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20260428 – Parent’s Home Updating

It has been about 2 weeks since my last post. We have been busy with my mom and dad’s house, getting the flooring updated and walls painted. It has been a 7 day a week process and is completely exhausting. They have needed a home update for many years but have been saying they cannot afford it, but in all reality, I guess it it true is they have to have someone move everything, fix everything, paint everything, and then install flooring. One estimate we got for the flooring was about $10K with supplies and labor, and that did not include moving furniture, painting and repairs, which I can imagine would be another $10-15K. I know several years ago I purchased a house about the same size in Rapid City and did a remodel of it with a contractor, and it cost me $37K.

An update on Mom and her recovery: She returned home on April 7 and has recovered well and is pretty mobile in and around the home. She is up to a 10-15 minute walk around the block and her stamina is improving drastically. This week she got permission to drive in town by her primary care physician, but she is waiting until she goes to the neurosurgeon on Wednesday (April 29) to get approval and get off the seizure medication (she had only one the day after her surgery). Overall her health has recovered and she is back to normal (at 81) and is feisty at us with all of the changes to her home.

Helping my dad with his phone and all the messages/emails that clog up his apps.

Dad is doing about the same but has not improved to the point he can walk. He can stand a bit and sometimes turn, but overall he is now in a wheelchair. He is still at the home in Tucson under care and we are hoping to bring him back home this next week, depending on how much of the house we have done. Mom is a bit nervous about bringing him home, as are we, but we need to determine if he can manage at home with some care and help. If now, mom will have to make some hard decisions about where he will go for care and if she wants to go with him.

In the meantime we are doing our best to create a care facility here in their home. It has been a monumental task, both with the volume of things we have to move, go through, and reposition, and with the resistance we have had with my mom. She has communicated to us that we are taking away all of her memories of the home they have shared for 55 years. We understand how she feels, but the amount of furniture (wall to wall) and items cannot be maintained by her, or for that matter a cleaning team that comes in once a week. Plus, with dad coming home, he needs open space to maneuver, as to care people that will be there helping get him in and out of bed, in and out of the bathroom and shower, and all of the other things that it will require. My brother and his wife have been coming over 2-3 times a day and spending evenings with them to help, and have been on call throughout the days/nights for issues, and it creates a huge strain on them.

Finishing off the flooring in the first room. What an ass! LOL

The OT and PT folks told mom she needed to remove all rugs and all of the transitional areas in her home. It was suggested that the carpeting should be replaced with tile/laminate or something that can accomodate wheelchairs and walkers. To replace the flooring, we have to remove all the furniture, knick-knacks, etc. The baseboards have to be removed and since we are clearing each room, all shelves, pictures, plaques, and lighting needs to be removed so we can paint the walls and ceilings. Mom insists this does not have to be done, but the walls in several of the rooms have not been painted in 25+ years and everywhere there are scrapes and gouges and grime that needs to be covered. So we gut each room, remove the flooring and baseboards, patch the walls, remove the closet and room doors, and paint from top to bottom. When that is done, we remove the old 70 year old tile and replace it with some laminate wood flooring. Kathy is sanding and painting the doors and baseboards and repainting them to a complimentary color. Since we are gutting everything, we are replacing all the old wall outlets and switches, door handles, and ceiling fans in two of the rooms. It takes a day to gut the room, a day to paint, a day to lay the flooring, and another day to get it all back. We have not moved much back in, but rather shuffled things from room to room. In the bathrooms we are replacing the toilets with taller versions and updating the sink/vanity in one and fixing any plumbing issues we have found.

A before picture of the 1/4 bath in the master. (Old tile visible)
New sink, vanity, toilet, and flooring in Master 1/4 bath.

So far we have completed the 3 bedrooms, the two bathrooms, the hallway, and the living room, all in just under 3 weeks. We have the kitchen and dining room to go, and this will probably take 4 days due to the removal of linoleum on the floor. I wanted to put all new kitchen cabinets in there but mom protested, even with me offering to pay for them. It sucks to do a remodel on a home and not do the kitchen, but with all the resistance from her, the comments, and the time-frame, we are forgoing this for now. It would not be that difficult to do as it is not a very large kitchen, but she is adamant. Her favorite saying is “you are making this your home, not mine,” which is untrue, but for her is a real feeling. We are just trying to update the place to make it more manageable, cleaner, updated, and ADA compliant. For her, we are destroying her home and her memories and taking her home from her. My dad’s mom did a good job as she aged and naturally downsized from her home, to an apartment, to an old folks home, to my parent’s home, to a nursing home. My mom’s mom was not so willing and my mom and her brothers and sisters had to help downsize her into the same, and she was bitter and resentful. It seems the apple doesn’t fall far….

