I love my birthdays. More so these past 4 years. Hannah I have stepped foot in a few places that maybe I shouldn’t but I did. Life is taking chances and being careful. I know that you and Robert went a couple of places you shouldn’t but you were protected by your mom and a cab driver. If I didn’t take a chance and seized the opportunity then I wouldn’t have seen the sights that I have seen. I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to experience the things that I have experienced. I would have sat at home blowing out candles instead of climbing the temples in Xunantunich or discovering that Cahal Pech is a place without ticks.

I even drug Robert, Scott and you with me on these adventures so all of you could experience, taste, see these sights. It is pure magic.

I would even kayak Lake Peten again and experience the rush of almost falling off of the temple in Tikal. In all honesty driving the RV is far more stressful than those two experiences. It is becoming easier in time though.

I am sitting right on the border of Mexico. If I sit in the driver’s seat I can stare at the mighty river separating the two countries. Even though I don’t like border towns I am going because it is there. I know it will be much different than the time Scott and I crossed the border from Belize to Guatemala.

I met my neighbor, a delightful woman who confessed that if she had to she would drive her motor coach. We shared a few laughs, talked about our dogs, and she gave us the names of a couple of places to explore.

I am having some problems with Surely Not. I wonder if it is because she is old but she now likes people. She will greet them and demand to be petted. Yet she is absolutely aggressive towards dogs. It used to be only the bigger dogs now it is all dogs in general. She will attack them. During our walk I started the fun job of disciplining her knowing that I was being watched. We passed two snorting excited pugs, she went for them but I managed to press the button on her leash thus stopping her in her tracks. She flipped around and started barking at me! I reeled in her, carefully because of her throat problem and scolded her, very harshly. When the pugs passed I released the button and she was given the extra length to prance. Along came a mix breed and again I pressed the button to control her. When she started lunging and snapping I used the command “hush” and she stopped. She looked at me and was not pleased but she hushed. A lady came out of her RV and asked me if I was the dog whisperer. She said she had been watching me and was impressed that it took only one severe scolding to control her. Little did she know that when we got back to our little house on wheels Surely turned her back on me and refused to have anything to do with me for about an hour. She is becoming a very grumpy old lady with bad breath, a bad attitude, who snores constantly but I love her anyway.

Hannah I saw this on the beach at Baffin Bay, our last stop. I took this picture with you in mind. It will compliment the “Butterfly On A Turd” photo I accidentally took and haven’t lived down yet. You can call it “Getting A Head On The Beach.”