The Midnight Who

Many of you...well...one of you...asked what is The Midnight Who? So this post is about how The Midnight Who came to be. And it is completely appropriate that I tell you today, on November 30. Because today is my only grandchild Max' 6th birthday, and I owe The Midnight Who entirely to him. About 2 years ago, Max began talking about The Midnight Who. At first, I thought it was some television or storybook character. But Max insists that he dreamed about The Midnight Who. I Googled it, and couldn't find anything that would disprove what he was telling me. I found Midnight, by Dr. Who, but not Midnight Who. Max talked about The Midnight Who several times and finally, I asked him what The Midnight Who was. He said it was a tank. At one point, I asked him to draw the tank for me, and he did. He drew what appeared to be a turret on a vehicle, so I figured it was like an army tank and not a water tank, and Max confirmed that it was. I searched www.themidnightwho.com and lea...

The volcano tour was offered as a day tour or night. Sign me up for the night tour. While waiting, I wandered around Grenada. Grenada sits on Lago Nicaragua, which is, I think, the largest body of water in Central America. The Malecon was dirty and smelled like sewage.  There were pigs rooting around by the water. It didn't look very appealing. Actually, all of Grenada smells like sewer. I couldn't see the attraction of the city, but there were lots of tourists. I wandered off the tourist trail into the street market. Near the end of the street, vendors were selling fruit and vegetables that were, shall we say, well past the "sell by" date. In fact, it looked rotten. It is a shame that people have to resort to selling stuff like that. It is even sadder that it may be the only thing other people can afford to buy. Seeing that, while knowing everyone in the US was celebrating Thanksgiving, really makes me appreciate my country. We have problems and aren't p...

El Salvador is very beautiful and green in the parts that I have been to. It's a mix of mountains or volcanos and a lot of flat arabIe land. But I suspect that the countries are poorer as I head south. I don't know for sure; I am speculating based upon what I see the people using for transportation.     In Mexico, automobiles and motorcycles were the prevalent types of private transportation, with big Greyhound type buses for inter-city travel; taxis, and vans for shorter distances. In Guatemala, I see autos and motorcycles, sure, but now the Chicken buses had replaced the large luxury coaches for the most part. And also, the 3-wheeled tuk-tuk taxis were common. Then, in El Salvador, the chicken buses seemed less elaborate; less chrome on them and not as flashy. Also, they prefer the cab over, flat front school buses here. But Toyota appears to own Central America. I am only estimating, but I think maybe 70% of the cars or pickups are Toyota. The Toyota Hilux pic...

I rode from San Cristobal to Comitan for my last night in Mexico. In my short time here, I have really enjoyed this country. I know I have missed a lot, but I saw what I could, and I want to come back. About 15 kilometers from the border, I overtake 2 bicyclists riding towards Guatemala. I stop ahead of them and wait to talk to them. They are French guys who started from Vancouver, BC in August, rode down Hwy 101, into Baja to La Paz, then are heading down to Panama. From there, they will fly to Bolivia and continue to Patagonia. They may leapfrog me; I could meet them again. The following may be boring stuff about the border crossing, but for anyone following behind, it may be useful. Leaving Mexico, the Banjercito is very thorough checking my motorcycle; the VIN, registration, taking photos, etc. They seem reluctant to refund my fee for the TVIP they so happily collected 27 days ago. Wow. Has it been that long since I entered Mexico? A short ride to the Guatem...

November 12-13, 2016 I rode from Tuxtla-Gutierrez to San Cristobal de las Casas the next day. I have been here before, so I didn't want to spend a lot of time here. It is a short ride, but the elevation climb meant more fog in the mountains. Oh joy! A random parade happened while I was there. Here are some photos. I did want to see the Mayan ruins of Palenque, so I arranged a bus tour through my hotel and booked 2 nights. The parking for my motorcycle was very secure, which influenced my decision. I could have ridden to Palenque, but the motorcycle would have been unattended. It turns out, that there are plenty of hotels in Palenque, so if you go, just stay there. Have I talked about topes yet? There is no shortage of them in Mexico. They are speed bumps and they are everywhere. The ride from San Cristobal to Palenque is 135 miles. It takes 4 1/2 hours. Half of that time is spent stopping for topes. I am serious when I say there must be on average, 1 every 30...