Removing the carpeting and padding revealed what lies beneath. The left (black) had been swept.
A photo of the living room while we moved furniture.
Living room tile removed and walls being prepped for paint.
Living room all painted and floors replaced.

My least favorite refurbishment is the bathroom plumbing. While demolishing the bathroom I tried to shut off the valve to the toilet only to find the valve did not work. So I had to shut off water to the house to replace the valve. Then when removing the sink, both valves were in the same state with frozen screw valves. Another trip to the store and I replaced those. Yesterday, after getting the flooring, toilet, and sink installed, I had to get the sink connected and the drain piping disintegrated from corrosion within. I was looking at my connections for the leak and found the entire pipe corroded. It took four hours to clean out the pipe, snake the line, and get it draining again before I could get the new piping reinstalled. It now drains and does not leak, but holy cow, what a pain. We are not doing a remodel on the walls in the master bathroom, even though it needs it badly, but for now, it is a bridge too far. The ultimate plan is to remove the door and cabinet, remove all the blue wall panels and replace the drywall, move the light switch, update the wiring (grounded, GFCI), create a larger door opening, install new cabinets, new door, and new sink and vanity. But for now, it will have to do. I installed the laminate in the bathrooms, even though vinyl would have been better, but I figure for the 5-10 years it will be needed, if it needs replacing due to water, we can do it in a day, after we gut the thing and restart fresh!!!

The top of the drain pipe disintegrated when I touched it.
The bathroom after removal of sink, toilet, and 70 year old tile flooring.

Overall it has been completely exhausting, both physically and mentally. We have another 4-5 days of work and then we start the cleanup of the carport area and shed. We all want to create a laundry room out of the shed, but mom is also resistant to that. But I might get that done anyway once the flooring is completed and the house is ready for Dad to come home, as that is the priority. The laundry room will require permits, so that will take a bit of time.

And I am supposed to head back to work in a little over a month. I really want to get back on the road, but with Dad in his current state, we need to stay close to home for a while.

Thanks for reading.

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20260414 – Parents and Current Status

It has been about two and a half weeks since I posted last from a RV park in Tucson and a lot has gone on since then. We dropped the little guy (Howie) off in Willcox and picked up the 5th wheel that was being stored at my brother’s house. We moved that to the RV lot in Tucson and quickly set up a home base. The RV park was one block from St. Mary’s hospital where my mom was recovering from her fall and surgeries. I was able to go there every day and assist with her meals, Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and other things. She was a trooper with the amazing team there at St. Mary’s and was released to head home on April 7th. She is still recovering and requires some assistance at home while she continues to heal.

Pablo was her favorite therapist. He brought cheer and motivation to her recovery.

My dad is in Tucson at a place called Handmaker’s where he was receiving some Physical Therapy. He entered there in January when the local (Willcox) PT refused to work with him because he felt it was too dangerous for him to get in and out of the car to go to PT. He did well for a while, but has regressed a bit and my brother and mom had arranged for him to come home. But that date was 4 days before mom fell and so there was no way they could get him home without assistant care after that happened. I have been visiting him every day or two while in Tucson and it has been nice to see him. Some days he is very present and active and others he is describing the Narnia that goes on in and around the characters that reside there. It is a bit concerning at times, but I think it is due to his low blood pressure and low activity at the place. At some point I am going to gather the stories he has told and maybe make a post about these changes we are going through with aging parents.

Mom’s recovery and therapy and visiting dad has placed a bit of a toll on me as I am exhausted every day going back and forth. The days usually go on for 10-12 hours. The hospital room is pretty small and more than one visitor is difficult due to all of the equipment that has to be in the room. Kathy has been a trooper through it all and helped with the home life and with the parents where she can. She was able to go up and visit her parents in Prescott Valley for a few days as well, and had a rather nice visit.

Our little camp in Tucson at the Sentinel Peak RV Park.

