Cool Pool and Uncool Guy – 2 January 2018

2 January 2018 – In the morning I walked over to the restaurant and ordered breakfast. I ordered my usual and was looking at this building out the window. It was in disrepair. After I finished eating, I walked over to it and walked inside. There was a swimming pool inside with a bar and restaurant. Around the edge of the pool in the water were concrete stools covered with tile about 1 yard / 1 meter apart, and a ledge your breakfast was placed on. Similar to what you would see in any McDonalds, but in the water. I walked outside and translated the writing on the wall with my cell phone.   Basically, it said you can swim and eat breakfast at the same time. Your breakfast was served to you in the pool. The tiles were falling off in the pool and lifting off the floor surrounding the pool. It looks like a cool idea but I think the idea didn’t take off or it was too expensive and ordinary people couldn’t afford to get in. Or it was something you tried once and never repeated.

Anyway, I went back to my room and continued reading up on my Nicaraguan / Costa Rican Border crossing. I got all my paperwork reviewed, found out the different fees I would have to pay, and the insurance I would have to purchase. I also got all the copies that I would need for each country laid out and in order. I then checked my cell phone and found two hotels I would potentially want to stay at. The Wi-Fi was so weak in the hotel I was in that I couldn’t get on the internet with my computer, which had me seeing blue. I texted Mary and she found the GPS coordinates on these hotels. Both Mary and I converted these coordinates to Degrees, Minutes and Seconds, which is how Blanche insists on receiving coordinates.  She’s a little finicky, as you know. I caught Mary trying to send me into never Neverland: two sets of eyes are better than one. That GPS coordinates business…………either you’re right or you’re wrong. There is no in-between. When you’re looking for a hotel in a large city and you have 30 minutes of daylight left you don’t want to be traveling in never neverland.

While I was eating breakfast at the restaurant earlier, I saw another supermarket / mercado only 400 yards / 400 meters away from the hotel. I walked over and purchased apples, bananas, more bread and more Nicaraguan Lempira. I was spending my border money on my hotel and restaurant meals so I restock on that. So, I was pretty much ready to take on the border now.

It was about 7:00 p.m. I went back to the restaurant to eat a good meal. I bumped into John who was setting outside drinking a beer. I told him I was going in to get something to eat. He asked me when I was leaving and I told him tomorrow. Once in the restaurant, I ordered what I thought was going to be a meat with a lot of gravy. The waiter brings my meal and its shrimp, green peppers and some kind of ground up nuts. It’s exactly what I didn’t want. I’m not a big seafood fan. It kind of looked like an Asian dish. I tasted it. It was hot, so I just ate it. I thought to myself, Montezuma was going to be paying me a visit again. Now if that would have been meat it would have been perfect. The dish was served hot so I felt pretty safe with it.

After dinner, I went back outside and John was still there. We talked a little bit more and he kind of alluded to the fact that he may be an inter-dimensional traveler. He says he kind of knows what people are going to say and what will happen in the future. Now I can imagine if I told this story back at my old employer, Remmele Engineering. I know one or two guys would say “man, that dude found some really good drugs. I want some.” Well, we parted ways and told him the trash can he was looking for last night was back in place so he didn’t need to throw his trash on the ground anymore. He laughed and I went to bed.

A Debbie Downer Named John – 1 January 2018

1 January 2018 – Good Morning New Year. Let’s hope the world will be a better place this year. I woke about 4:30 a.m. I laid in bed wondering how I am going to get out of here so early with this hotel all locked down. I got everything packed up by 6:00 a.m. I heard the hotel unlocking doors. I grabbed my first load of stuff and headed toward my motorcycle. Three trips later and my motorcycle was loaded and ready to go. I said goodbye to Mario and prepared myself for the ride around Managua.

Much to my surprise it was an uneventful ride. The program I built to get around the city worked flawlessly. I couldn’t have been prouder of Blanche. It was some of her finest navigating she has ever done for me. Most of the riding was on rural blacktop roads, passing by cities of Masaya and Granada. The roads were mostly straight and in excellent condition. Most of my rural driving was at 50 to 62 Mph / 80 to 100 Kph. It was a short day of riding and I stopped for the night in Rivas, Nicaragua 14 Miles / 24 Kilometers from the Nicaragua / Costa Rican Border.

I needed to get my paperwork prepared for the border crossing. It is said that Nicaragua is the most difficult border crossing of all the Central American countries. So preparation is the key to keep your stress level low and getting through the border as quickly as possible. I drove through town looking for the hotel Blanche selected for me to stay at. I didn’t find it, but I found my second choice and it turns out to be an Auto Hotel which you pay by the hour. I pulled in, looked at the joint, said “no”, and left.

