Another day in Marathon

It was a rather slow morning for me today as I await the arrival of my traveling gear to be delivered to the local post office and to the "compound" where I'm now staying. Karma and I stayed snuggled in our bed until the phone rang when our Renaissance woman friend Chloe (also, I forgot to mention, an accomplished baker) said she was leaving town but was willing to get a team photo with the doggie play date gang.

She arrived and it was a melee of dog frenzy trying to take a photo...but we got it. Astor with her tongue out, Indiana staring off into the distance and Karma licking peanut butter off my pants from the oatmeal I spilled.

Astor, Indiana, Chloe, Karma and Me

Chloe and her gang parted toward Alpine for the day and Karma and I strolled to the library for a relaxing day of high speed internet access, socialization with some local individuals who have gotten to know us and a streaming movie about the Darfur crisis in Sudan. It was terribly disturbing that the world did not listen to advisors, who were specifically sent to monitor a ceasefire, until months after genocide was occurring. On the road, I've become a Netflix documentary junkie.

After several hours at the library, Karma and I strolled back to the hostel. In the "backyard" is this amazing piece of automotive artwork. I had to photograph it.

Sweet Ride

Beyond the sweet ride, is John's trailer. I met John briefly yesterday with Chloe who was helping him put honey into jars for sale. John harvest various types of honey from various hives near the Rio Grande. He advised me he sold his hives to some folks who live near the river but he continues to harvest the honey. John is a wiry man, in his early to mid fifties and wears a blue cowboy hat. He exudes wisdom when speaking to him, not in a pompous way - he's lived and experienced enough to have earned wisdom. Chloe told me yesterday she has the utmost respect for this man as it relates to any issue related to nature.

I had a specific mission in mind. I emptied a plastic peanut butter jar, cleaned it and made my way to buy some local honey from John the Honey Man. I got to his flat bed trailer that sits beside his residential trailer where on the flat bed trailer were two, 55 gallon drums filled with honey. He mentioned that in a normal year, he'll harvest six to eight drums of honey for sale. All I wanted was a single plastic jar, though it would be nice to be Tim the Honey Guy, pedaling across the continent, sharing his sweet apiary delights. John filled my jar with the gooey delight. I asked him how much I owed him. He looked me square in the eye and said, "It's on the house." Karma and I are trying to figure out what we can do for this gentleman who was so kind. It's hard to conceive of a gift for a man like John. I'll have to think about it.

After about 15 minutes of pleasant sharing conversation, I walked back with Karma to our shelter. I made dinner in the outside kitchen and noted an amazing sunset. I tried to take the same areas of the sky in three frames each about a minute apart. I hope you enjoy them. I certainly did!

To all my friends and family I miss you. To my children, I love you, have always loved you and forever will love you.