We set up camp in the 5th wheel and we feel like we have a palace. It is only a 28 foot, 2009 model that I have been working on the past several years, but we have a couch, chairs, and a nice awning to hang out under to escape from the sun here in the Sonoran Desert. I picked up my bike and got it running and have used that several times to and from the hospital, getting the truck serviced, and other errands. Getting back on it brings the longing of riding trails, but with the current situation, that will have to wait. I do a lot of walking and have been averaging 20K steps per day since back in the US. Most of it is to and from the hospital and up and down the long mouse-maze of a 100+ year old medical complex.

On April 7th my mom was released and my brother and his wife were there to drive her home. They stopped by my dad’s place on the way and my mom and dad got to be together again after more than a month since her last visit with him. Tears were flowing from my dad’s eyes when he saw my mom again. Unfortunately we had to miss it as Kathy and I were breaking camp and getting Big-Howie back to Willcox so we could set up and help mom. Of course, after packing, the first thing I had to do was change out a flat tire. I have been avoiding putting new tires on this thing since it would mostly sit out in the sun and bake, but these ones are over 10 years old and need to be replaced. I did replace the one, but will hold off for a few weeks for the other 3 to be easy on the budget. The trip to Willcox was easy with the RAM and we got set up quickly before mom got back home.

Dad and mom reuniting after more than a month; the longest they have been apart in almost 58 years of marriage.

Kathy had a birthday right after we got to Willcox and we were happy to take her to Isabelle’s South of the Border restaurant in Willcox. (If you are in the area, we highly recommend this place for great food in a small town atmosphere). We all had a great time celebrating my wonderful bride, singing “Happy Birthday”, sharing a fried ice cream dessert while posing with the traditional sombrero. I hope her next year is filled with more adventures and bucket list items for her.

One of the biggest things from mom’s PT and OT was for her to have a safe, clean place to continue on. Both her and dad want to avoid a nursing home, but their home is not in a state that is healthy and safe for them and their care. Mom will probably recover most of the way, but dad, in his current state, cannot walk and had trouble standing for any length of time. Getting in and out of bed, on to the pot, or any other activity is not easy and usually requires some help. They had arranged for some home care but had to put a halt to that when mom fell. We had lengthy discussions with the OT staff and with mom and some of the things that will have to be done to their home upon return. She realizes the need after her fall, and has been very open to the changes that have to be done. She is terrified to have dad come home, mainly because she cannot take care of him. Willcox is horrible for senior care and most rely on neighbors and family in situations like this. But as we will find out, mom and change and her stuff has not been an easy path; but more on that later.

Mom and dad’s house will need to be packed up, cleaned, and refurbished to accommodate the wheel-chairs, walkers, nurses, and other things that will now be more permanent in their lives. We are settling in for a long stay here in Willcox as it will take several months to get this work done, which has created some additional life choices that Kathy and I are having to make. We are still working on that and deciding the best path forward, but for now, we will be camped next to my childhood home, assisting my mom while we do the renovations. Howie is sitting in the backyard, keeping watch and maintaining power with afternoon solar. Big-Howie is connected to water (making it nice for showers) and power and makes a cozy little home. Kathy refers Big-Howie as “the cabin”.

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20260328 – Tucson and Parents

We found a place near the St. Mary’s hospital to drop the camper so we could visit Mom easily and dad pretty easily. My brother and sister-in-law have been coming up every day to support my mom in the hospitals after her fall. She had a brain bleed and needed an operation to put a tube in and drain the blood, then the next day she had another to fix the bleeding source. She was at St. Joseph’s until I think Friday when they moved her to St. Mary’s.

She was pretty out of it the first couple of days and could not move much or get out of bed. She had a huge shiner and hematoma on her left eye, a swollen and bruised knee and wrist, and several scrapes. She has a team of Occupational Therapists, Physical Therapists, and Speech Therapists along with the nurses and doctors and by Monday she was moving a bit in her bed. By Wednesday she could manage the utensils and start to feed herself. She took her first steps on Wednesday on the parallel bars and on Thursday, managed a bit on the walker. On Friday she managed the walker all the way down the hall and back and is feeding herself and getting in and out of bed with a bit of help.

Mom recovering at St. Mary’s after her bad fall.