I drove back into town and located a hotel and restaurant which worked just great for me. I checked in for $15 Dollars a night. I didn’t purchase a room with air conditioning because the nights were like 68 degrees / 20 Celsius. I asked the receptionist if I could park my motorcycle in front of the reception door. They said sure no problem. I rode my bike up and they were shocked by the size. They moved their table so I could get backed into my parking spot. Initially they were thinking my motorcycle was a 125cc motorcycle which you see driven all over these Central American countries.

Something I found out with these lower price hotels is that they try to mask the smell of mold with air fresheners. The room I was in was solid concrete with no ventilation, not even for the shower. That moisture wouldn’t leave the room even with the fan running constantly. You had to leave the door open and suck in fresh air. I can’t complain, I got what I paid for.

That night I went outside to work on my route planning and bumped into John from Alberta, Canada. A colorful sort of chap. He was the most negative individual I’ve met in a long time. He’s retired and just travels. He said his luggage was stolen by the police in Mexico, his car was stolen in Mexico, and he went to jail 7 times in Mexico. He went back to England and was put in jail before he even got into the country. They deported him back to Canada and told him not to come back. He was hugely prejudicial toward Hispanics. I mean hugely. While he was telling me this, off course, he is the most kind-hearted, lovely individual there is on the face of the earth. I finally had to excuse myself because I couldn’t take any more of the negativity. John was originally born in Scotland and I asked him if that had any influence on his negativity and he said it sure did. In a nutshell, the whole world was against this guy. Well, all of that talk cut into my route and border planning and by then I just wanted to go to bed. I knew I would be staying another day. I just can’t walk blindly into a border crossing without knowing exactly what I’m getting myself into.

Preparations for Crossing From Nicaragua into Costa Rica – 31 December 2017

31 December 2017 – I found a supermarket / mercado and decided to do some shopping before I leave. I picked up some apples, bananas and my old reliable Snickers bars. Talk about a bad day to shop. It took me probably 10 minutes to find my food. Then I stood in line 45 minutes to get checked out. Since I had been battling a little cold, while I was shopping for bananas I asked the lady next to me if there was a pharmacy in the store. She answered me in English. I asked her if she spoke English and she said yes. She said, she and her husband are from the U.S. I asked where and she said they were from New Orleans, Louisiana. I told her I was from St. Paul / Minneapolis, Minnesota. It amazes me that I have run into so many North Americans on this trip.  It is so different than the trip around the world I took in 2009.

There was a bee's nest hanging from the soffit of the hotel.  I was told it is a sign of good luck, and they are never taken down until they fall down on their own.

I came back and wrote up the list of cities I should be passing through on the way to the border and taped it to the gas tank. I also wrote down all the way points and taped them to the gas tank. That’s just a precautionary measure in case Blanche rebels and doesn’t follow my pre-programmed route. I took some picture of the hotel. The hotel staff here are very friendly and helpful. We communicated mostly with my cell phone translator. They cooked me breakfast and supper every night. That was nice. I’m sure if I could have spoken some Spanish I could have had an interesting conversation with these people. The boss lady Fatima is 31 years old and her husband Mario can’t be over 35. I plan to be rolling by 6:00 / 6:30 a.m. tomorrow. So, I have to get my stuff wrapped up so I can slide out the door nice and smooth tomorrow morning. Mary told me they have been having a cold snap in Prior Lake MN where we live. I’m showing on my cell phone that it is -13 below zero Fahrenheit / -25 Celsius. 

Tackling Blanche – 30 December 2017

30 December 2017 – I got up this morning and continued working on my blog. I had some loose ends to tie up. After that was completed, I needed to tackle Blanche and see if I can program a route into her. If I can, I should be able to program a route through or around a city without Blanche taking off over hill and dale on me. Wouldn’t that be a novelty….  So, it’s time to see what I can do with Blanche. I figured out my route and way points around Managua all the way to the Border of Costa Rica. Once I had that all programmed into Blanche, I started trying to build a custom route using all my pre-programmed points. I tried three times and I think by the 4th try I had Blanche following my points to the Costa Rican Border. The hope is that it will work when I’m using it on the motorcycle. That’s the test on New Years Day. The Boss Lady told me today if you stay 3 days at the hotel, the 4th day you can stay for free. So I will stay tomorrow for free. I read some more on crossing the Nicaragua and Cost Rican Borders. I will read it again the night before I cross the border.

