in more and more of the cold pacific waters every day. I hope this new suit will be good for him and keep him warm. He’s a cool guy, down here working and looking for adventure from his native Argentina. II wish him all the best luck.

Tomorrow there is talk of possibly heading to the paradise beach north of here so we shall see how that goes. Dianne also knows a great welder (they call him Juan, the man of steel) so I will talk to him about mounting my water tanks under the van and maybe some type of freaking table on the door or something so I don’t have to cook on the floor anymore. Who knows… more adventure coming soon though. Mita is getting old and im getting an itching to hit the road so I will be headed south in a few days. Im also considering heading back to Florencia for a few days and having the guys take a look at my van because the gas mileage has totally gone to shit, like 11mpg shit. I replaced my fuel filter the other day and it was pretty clogged with black crap and Ill try resetting the computer for the engine just to make sure its not stuck on a high elevation fuel setting but I don’t have much faith it will work. Eh, just another day in paradise!