I have visited Dad three times this week as well and we watched UofA beat the Arkansas Razerbacks on Thursday. It has been nice to spend some time with him. He is in a wheelchair now, and says he gets up and down and walks a bit, but I have not seen that yet. He was supposed to go home on the 18th but after mom fell, he has had to stay in the Handmaker’s facility. Mom is supposed to get out on April 7, but to where we don’t know yet. It may be back home with some help, or to another place where she can get some more therapy. I think based on her progress the past couple of days, she will be headed home with some home care. She’ll be walking and probably able to do all the bathroom stuff by Friday this week, based on the progress she has already made.

It has been a tough week emotionally and I am glad we came back to help out. Rick and Terry have been shouldering this the past 8 months as dad has had troubles and now with mom, it is double duty. David has been coming over every week since Dad went into Handmakers while we have been on the PanAmerican Highway. It has been nice to get to talk to mom; help her out; and spend some time with the family. Kathy has been truly amazing and is such a fantastic support with all her love and understanding.

By Friday, March 27, Mom’s hematoma decided to drain during her first shower, which was a welcomed change.

We found a campground about a 10 minute walk to the hospital and dropped the camper there. It is HOT here in Tucson and the campground is more of a parking lot, so she has been living in a little box. The AC has been performing amazingly and the charger has been keeping up for the most part. The campground has a bathroom and a pool, although no showers. Kathy’s friend here in town offered her place to shower, so we did that on Thursday. We have extended the stay there for two weeks. We tried to find other places, but they were just too far away and not much nicer. We did manage to wash Howie off over a couple of days. It really needs a good buff, caulking removal, a new paint job, and re-caulking all of the joints. But for now, she is still working well for what we need.

Funny thing happened when we went to dinner Thursday. We found a place called El Antojo Pablano to eat dinner. As we walked in we saw the church we stayed near in Cholula, Mexico with the volcano behind it. On the walls were paintings of the various towns in central Mexico that we had either been through or traveled past on the last several days there. We talked to the server and then to the owner, who is from Puebla. His food is authentic to the region and I enjoyed his Mole de Pollo dish very much.

Last night we headed to Willcox and will drop Howie off in my parent’s back yard. We will pick up the 5th wheel at my brother’s house and clean stuff out of it and get it ready to take back to Tucson and will live out of that for the coming weeks. There is more space in it and will be a bit of an upgrade while we figure out the next stage of our life and our expedition. For now we are enjoying visiting and helping out where we can. I’ll keep updating every few days as things change.

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20260321 – Border Run Day 5 – Tucson

We got a good start to the day in El Paso. We stopped by the Camping World on the way out of town as they had a dump station. They did not have water, though, so I did my best to clean out the system before we headed to Tucson. We stopped in the Camping World shop and picked up some repair items for Howie; A water spout, a Propane Door Latch, some remote lights, etc. We were looking for a map we could put on Howie, but they only had US maps, and we are a bit more that that for a while.

We made good time and got to Tucson around 2 PM and went right in to see my mom. She was looking better, but was really tired from the medications. We had a good talk with my brother Rick and his wife Terry about the situation, which will keep her in the hospital here for 2+ weeks and them maybe a rehab place after that. They gave us some information on my dad as well, and we all realized things have gotten pretty bad really fast.

We headed over to visit my dad at his facility. He was eating dinner when we go there, and we waited for him in his room while he finished up. We visited for a little over an hour and got some realization of his status. I am glad we came back as there is a lot to deal with right now.

Camping overnight at the Rillito Downs park in Tucson.

We headed to Rillito Downs for camping overnight. I am looking for a place to hang out during the day that will allow us to keep the dogs cool while we visit with my parents. I found an RV lot that might work until we can find something more permanent. We can set up in Willcox, but that means driving every day, and with diesel now at $5.50 a gallon, it does not make sense to spend $50 per day on fuel.

Rick and Terry are coming up today to visit the parents, so we will have more time to talk and get things figured out. There may not be posts every day for a while so we can get things sorted out. Thanks for reading.

Here is the last leg of the Border Run, Day 5 map; 338 miles in total.

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20260320 – Border Run Day 4 – El Paso

We woke up for what we thought was early, only to find out that the sun does not rise in this part of Texas until 7:55 am. I guess daylight savings will turn off in the next week or so, but holy cow, to have the alarm go off at 7 and it still be dark this time of year was a bit strange. It was cool camping in the desert again. The sheep were still on the ridge above, but were a bit more hidden this morning.

Howie camped next to US 90 just outside of Sanderson, Texas.