Snooping Around Somoto, Nicaragua – 29 December 2017

29 December 2017 – The hotel served me well, so I ate breakfast and paid for another day. I had to sweep the clouds out my brain because I haven’t written anything in my blog since Christmas Day. I got out my maps to look at and see where I was on each day. Then tried to remember everything that happened and how it happened. 

About 2:00 p.m. I decided it was time for a trip to the ATM if I was going to pay for another day tomorrow. I asked the receptionist where an ATM was located. She told me the Esteli Center. It’s the same center Burger King is located in. It has two banks and each bank has its own ATM. For a while there I was having problems with my VISA Debit Card. It wouldn’t work. I had Mary check on why it wouldn’t. She was told, I was the only one who could call VISA and get the block taken off it. So, I’m in San Marcos de Colon, Honduras and have to call up VISA. I tried the International Telephone and it only spoke in Spanish. So, I tried the 1-800 000-0000 number. I dialed it and a guy answered it in English. He said there was no block on the card. I said there might be a problem with the password because Mary had tried to check my balance before and changed the password when she couldn’t read the one that I left her. We went through that and got that straightened out. I also told him all the countries that card is going to be used in. Anyway, the card should work now.

I tried it today and wham-o! the card worked. Mary instantly texted me to asked if I used my debit card. I said yes, and it worked flawlessly. Much to my surprise this ATM had the option of purchasing American Dollars. So, I purchased $100 Dollars in $20 Dollar bills. Before I went in the bank I was given the weapons search and then allowed into the bank. I eventually got through the line and met with a bank teller. I asked her if she could give me 20 ea. $5 Dollar bills for the 5 ea. $20 Dollar Bills. I was given a scowl of a look and she took the $100 Dollars. She handled the money like there was something wrong with it. Like maybe somebody pooped on it. She ended up making the change and I thanked her. It always makes me laugh when I see people so put out just to do their job. It’s kind of like going out and meeting girls. So, you say hi to a girl you would like to meet and you get this look back. How dare you even speak to me? That’s the way she came across. Well anyway, I needed the smaller denominations to pay my helpers when I cross borders. That green currency seems to grease the palms more gracefully and put bigger smiles on faces than other currencies.

I was out by my motorcycle and I saw a large sign painted on the door of the building next to Burger King.  It said “Vernier Calipers / Taller”.  Taller in Spanish translates into workshop, and Vernier calipers are machinist measuring tools. Being a retired machinist, I walked over just to stick my nose in the door and see if they would invite me in. I used my translator and told them I worked for 37 years as a machinist. I pulled out some pictures and showed the father and son some of the work I use to do. The son spoke pretty good English and we were able communicate. He invited me in to look at their shop. From what I could see, they ran mostly manual lathes and some small Bridgeport Series 1 Vertical Mills. Their largest lathe looks like it had a 15.0” Chuck and about a 10 foot bed. I believe they were a repair facility for the town and whatever farming was done in the area. I saw they were turning brake drums so they did truck / automotive work also. I gave them my blog and e-mail addresses. It was great to talk with them. I came back to hotel to continue working on my block. I worked on it until 1:30 a.m. in the morning. I had a lot to say.

Honduras to Nicaragua, with Permission from El Presidente – 28 December 2017

28 December 2017 – Today I am going to cross the border from Honduras to Nicaragua. Oh God, that damn alarm is going off. Can’t I stay in bed until 8:00 a.m? Actually, I woke at 3:30 a.m. begging God to let me go back to sleep until 4:30 a.m. Nope, nerves weren’t going to let that happen. I laid there awake thinking about crossing the border today. 4:45 I got out of bed and started this day. I could already hear the trucks heading to the border. I brushed my teeth and set about loading my motorcycle. Those of you who know me personally will actually laugh at how I do this:

1st - the shaving kit and shower shoes in the right saddle bag, paper work and laptop I put in the top box and Blanche my GPS is put back in the handle bar mount and locked. I put the paddle locks on the top box and wire tie them immobile. The right saddle bag is locked.

2nd – The bottom bag is carried out with bungee cords. It is put into place and bungee corded in place. If I have access to open sky I send a Spot personal locator beacon to Mary letting her know I’m leaving the hotel. Sometimes this isn’t possible because of trees or I’m in a concrete jungle and Spot can’t find a satellite. She will find a satellite if her view is not blocked in less than ten minutes. My cell phone will rattle when Spot finds a satellite. I then know a message has been sent to Mary.

