At the Border

As of today we have driven 2875 miles since leaving Maine. We arrived in Harlingen, TX this morning. We stopped by to see Hilda, the broker who is taking care of our paperwork to get us through customs and travel through Mexico, and finalized what we need for that. Tomorrow morning we will make our way to the border crossing and see if we got it all right!

Travel Note: If you are traveling through Mexico to Central America with cargo or export items you must cross at the Los Indios Free Trade Bridge in San Benito, TX ONLY. Instead of the usual tourist status you will go as "transmigrantes" with a specific route and a maximum of ten days to exit the country. Contact me through this blog for Hilda's number if you need a reliable broker to handle your paperwork.

Tiger making himself comfortable at La Quinta.
Thomas ans Ben in background, also making themselves comfortable.

Wednesday we stopped in Houston at the Guatemalan Embassy to purchase a permit for our dog, Tiger. After sitting in the waiting room for an hour we were told that unfortunately they could not issue the permit there because the APHIS form 7001 which had been stamped by our New England area FDHA vet should have been sent to the embassy in Rhode Island. When we told them we were driving and would be leaving the country on Friday, they were kind enough to issue the permit anyway, but made it very clear that they were uncertain whether or not the Guatemalan border officials would recognize it. This dog has cost us more money, more time and more uncertainty than all of the rest of us combined. He's a wanderer and will probably jump out of the car and get lost after all this!

Travel Note: If you have any question about taking a dog or cat to Mexico, Guatemala or Honduras, feel free to contact me through this blog. I will be happy to help as I am now an expert in this!


a few last minute purchases at Walmart, getting the A/C topped up and doing laundry took up the remainder of the afternoon. We, the boys and I, decide that to celebrate our last American meal we should all go the place which, as Barbe puts it, is "what's wrong with America". Golden Corral and we love it! In a sense Barbe is right though. Massive amounts of food, huge amounts of waste, vast amounts of calories all for a reasonable price. No wonder so many of us are obese and die of heart failure. We still love it, the boys and I.  




So what have I learned so far? I would give anyone planning on stepping out on a new venture, adventure or plan to just "get on with it". Although there were many reasons we needed to take time to prepare and get ready to go, much of the second guessing, worry and fear I experienced could have been avoided by making the move more quickly once we determined our course of action. Those of you who know me well know how much I enjoy talking. I can tell you this though, after months of talking about our plans I had had enough of talk and was ready for action. Talk is good, planning and preparing are good, but nothing will ever replace action.

To those of you who pray, please pray for us these next few weeks that as we travel all will go well, safe and trouble free. For those of who don't pray, we know you love us too and will be thinking of us, wishing us well, safe and secure and trouble free. Thanks to each of you!

PS. I hope to continue to blog when I can during our trip. Be sure and check occasionally for updates. We really enjoy having all of you share this adventure with us.