We only drove for about 6 hours today and stopped in El Paso after 315 miles. The roads in Texas, even on the B roads, are amazing compared to what we have been driving. Set the cruise to 70 mph and stay between the lines for an smooth haul. We are averaging 12-13 mpg with the wind jammer on the truck.

Mari and Mike offered their home as a stopping point, so we took them up on their offer. They were out of town visiting our son, Peyton, and helping him install a fence for his dogs, which went in very nicely. Mari and Mike said we could use their laundry, so we caught up on that chore. We visited their local pub, The Three Pints Pub, for dinner and some beverages. We even stopped and got our hair cuts completed (another chore we have neglected – it’s been almost 3 months for me). The dogs got some good walks in in the evening and again in the morning, we got some good rest overnight and headed out early in the morning; well early for us anyway.

It is hot here in El Paso.

Here is a map of our Day 4 border run route.

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20260319 – Border Run Day 3

We are making good time. Yesterday we were on the road for 10 hours and made it 452 miles, including turning in my visa, turning in the Temp Import Permit, and crossing the border. The border was not too bad, maybe two hours in total with half on the Mexico side and the other half on the US side. We stopped for a quick bite in Laredo and then for some diesel, which is less expensive here, but still higher than it needs to be. The pups are traveling well and getting more than their fair share of rest while on the road. Just a note, the traffic is back to normal USA travel with none of the 3-4 imaginary lanes we have learned to drive in.

The constant game of chicken in Mexico. Drive on the white line, the middle is for passing.

The roads are much nicer here in Texas and we can keep a steady 70mph on the road without killing Howie. We are averaging about 13-14mpg at this point, which is about as good as it will get with the heavy brick on the back. The DPF has not given me an issue since we got back up to highway speeds; and since I changed the air filter. I read that on one of the groups and got to thinking that I had cleaned the filter in Chicken, AK as well. Maybe when the DPF is burning off too much, change the air filter?

The border line on bridge 2 in Laredo, Texas. RV’s, GO LEFT, TAKE THE BUS LANE. Ignore this first sign. LOL

After 10 hours and 450 miles, we are camped alongside Route 90, which skirts the border. There were three wild mountain sheep watching us from the ridge above as we pulled up. iOverlander had this place listed as a roadside picnic table area, but we wandered down the dirt road a couple hundred yards into the wash below the bridge. There is road noise on the bridge and some trains that came through during the night, but nothing that was too bad. It feels good camping in the desert here.

A grainy picture of the mountain goats on the ridge above the camp.

We will head North today and catch I-10 in Fort Stockton and from there it’s a straight shot to Tucson. We are supposedly 9 hours out, but add a couple of hours to the road and it will be just about right. We probably will not make it to Tucson until Saturday, though. We may stop and do some quick laundry and get showers along the way.

And an update on my parents: Dad is staying at a place called Handmakers and is still undergoing PT to get his strength back. Mom is recovering from her horrendous fall and resultant two surgeries. She still has a huge goose-egg on her left eye and will be in the hospital for a few more days, but is feeling and sounding better.

Not a lot of photos today, but here is a map of our route.

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20260318 – Border Run Day 2

We started again around 9:00 and headed back north on the autopista. The goal was to make it to Monterrey, which we almost did. The beginning of the day we were in the rainforest area and then within the first few hours we here headed to Tampico on the Gulf Coast. We decided against hitting the beach for a few minutes, but with one uninteded missed exit, we were headed that way. I guess we were supposed to make it there.

Zuzu still is not a fan of the ocean water.

We were at a really nice beach for lunch and the pups were itching to get out and run on the beach. Zuzu still does not like the water much, but Maggie heads straight for it. Maggie especially likes these kind of wide shallow beaches so she can walk through the water without being overwhelmed. It was a nice hour walk on the beach with the pups

We managed to find the town sign and took the obligatory photo. The day progressed well and other than the persistently bumpy roads, we made good time. With the stops we averaged 40 mph for the day and ended up just south of Monterrey for a total of 432 miles. We filled up twice, but the tolls were less today; about $200 for gas and $31 for tolls. We settled in at a rest stop for the night and slept well. I checked on the pups for paperwork and filled out the new forms for them to cross as the last ones we had were expired and were from Canada. We should be crossing the border about noon tomorrow and then it will be through west Texas, New Mexico and into Arizona. Here is a map of our travels today.