3rd – While that’s going on I get my 2nd bag, bungee cords and netting that holds it in place. Electrical cables must be in it along with the motorcycle cover. Also, must bring along spare water and the kickstand block. By this time, I will have received a message saying a message was sent to Mary. I put Spot back in the bottom bag and continuing securing the 2nd bag. I push in the spare water bottle between the bag and top box on the right side and put the kickstand block in between the two bags up against the top box on the left side. Double check everything is secure.

4th - Back to the room and grab the tires and any other extra water. I put the spare tires on top of the top box. Center them up on the box so I can see through my mirrors and bungee cord them down. From here on out I’m going to lock them on my bike. I have seen one too many hungry eyes looking at them. There have been a lot of comments about how nice those tires look.

5th - With that all done, I go back to the room put on my red Aero-Stich riding suit and double check that everything is out of the bathroom, check the bed for lost money, keys, electrical cables and sometimes check under the bed. Give the key and TV remote back to reception and depart.

Leaving today is a little more challenging. Somebody backed their pickup truck into the same garage I’m in. I had to check the space between the front bumper of the truck and door frame. I found this old handle for a paint roller laying around. I grabbed it and checked the opening width. I then used it to see if my saddlebags are wider than the opening. Saved by the stick. My saddle bags were 4 inches / 11 Centimeters smaller than the opening. I can get out of the garage. The Hotel Colonial receptionist asked me if I could get out. I said yes. I asked her to watch that I didn’t scrape the pickup bumper with my saddlebag and I watched that I didn’t scrape the door frame. I squeaked out into the open without a scrape or rub anywhere.

It was 6:00 a.m. and I was running a little late. I said goodbye to receptionist started driving to Customs and Immigration La Fraternidad. It was a short drive and I was there in about 20 minutes. I was met by a Customs Official wanting my paperwork. My helper immediately showed up. He started asking for papers. I asked him for a moment please while I take them out of my orange folder. The Customs Official compares the title of my motorcycle to the paper work. Everything matches up. I have to get something copied. He then wants to copy my passport, driver’s license and title. I said, moment please I have copies. I give him 2 copies of all three items. These copies are in color not a poor quality gray. There’s a lot of talk about that. Next is Fumigation. They spray the wheels with some kind of insecticide. There’s a fee for that. Something like $3 USD. Then it’s down to Immigration.

5 minutes or so later, a tour bus comes in and unloads 50 people ahead of me to go through Immigration. My helper tells me that for $4 USD, you can go to the head of the line. I told him I would stand in line and wait my turn. I stood in line for 20 minutes and not one person moved. Not a single soul. When they started processing passports, 4 people had bribed the Immigration Official and jumped in front of the line. They ate up another 10 minutes. All the while this tall American is standing in line watching this. Eventually the line starts moving and moving pretty quickly. By time I reach the window my helper is standing by me. Everybody in front of me had their right hand electronically finger printed, then their left hand and then their thumbs. I watched how it was done so when it was my turn I didn’t get hollered at. They also take a photograph. Here’s some irony: the Immigration Officially scanned only the fingers of my right hand. He didn’t scan my left hand or my thumbs. He also didn’t take a photograph of me. Now I’m worried; was something skipped that will show up missing when I reach the Nicaraguan / Costa Rican Border? More things to worry about. I have to assume everything was done correctly. Now it’s off to Customs / Aduana.

I have to wait for an English speaking Customs Official. My helper is running around, doing what, I don’t know. He’s been trying to run down the Customs Official that needs to speak to me. About 20 minutes later he shows up. He brings a form asking all kinds of personal questions like are you I married, are I divorced, do you have any children, what is your job, how much money do you have on you, US Dollars, do you have credit cards, how much money do you have in the bank, etc. etc. My blood was boiling even though he was asking all these questions very nicely. Like he was a good cop. I was wondering when the bad cop was going to show up. He left for 15 minutes and then asked some funny questions. “We have it here that you left the United States 15 December 2017”, he said. I could hardly keep from laughing out loud. I told him I left the U.S.A. sometime around the 13th or 15th of November and he left.

He came back again and asked more questions, I can’t remember about what. The last time he came and asked if I filled out a letter to the President of Nicaragua asking for permission to enter the country. I said, no. He said, that is a regulation and that people like me have to fill one out before you can enter the country. So, he goes and gets the form which he and I both fill out. When we get it filled out he says to take a picture of it and e-mail it to these two e-mail addresses. I tried four times to e-mail the form. My cell phone won’t e-mail very well unless you have a strong wi-fi signal. At least not down here. So, he comes with somebody’s cell phone and takes a picture of the form. He then e-mails the form to whoever.

