I'm Sorry

Posted By: elpolvo
Date: 1/24/06 2:10a.m.

Report: outside forum guidelines

In Response To: Tood (pic) (Jim Triton 94 - KD7YLL)

brad, richard, jim- it's indeed true. it happened while i was headed down south to die. i didn't get word of his passing. i'd been having a hard time keeping my soul above water. (no personal or family problems - just an overwhelming depression about the state of humanity's displeasure and distain for itself.) my trip to guatemala was to be my final escape from the misgivings of civilization that have haunted me for the past few years. i'd even made a pact with my co-pirate to bury me outside the reef of belize. (it's good to make difficult passages with an acceptance of your demise... it keeps you from turning back when you run into the usual signals that tell you to turn around.) every day of the trip presented a loud signal to retreat if i ever wanted to make it back. but instead, i pushed onward every day toward my demise, deeper into mexico, belize, the caribbean, guatemala... my "check engine" light came on 150 miles into the trip, my old truck started running like shit in texas, immigration wouldn't give me a visa at the border, the truck quit running 100 miles south of the border (it started running again just as it coasted down to 5 mph). i just kept driving deeper into mexico. turning back was not an option... that would be too safe... safety was not my goal... i was headed for guatemala or death, whichever came first. a local cop pulled me over in altamira to put me in jail if i didn't give him all the money i had... it wasn't even a small deterrent... i gave him $100 and kept on driving south with the truck missing on four of the six cylinders. the truck died for good down in chiapas at palenque. it was a good place to die... but a mechanico pulled over, checked under the hood and then brought back two dudes who got it running in 3 minutes with a test light, a fuse and a piece of electrical tape. the captania de puerto wouldn't let me out of mexico... the trip south to die was OVER. i told him i'd go to isla mujeres instead but he gave me the papers to go to beize. i don't know why. i sailed to consejo (one mile south) and was stuck on shoals and reefs for two hours before i could get my boat to the dock. the customs man in belize was not there when i got to consejo. he'd been reassigned to the highway border for the holidays. for some reason he came back in the middle of the night, checked me into belize and i sailed deeper south toward my demise. i ran aground three more times trying to navigate the thin waters of chetumal bay down to cay caulker, but at least i was in range of my burial grounds. i don't know if it was all the effort and determination i put in just to get down there or if it was Todd Johnson seeping into my soul... but by the time i was in the middle of belize, i didn't have the need to die anymore. things didn't get much easier but from that point on it was an adventure and a challenge... my furture life opened... with many more destinations ahead... many more days with my sweetheart back in new mexico... many more boring posts on the cruisecortez bulletin board. i guess i went down there, not for me to die, but for todd to die. man, i've had so many friends die... every time they depart they pump more life into me... just like when the truck almost rolled to a complete stop, then picked back up at 5 mph to take me another thousand miles. godspeed todd. thanks for your life amigo. i'll carry what you sent my way... a few more miles... a few more... -elpolvo (below: the kid with the homemade test light and a piece of tape gets my truck [Russell T.] running shitty enough to again... keep on truckin')