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20260317 – Border Run Day 1

We left Oaxaca and began our return to the USA. It is about 960 miles to the border in Texas and then another 900 miles back to Arizona to meet up with family. We chose this route in order to minimize the time of travel in Mexico, which had much higher fuel costs and much slower average speeds. The tolls alone are quite expensive. Today we only fueled up once, but it was a big one since the fuel stations on this portion of the Autopista were very far apart. I am making better mileage on this stretch of road, but 14 mpg is still low when gas is $6+ per gallon. One fuel up was $125 USD and we spent a total of $1000 pesos ($56 USD) for toll roads. Mexico is gracious to charge huge prices for fuel and then the additional privilege of bouncing along C-rated roads for a premium charge. To be honest, there were some good sections of road, but the 1-2 km stretches of good are quickly forgotton with the rest of the road. We left just after 9am and drove until after dark at about 7:30pm, with only one 90 minute detour due to a fog-induced wreck that closed the road (no refund for the toll, BTW). We averaged 37 mpg for the day on a 382 mile day.

We connected with a friend of ours from Canada, who said he was at this particular town. It was almost on our route and we thought we could stop by and hang out for the evening. Unfortunately, the town he was speaking of was 9 hours to the south of us, and the one we were looking at was an hour or so from where we were… Oh well. Ian we will catch you on your way up in AZ. Looking forward to hanging with you then.

The landscape was really interesting in this part of Mexico. We climbed into the central Mexico Mountains to the east of Puebla and after crossing the pass, we noted the forest became tropical and incredibly green. The whole area on the way down the pass was foggy and we could only see 3-4 cars in front of us, but it was definitely a nice change to the leaf-barron branches of the forests we have been in for quite some time. We ended up at a Pemex station for the night where we camped on a gravel patch with the approval of the night guard.

Oh, the “fix” I did on the back of the camper is improving the feel of the camper. I did hit one Topa on the route that killed one of the eye-bolts, but the nice thing is it feels more stable. I have some more ideas and will take care of them when I get ot AZ.

Just a funny picture of Maggie as she was sleeping this evening. These pups keep us laughing every day.

Not many pictures today. We will get those when we return back here after the family visit we decided to do. Here is a map of our travels for today.

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20260316 – Dreams, Goals, and what gets in the way.

Years ago I read a book called “Think and Grow Rich”. The title alone implies that its about money, and it was based on research done on “successful individuals” by Napoleon Hill where he discovered 13 principles of success. The pretense (and title) of the book is about money, but more importantly and deeper in the principles, it discusses dreams and goals and why we succeed in them or fail to achieve them. Napoleon Hill lists 30 major reasons we fail to achieve things in life; some are based on fears, some are based on personal behaviors (both positive and negative), and others are purely environmental. Other books “The Secret” by Rhonda Byrns and “The Ultimate Secret to Getting Everything you Ever Want” by Mike Hernaki are also a powerful reminder of achieving dreams and goals. In these series of books some basic ideas and methods can be formulated on achieving goals and understanding where our limits might be. These also have relevance in placing your dream or goal at the forefront of your mind in order to focus on its achievement. State it every day; live it every day.

Most people these days have heard of SMART goals: Stated, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. I believe there are two of these factors that are the most important, at least for me; Stated and Time-bound. It’s easy for me to put together a stated goal, but easier still to have that open-ended. That is why I set the goal to drive the PanAmerican Highway with a year to start as 2025. First and foremost, the frequency that I stated the goal, thought about the goal, planned for the goal and committing these statements to more people. It bound my word to the goal and set accountability. By setting the start date, I could not procrastinate and push it off a year or more. It does not mean that I did not procrastinate, or that I rushed things toward the end, but what it did was push me to commit to a June 2025 start date. I thought I had the funds to make it happen. I thought I had the time to make it happen. Some details I ignored, because I knew starting was the biggest part. God and my faith has been a big factor; as He seems to deliver when I find things hard. I keep working every week to make sure things progress on this goal to drive the Pan American Highway to Ushuaia, Argentina.

What I did not have set were strict budgets for money and time. Nor did I set a strict path to drive; I wanted to experience and wander through new places. I figured a $3k/month budget would be enough; at times it is achievable, but many other factors push those limits. These things have been frustrating to me during my progress. I am determined that money and time will not hinder my achievement of this goal; this dream.