In the meantime, an English speaking family comes over asking why it taking so long for me to get imported in to Nicaragua. I tell them about the letter I didn’t send in and all the personal questions they were asking me. They asked how long I had been waiting and I told them about 4 hours. They were pretty shocked. It took them less than 2 hours to get processed through Customs, and that was with a car. Of course, they were Nicaraguan and spoke Spanish. The wife was from the U.S. and husband was from Canada with family in Nicaragua. I think he may have been originally from Nicaragua. They asked, me about my motorcycle travels. The lady asked me if I’ve ever been scared and I told her, yes. I also told her that if she ever decided to travel like myself that she must think the best about people. If you can’t, it will be a difficult journey. They shared some type of fruit with me and said it was good for stopping diarrhea. He said the seeds of the fruit are what stops the diarrhea. Well, I’m going to keep an eye open for that particular fruit. They left with their friends, wishing me a safe journey.

 I sat there waiting and about every 20 minutes the English speaking Customs Official would come over and tell me to be patient it will only be a little longer. Eventually, I was called over to sign some paper work and pay a fee for insurance and road usage fee. A few copies were made and I was given all the appropriate paper work. I was free to go. I gave a tip to the Customs Official and we went outside. I put all my paper work back into their appropriate folders and then I paid my helper. He wanted U.S. Dollars. I told him I only had Honduran Lempira. He asked for another 100 Lempira so I gave it to him. Then I saw him give it to the Customs Official.

I asked my helper to find the money changing guy. I tried to get face value for my Honduran Lempira in Nicaraguan Cordoba. He wouldn’t hear it and undercut me by $20 Dollars. I tried to bargain higher but it was no use. So, I accepted his exchange rate and took my Nicaraguan money and left. I went back to my motorcycle and checked that everything was in order: passport, driver’s license, motorcycle title and cell phone. I said goodbye to both of the guys. I had to stop at the check point up the road to give one form to a Custom Official and one form to some other official.

If you would ask me how everything went going through Customs and Immigration, I would say this, it wasn’t anything really difficult. It took time and everyone talked in a civil tone of voice. I believe if I would have wanted to ratchet up the stress level it would have been very easy. Being calm and not being pushy probably made the experience more bearable. I read one motorcycle rider’s opinion of Central America Customs and Immigration. He basically said that no U.S. citizens would put up with standing in line for 30 minutes / 1 hour and not have it move. They would riot. I thought about that all the time I was waiting in the Immigration line and while waiting for Customs /Aduana to complete my paper work.

I was now through Customs and heading to Somoto for gasoline. I had close to 300 miles / 483 Kilometers on my tank. When I filled up, the gas station attendant ask me how I was going to pay for the gas. It was over $16 USD / 500 Nicaraguan Cordoba. I guess not too many motorcycles come into his gas station and he put in 4 gallons / 16 liters of gas. I paid him and he was happy. A lot of younger guys were looking at my bike and admiring it. Several people took pictures and one guy want to take a picture of it with me. I needed a break from Customs and Immigration, so I pulled an apple and a Snickers candy bar out of my top black bag. I found a place to sit down and ate them both together thinking how glad I was that I’m through that border crossing. It could have been much worse.

After my break, I saddled up my trusty steed and started driving to Hotel Boutique Colina Real, located in La Thompson. I found it on the Google Maps and it looked just right for me. I was using GPS coordinates to locate it. Blanche, my GPS, put me dead nuts on location where Google Maps says the hotel is. When I get there, there is no hotel. I drive farther into the city and still no hotel. I had Blanche search out another hotel for me. She found it off the PanAm Highway. I drove there and I went inside. I asked if they had a room. They said they did. I asked if they had secure parking for my motorcycle. They didn’t. They said I could leave it parked on the street and the night watchman will watch it.  I didn’t. I declined his offer and left. While I was talking with this guy, I saw the Hotel Boutique pop up on Google Maps again. I went outside to see if I could find it again, with no luck. A couple of girls came out of a clothing store across the street from hotel. I asked them if they knew where Hotel Boutique was. They answered me in English and said they were from the United States and didn’t know where the hotel was. I told them I was also from the U.S. They hurried off and were gone. I did spot a Burger King thought, which I locked into memory for later.  I turned around and drove back out of town.

