Tuesday morning we headed out at 6:45 am. We made it through Guadalajara pretty early so, we didn’t get slowed down there. Lynne packed a ton of food for the car so we almost didn’t have to stop along the way. 9 hours of driving got us 850k to Saltillo. We’d stayed there at the Camino Real Hotel, and stayed there again this time. We had a couple of drinks in the bar and some terrible Mexican snack food and hit the sack by about 10:00.

We were on the road by 7:30 after breakfast this morning and headed out on our 3.5 hour drive to the border. We stuck to the toll roads again today and made great time. It’s really nice to drive on nice smooth asphalt again. Nice not to hear the car shaking like crazy rolling slowly down the Ajijic cobblestone roads!

The last 50k or so was a bit nerve-racking. Over the last few days about 120 bodies have been discovered in mass graves along the road. That section apparently is one of the worst for drug related problems these days. Our worries were a waste though. There were tons of military on he road. We didn’t have a hint of trouble. We stopped at the car sticker place and handed ours back in. If we hadn’t, and we’d come back into the country again, they would have assumed that we’d sold the car in Mexico and would have charged us the tax on the sale! We go into the lineup to cross the bridge into Laredo and slowly made our way to the guard. He spent about 10 minutes talking to us, but then, after a total time of an hour, we crossed the bridge and entered the USA.

We stopped up the road a bit and bought some lunch. Lynne headed over to a Target store while I went to check on an iPad2 at Best Buy. Luckily, they were out of stock so, I wasn’t in trouble when I got bak to the car. 2.5 hours later we got to the Riverwalk Plaza hotel in San Antonio.

We got here at the perfect time. Fiesta is on this week. Bands playing all over the place. It’s going to be a fun day here tomorrow!

We’ve met a lot of folks who have the same sort of adventures spirit that we have, and we’ve got some tips on some other cool places to go.

As we sit here now, there is just one couple left to fly out of here, Thee are two women going to be living here full time. Most of the Snowbirds are returning again next year. Our summer plans are that Lynne will hang out at the house in Newmarket most of the summer. I’ve got a 6 week night school course in motorcycle maintenance. That ends on the first of June. Weather depending, I hope to head out west on the bike for a bit then. My plan is to get to Calgary to visit my daughter Christine and the grandkids, then continue on to Victoria. I’ve been reading some blogs of people who have biked across the country. Several have continued up north and done Alaska too. The idea is tempting. I expect I’ll think about that leg after I get out west.

I need to be back in Newmarket for late July to get out to Lake Placid on the weekend of the 24th. I think this years Ironman is going to be a blast. Bryan, Andy and Vickie are the only people that I know of who are participating this year. Bernie and I are volunteering as peelers. Most of the rest of the gang are planning on coming down to watch, train and some to sign up for the next year. I’m really looking forward to that weekend.

We’ll both be home for a few weeks after that but we’re planning on doing the Camino walk in Spain starting in mid September. The walk is a bit under 800k and should take 4 to 5 weeks. We’re booking our return flight for 8 weeks after we arrive. From the stories we’ve read, there are a ton of folks who have done the walk and have had to push though rain because they had to get to the airport for their return flights home. Neither of us can think of anything fun about hiking in the rain so, we’ll hang in wherever we are when the weather’s bad. We’ll spend whatever time we have left after the hike in Portugal.

We’d like to be back home over Christmas this year. I haven’t seen my Mom or the kids over Christmas for two years now so, I want to spend Christmas with them all this year.

We really have no idea of what’s going to happen after Christmas. We may have blown the budget with our summer and fall plans and have to lay low for a bit. I’m thin king that it would be cool to fly down to Panama (Bouquette) where we’d started out towards when we headed out originally. We’re still pretty happy that we’ve been lucky enough to adventure around the way we have so far.

With only 12 days until we leave, we’re getting a bit anise to get going but, our friends Rona nd Bev and coming here for a week, arriving this Saturday night. We had a great time with them last year here and we’re looking forward to expiring another couple of towns with them and just hanging out. The one town I hope we get to is Tequila. It’s about a 3 hour drive from here and I think doing the tour there will be a blast. I’ll post pictures from there if we do that trip.

We’ll pack up the car the same day that Ron and Bev leave and then head out the next morning. 2 days should get us across the border and into San Antonio where we’re going to spend a couple of nights and then, we’re thinking of just fast tracking it home. I’m guessing we’ll be back by around the 20th or so. Here’s hoping it’s bike riding weather when we get back!