And looking back at these books, the most interesting part was in one of these books, I cannot recall which, there was an exercise to create an extensive list of reasons why you will NOT achieve your goal. The pretense behind it is that if you can think of all the reasons you will quit, fail, lose focus, etc., and you find one or more of these reasons on that list that you personally cannot overcome. Those will be the reasons you will not achieve your goals. The focus is to look at those things, and find a way to overcome those listed things. It’s not the goal, it is persistence to overcome or outmaneuver failure.

Much of this mindset is based on research, and when put to a practical test, it is very revealing. Many years ago I was introduced to camping as a young child. I came to love the outdoors and have spent a good portion of my free time camping, hiking, backpacking, off-roading, mountain biking, and general exploring. In 2010 I discovered overlanding (something I may have discovered eventually, or may have already been doing) but originating from a challenge from a respected colleague while working in Iraq, I jumped in, fears challenged, and found my passion. A passion that has turned out to be more of a past-time; a hobby, rather than a lived passion; until recently. So why did it take me so long to get here? And why do I, every day, fear that it will end and I will never get it back? Or that by doing this, I am losing other opportunities that will negatively impact my future? These are the things I did not think to put on my list.

Things on my list included mechanical challenges, health management, border crossings, vehicle maintenance, language barriers, financial issues, time constraints, weather, traveling companion, pets, the house, storing or selling our stuff, employment before/during/after, retirement funding, electrical power management, living space, parents, siblings, etc. The list was long. Some things for me I just simply knew I would overcome. Others I kind of pushed aside thinking the item would likely not affect me. Finally, I had to address directly; of which most were physical/mechanical as that is where I was most comfortable.

Some things on that list that I did not identify, or merely hoped would not surface turn out to be ones that are the biggest challenge for me. In 2019 my parents were healthy and in their late 70’s. By 2023 my mom had some serious issues and was needing surgeries and joint replacements. By 2024 she was healing and my dad started to have mobility issues. By 2025 he had been in the hospital twice for extended stays and joint replacements and has since not recovered to the point he can not walk or do the basic things he needs. My mom cannot take care of him, and he cannot take care of her. My wonderful brothers have stepped in to help, but it is a lot for everyone, and for me, being there to help is one of my core values.

This week my mom fell and hurt herself pretty bad. We are at a point in Mexico where if we continue into the Yucatan as we had planned, it will take us further away. And crossing into Belize or Guatemala will further complicate getting back. So we have decided to head back for a few weeks to a month to help out, visit, and assist where we can. We don’t know the long term plan at this point; and neither do my parents, but for now, we feel we need to be there.

So for me right now I am extremely conflicted in my heart between family and with my goals. Kathy and I have talked and this is not the end of the drive; we are taking a 4000 mile detour to take care of things that are more important for now. Last night mom went through a surgery to drain blood from her brain sustained in a fall she took. Tomorrow she will go through another surgery to repair the vein and hopefully she will recover quickly and be able to go home in a few days. Dad was supposed to come home this Wednesday, but that will likely be pushed until we can get mom settled. My brother and sister-in-law, Rick and Terry have been wonderful so far and my other brother, David has been helping where he can. We are going back to see where we can be of help; to visit; and to be with family in this time.

It feels like I am quitting, and I am trying to reframe it to stay on track. Originally I had driven the northern part of the Pan American in 2019 with my friend Carl, and I was planning on going south in 2025. Kathy and I met again, married, and she signed on for the trip with enthusiasm, and since she had not been to Canada and Alaska, I changed my 2025 trip to do this with her. In the process I got the idea that I was to drive the whole thing in one attempt (I changed my goal). When you look at our map, it will look more like spaghetti than a direct route. We are in Oaxaca now, turning north, and will do the fastest route up to Texas and back to Arizona. We should be there in 4-5 days if all goes well. Kind of funny, it has taken us almost 4 months to get here in Mexico and it will only take 4-5 days to get back. The good thing is, when we start again, in 4-5 days, we may be back down here in Oaxaca, or just hit the Yucatan

Today I make some quick repairs to the camper and tomorrow we start the trip back north.

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20260315 – Oaxaca

We left the lagoon camp about 9 am and headed through the town of Puerto Escondido. There is a huge beach there and it was all set up with hundreds of umbrellas and chairs waiting for the day. It is Sunday so the beach was likely to be pretty busy. Just after the town we turned on to Mexico’s newest highway, that they call their super highway. It was a pretty smooth road that we could get up to the speed limit, which was actually 110 kph. I generally set the truck to only do 90 though. The road was curvy and worked its way up into the mountains. The forests here are a bit devoid of leaves for the most part. It does not feel like winter here, but it may be due to the dry season. The temperatures still showed in the 90’s as we headed up the hill.