I saw an old guy who looked a little ornery and maybe has been in the area for some time. I gave him the address of the hotel and he recognized it and said it’s 1 mile / 2 Kilometers down the road. Luckily traffic was light and I could look around a little more than usual. I passed the one kilometer mark and I kept going. I saw the sign at the last moment and drove by the hotel. I stopped and turned around. I drove to sign and made a left turn to a side street that went up the hill to the hotel. Nothing but pot holes and ruts. This can’t be too good for business. I get to the gate of the hotel and drive in. I ask if they have a room and they did. It was the perfect hotel for me. My motorcycle was out of sight. I unloaded and covered it up. I also noticed one of my bungee cords was missing. That ticked me off. Somebody must have stolen it at the last hotel. I didn’t have it covered up and plenty of traffic was running through the garage those two days. Nobody could have stolen it when the bags sat on top of it when it was pretty much out of sight. So, it was ripped off by someone in the Hotel Colonial or the truck that blocked the doorway. I have to make a note to myself to cover the motorcycle anytime it’s setting for the night, even if it is in a private garage. I went to bed early because I had been awake since 3.30 a.m. and the border crossing was intense. Tomorrow I will concentrate on getting this blog updated.

Outsmarted by a 10 year Old in Honduras – 27 December 2017

27 December 2017 – I decided to give it another day before I crossed the border because the other helper had pre-warned his buddy that I was coming.  So, I sat out one day so I wouldn’t appear to be to predicable and easy pickings. Instead, I walked downtown because I saw on Google Maps that there was a Shopping Center / Mercado. I went down there and bought apples, bread, sandwich meat, cheese, water and a Pepsi. I saw something in the Mercado that would alarm weight watchers around the world. Two women bought a 12 pack of Pepsi. Each bottle was 3 quarts / 3 liters or roughly 9 gallons / 36 liters. It took both of the women to carry it. That’s a lot of teeth rotting out of somebody’s head and a lot of extra pounds around the middle.  Or maybe they were going to soak their car in it to remove the paint, as I’ve heard Coke will do.  I have wondered about this from time to time. I have seen one and two-liter bottles of Coca-Cola under people’s arms and that’s all they’re drinking. I know for a fact that Coca-Cola and Pepsi dehydrate you. I can’t even think about drinking Pepsi or Coca-Cola when riding my motorcycle. I would be a sugar junkie and probably kill myself. I wonder if the people realize how addictive that stuff is! Off course you can always ask this question: could that money be better spent on the children, clothing, schooling, medicine, home repairs or vehicles? This is the kind of stuff I shouldn’t think about. I’m just a time traveler passing through somebody’s else world. You are allowed to look but not judge.

I left the Mercado and was walking down the street and saw fresh bananas for sale from a street vendor. I had to have some. So, I asked the lady how much it cost for 2 bananas. She said the minimum quantity of bananas was four. Her daughter whips up 10 fingers for the price. So, I countered with 5 fingers. She wasn’t buying it, 10 Lempira. I countered her price with 7 Lempira. Nope still 10 Lempira. I countered with 9 Lempira. She said, nope 10 Lempira. I paid her 43 cents / 10 Lempira. I was out dickered by a 10 year old girl. While I was dickering with this girl I almost cut my forehead on the sheet metal roof. That’s how low the roof was, or how tall I was…..mid forehead on me. I took my food and water and went back to the hotel. I ate a pretty nice lunch and supper.

On my computer, I was checking into the Honduras / Nicaraguan border crossing when I found a website from May of 2016. It spelled out the different steps in crossing the border. I read it and tried to commit it to memory.  I decided I could leave Honduras by myself. However, getting into Nicaragua would be a different story. I was going to cut down the copying fees which cost money. I’m going to use my own copies which I printed out before leaving the U.S.A. If I have to I will walk with my helper from one window to another. I want to make my presence known. So that was my plan. I put a short cut on my cell phone desktop so I can read about other border crossings the site talks about. I found the guy’s comments helpful. I also spent considerable time looking at how I could bypass the capital city of Managua. I don’t want to drive through it. I found a route around the city.

The question is how can I tame the wild beast Blanche to follow the route I want to go? I’m going to research making or plotting a route on Blanche. Maybe I can build a route and she will follow it blindly. Wouldn’t that be a novelty? I wrote down all the roads I would use. I double checked all my paper work I will need for tomorrow. I want to be organized and look like I know what I’m doing and not be at the mercy of some individual leading me blindly. So, I got that completed and now I must get to bed because I want start mobilizing at 4:30 a.m. I would like to be at the border by 6:00 / 6:30 a.m.