After dropping off Lina, Greg drove me to the other side of the Lake and we met up with Harold at a restaurant in Tizapan el Alto.  I thought that we were going to Harold’s home which was once my friend Jerry`s home, but suddenly the plans changed, Harold said we couldn`t come today  and Greg seemed in an awful hurry to get going.  Strange, but little did I know it was because…..

The folks on the ranch had planned a surprise party for me and invited all the Mexicans who came down to our Happy Hour table in a processional lead by my two most favorite 2 year olds….Emiliano and Rubin carrying roses.  The Mexicans brought a cake and  and they all, about 20 of them including 2 newborns,  stayed for pizza and cake. I couldn’t stop crying cause I felt so much abundance and love.  Seeing that processional lead by those two little boys is a site I will remember for the rest of my life.  Thanks too to Greg who manipulated the whole day so it could happen as planned.  Poor guy…..I was yelling at him for driving like a maniac without knowing he had a deadline.  He added so much fun to the day.  Life is beautiful and I am blessed.

Greg Collett

Phone: Toronto Cell 289-894-0414
Toronto 905-841-9977
Mexico. 331-299-6124
Skype: Greg.Collett
Web: GregCollett.com

Sent from iPad 

Cop – “I’ll have to give you a ticket.”
Me – “What for?”
Cop – “Driving the wrong way”
Me “Then you should give me 80 f__king tickets – I’ve been driving there for 15 months now!”
Cop laughs.
Other guy starts up with the sucky “Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. How much is the ticket?”
Cop – 200 pesos ($16.00)
Other guy – can I just pay you?
Cop – “No, you’ll need a receipt”
Me – ” I don’t need a f__king receipt! I can’t write this off!!
Cop laughs, takes my 200, shakes my hand, and goes back to hassling the crap out of the other guy while I drive away.

What a country!

This year feels so different from last year. I guess that when we got here we were feeling so excited to be heading out on this huge adventure and we’d landed in a ‘far and distant land’. The language was different, the sky’s were blue, the temperature was perfect. It felt like everyone we met was doing almost the same sort of adventurous thing. Now, the freshness and excitement is gone. The weather is still great and the sky’s are still blue. The vegetation on the mountains changes all the time, but, we walk the same old roads, (there are only a few) we’re looking at the same old things. The fun of going to the store and trying to figure out what these different food are has switched slowly to “I’d give my right arm to spend 30 minutes in a Loblaws!” I went out to buy a couple of clear 60 watt light bulbs the other day. I found them in the second store, but, they were behind the counter so the girl had to get them for me. It took forever for this idiot to stop removing every 60 watt frosted bulb from the shelf and grab a clear one from the bunch that were 12 inches away. Yup – the fun factor is starting to wear thin.

Last year on the ranch, we almost never saw anyone around except for at happy hour. This year, half the folks are different and it’s impossible to lay outside in the sun during the day without someone coming over to talk. I need that shirt back that Steve had embroidered for me one year that read “I don’t play well with others”. Lynne keeps yelling at me to be nicer to people.

I wonder if I’m too young to be in this sort of semi retirement place. I was pretty lucky back home to get into this athletic thing. Almost everyone was younger than I. Many were 10 – 15 years younger and everybody was out training like maniacs with amazing goals ahead. I was pretty lucky to hang with that gang. Here now, it seems like most folks are 5 – 20 years older than us, and much more sedentary than I want to be. I feel a bit like I’m fighting a clock here. It’s almost time to get out of Dodge! We’re leaving in the middle of April. I wouldn’t be surprised if we came back here one day again, but I think we both have a lot of exploring and adventuring to do for the next while.

Lynne and I are planning to walk the Camino de Santiago, a 800k hike through the Pyrenees mountains in Spain this fall. I’m not sure how much hiking we’ll be doing on a daily basis back in Newmarket so, we’ve started walking daily here. We started last month and walked our way up to 70+K per week already. We’re planning on mixing things up a bit in that we’re going to do our Malecone 8k walks a couple of mornings a week, we’ll hike the mountains a couple of mornings and do a 15 – 20+k walk with weight in our knapsacks on the Sundays. It feels good to have an athletic goal ahead of me again. It’s not as intense (there’s an understatement) as Ironman training, but, it’s OK. I’ve ‘been there and done that’ – got the shirts the medals and the tat – now I’m old. you know those really old 70+ year old guys you see at marathons and triathlons? Yea – that’s not me! 

The book is coming along OK. I gave 45 pages or so to Lynne last night to read. Apparently I should have paid much more attention to my grade 6 grammar teacher! I was really hoping she would be so excited about it but, who am I kidding. I’m not a writer and not a big reader. If I can pump this out as best I can and then Lynne and I edit it, I think it will be pretty good. hopefully, we don’t kill each other while we edit together!