Looking out our rear camera at the road that was completely covered by a slide.

Way up in the mountains, about 90 minutes into our drive, we noticed a warning at KM 71 marker to watch out for landslides. The couple from Quebec back in Cholupa had noted that one of the roads they took had tons of dangerous rock slides. I guess that was the road we were on. At KM 71 and beyond the road was narrowed to one lane in many places with tons of debris on the road. At one point the road became dirt as we climbed over an area that had been completely covered.

Massive landslide on Mexico’s new Highway 175.

We continued up the road as it went through tunnels and around rock slides until at some point the GPS map instructed us to exit. So we exited. And the road was brand new. And it was cement. And it was steep and narrow. But the GPS said, so we went. I think I had asked it to skip toll roads, and even though we had gone through one toll booth, this one skipped the second. It also could have been because the day before the locals had blocked the highway in some sort of protest, so it might have been that reroute (Kathy found this news snipped, which had been resolved the day prior).

The new road climbed up into a town and then further up into the hills. And I hit a hidden speed bump as I was watching the overhead lines. I had to stop and replace the darn eye bolt on the back again. I can get it done in about 10 minutes now, but it was my last spare, so I noted to Kathy that we needed to stop at Home Depot when we got to Oaxaca.

The brand new cement road went along for about 20 miles up and over a pass and through three villages.

The road was kind of beautiful as it wound up the ridge and over a pass. It was just as steep on the down side and I had my full exhaust brake on, in 1st gear, and intermittently in and out of 4WD to keep the speed down. At one point I could smell the brakes again, but we kept onward. We passed through a little town that seemed deserted on a Sunday, but as we rounded a corner we found the whole town at the center church attending some kind of presentation. The people were smiling and waving as we passed.

A view of the valley just as we crested the pass on the old 175 road.

We made it into Oaxaca and routed to the Home Depot. They had plenty of the eye bolts, so I picked up 6 of them as well as 4 eye screws. I am finally going to add some additional tie-down points to this camper. When I get back to the states, I am going to fabricate some additional ones for the inner side of the bed and will create a slide platform so it will not move when we drive the bumpy roads. I would love to be able to build one of those composite campers to sit on a flatbed, but that is not in the picture at this time.

The town of El Tule, with the big tree in the background. The gardens were beautiful

We walked to the local town last night (El Tule) and had some Sushi. The Google Translate tool is really nice and we decided to see if it could translate the decorations they used. The paper lights had writing on them that said “skewered” and the little tabs on the other decorations said “fortune”. Two signs that had asian writing on the top with english on the bottom actually said what the english did. The world is getting smaller with languages. The town has a huge tree in the courtyard of the church. It cost to go in and look around, but we just took pictures through the fence.

The El Tule tree. Those folks in front got the $20 peso picture.

The campground we are staying in is really nice. There are about 2 dozen campers here from all over the world. They have restrooms and showers, a pool, a kitchen, fire pits, playland, and grass for the dogs. It’s a very nice place. To our left a couple from Brazil have been traveling off and on for 20 years and recently had their van (that they built) shipped from Montevideo to Vera Cruz. They completed the Central America portion over the past 4 months and are working their way north now. Their plan is to get to the Arctic Ocean via Tuktoyaktuk in July and then cross Canada and head down the east coast of the USA to Florida where his brother lives. They hope to ship to Europe after that and then travel down to Africa, then to Asia and ship their van from Singapore to Australia. He is 75 and she is 72.

Howie in a nice little spot with a shady area in the back. Brazilians to the left.

To our right a young couple from Canada is camping in his 98 Land Cruiser 200 series with a James Baroud Roof Top Tent wedge tent. He has spent the past 6 winters down here in Mexico and loves the Land Cruiser for its prowess in the bush. He is a videographer and works back in Canada in the summers and on the road in the winters.

I have managed to create some sort of tie-down for the camper that changes the rear ties from 2 to 5 points, in hopes that will settle the thing down. We are resting the remainder of the day, watching the storm roll in, and will head out early in the morning on our way back North. Mom is doing well after her first surgery and I spoke to dad today and he is looking forward to coming home soon.