Central American Road Warriors

Day one
Of course there's always the last minute scramble to get the last minute things packed into the vehicle and head out on the road. This trip was even more so as time grew short the white flag was raised and it was declared we were ready to leave. John picked me up at my house and we headed out I-80 to begin the "Great Central American Adventure." We stopped for fuel in Wichita, Kansas and kept on trucking South to the border. We stopped in Dallas , Tx about 1:30am at the not so nice budget motel, but for two wild and crazy guys all we needed was a bed.

Day two
We were up and on the road again at 9am. Power bar for breakfast, peanut butter sandwich for lunch, and hamburger Pizza Hut pizza for supper. We made it to Laredo, Tx this day and stayed in a some what better motel than the last night. As we fell asleep, visions danced through our heads about crossing the border in the morning and leaving our country behind. The real adventure would begin.

Day Three
Today we met up with Victor (on the left in the above picture) and Julio (third from the left). Victor is the pastor in Nicaragua that will be receiving the van. Julio is a business man in Nicaragua and raises chickens to sell eggs. He has 78,000 chickens and harvests 58,000 eggs a day. More about that later. The person taking the picture was Greg an Amercian missionary that lives with his family in El Carmen, Mexico.

We crossed the border after eating a Mc Donald's breakfast and acquired the necessary paper work to travel through Mexico with the van and contents. Pastor Victor had a thought that maybe we should try to transfer ownership of the van to him at this point in the trip. It had never been possible before but Victor just had a thought to try again. All were surprised when not only did they say yes, but was completed relatively quick. This turned out to be a very good thing later in the trip. So with everything in order we started down the road toward El Carmen our first stop on the trip.


We arrived in El Carmen in time for the evening conference meeting of the 55 year anniversary celebration of the school there. We ate some kind of soup with big red chips. Central America, as I have learned, it big on soup. They even have soup for breakfast. The weather there was a bit chilly. Houses do not have heat so when the temperature drops to the 40s, it's cold. The church service found everyone bundled up with stocking hats, gloves, and scarves around their face because only tarps covered most of the doors and windows. I could see my breath during the service.

John, I, and another guy that was there for the 55th year celebration bunked down in an old motor home for the night. Of course, it didn't have heat so many blankets were used to stay warm. At the last minute an electric heater was given to us to take the edge off the inside temperature. The great adventure had definitely began.