I made contact with Jeff, one of Lynnes cousins who is a very successful speaker in the US who has agreed to take me on and tutor me in how to market this book and get my butt out on the speaking circuit. I think that will be a blast. God knows I love talking to groups and there’s nothing more exhilarating than the curtain going up! I’m going to have to work hard at not dropping the “F” word all the time though!

There is a couple coming tomorrow to buy the last 2 puppies. I wonder if “Puppy” is the right word anymore. They are 6 months old now and, I weighted one this morning at 41 pounds. It’s OK, I didn’t hurt my back!    We’re lucky that we’ve found good homes for all of them and, the two females left on the ranch are both fixed. I hate seeing them go, but feel good that they are safe and going to be well looked after. I have an incline that raising dogs would be a cool thing to do if I settle down back in Ontario one day.

I’m waiting to hear back from John with the HSBC series about some available dates for me to do some race announcing again this summer. I’m excited about that. That job is a hoot. I want to do a fair bit of riding this summer as well. Hopefully the announcing gigs will leave me with time to get out to the Rockies at some point and time. I haven’t seen my daughter Christine in way too long now. I want to get to Calgary ASAP after we get back. I’ll probably do an Ottawa run first to see Michelle and Gavin first though. I’ll feel safer getting a few miles on that bike within driving distance to home again. It’ll be great to ride a bike that doesn’t just get me there, but gets me back too! That little Vento bike I had here was great for a one way trip! It’s gone now. I sold it for what I bought it for. I’m out the cost of the repairs but, all in all, I had a ton of fun and a number of great adventures on it. I’ve got the x-rays to prove it too! 

We have company coming for a few days in mid February, someone coming for the month or March and friends coming for a week and a bit in April. Hopefully, we’re still friends with the month-long visitor at the end of the visit.  If nothing else, that should add a new and exciting dimension to the month and, to the 18 month Mexican adventure that we’ll be finishing!

It’s 1:00 pm here. I’ve got one afternoon left to play with the pups!  Good luck with that cold and snow back home gang. Congratulations on completing 50 marathons by 50 Zora. A great goal, and a great accomplishment! I’m really looking forward to seeing everyone back in Lake Placid this summer. If you’re going to  be there, don’t mit the tag team effort of Bernie and I ripping rubber off of every passer by at the end of the swim! 

4x Malecone by gregcollett at Garmin Connect – Details.

SUBJECT: SECURITY UPDATE Date: January 20, 2011

Warden Message

This Warden Message is being issued due to an escalation in criminal activity in Guadalajara and nearby Lake Chapala. In a chain of violent incidents that began on the evening of Saturday, January 15th and continued through the early morning of Sunday, January 16th, a Drug Trafficking Organization (DTO) carried out a series of attacks largely directed at local law enforcement in both Guadalajara and Chapala.

In addition to targeting law enforcement officials, their buildings, and vehicles, members of the DTO set up a road blockade on the highway between Guadalajara and Chapala near the Guadalajara airport on Saturday evening around 11 p.m. This was the first incident of this nature in the Guadalajara area. Armed men opened fire on several vehicles, forcing the drivers to abandon the vehicles on the road. They then lined up the cars to block the road and set fire to them.

Since the weekends surge in violence, local authorities have arrested and detained several DTO members. Local law enforcement authorities assess that the violence will not likely subside in the near future and are taking necessary measures to prepare and defend against further acts of violence by organized crime.

U.S. citizens should make every attempt to travel on main roads during daylight hours, particularly the toll (“cuota”) roads which generally are more secure.

Additional safety recommendations:

Delay any travel if media reports road closures due to police or emergency responder activity; 
• If the road in front of you has been blocked due to a security incident or natural disaster, attempt to return to your point of origin using available alternate routes;
• If you are presented with an imminent threat on the road, do not hesitate to run over any median (or similar obstacle) to make an emergency U-turn to get out of harm�s way;
• If physical barriers along the road prevent emergency evasive action in any direction, locate a restaurant, shopping mall, hotel, or another business establishment where you can temporarily remove your vehicle from the road and take cover until the road is clear;
• If you are driving or walking and you hear or see gun fire and/or explosions, take immediate evasive action, get down on the ground or behind a solid barrier (engine block, tree planter, etc.) and evacuate the area as soon as it is safe to move;
• Always call “066″ (equivalent of 911 in the USA) immediately if you are exposed to a life threatening situation requiring emergency police or fire responders.

Here’s the link to the complete reports.