You may get a prompt to allow an active X script to run. It is for the embedded videos. If you want to see any of them you have to allow the script. If you click on any video after it is playing, it will pause. A side note, the player and video are hosted on my site now so there is no spyware.

Should you want to contact me via e-mail, there will never be a link on here for my e-mail due to spammers. But, if you can figure this out, you will have my address: cliff@here

You Can Click The Following Links To Go Directly To A Report You Haven't Read Or A Page You'd Like To Return To - most recent indexed in date order after the video list.

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Starfish Trek Adventures

Mexico; an ancient frontier. These are the voyages of the GMC truck, “Ole’ Blue.” Our mission is to seek out a new life and no civilization and to boldly go where few gringos have gone before.

These stories started out as e-mails to my friends and eventually evolved into the "Reports From South Of Town" many of you have enjoyed over the years. A lot of you have requested a link to my older misadventures. As a result, this is my first of many.

 

7 July 2002 - Starfish Trek Pilot: Hello Starts With Goodbye

Hi All:

I am writing this last US e-mail sipping my coffee from a new plastic cup while listening to Jimmy Buffet’s, “Take Another Road.” Tomorrow, I will do so.

I am spending the day completing my truck packing and final inventory for customs. Once I complete all my copies printing, the computer will be packed. Hopefully around 4:00 PM today, I will be offline most likely until 15 July. The next e-mail you will get from me will be from Portillas outside Xcalak, Quintana Roo, Mexico.

Yea, I’m excited. I could almost piss my pants (not difficult for a diabetic, lol). This adventure is a life’s dream come true and it starts tomorrow. Unless we run into the kind of gorillas they ran into in the movie, "Captain Ron", it should be a lot of fun. Especially with my Texas drawled limited Espanol. I have been able to eat at the local Tex-Mex places with no English for a little over a week and have been increasing my selection daily. I just finished my garage sale yesterday and was amazed at the number of people from Mexico buying used stuff to take back. I have successfully negotiated several transactions in Espanol and now have 2,750 pesos that I accepted from some that were low on US dollars and they paid at 11 to $1so I could bump the sale. I now only own what will fit under the topper in Ole Blue, my 1976 GMC pickup that should easily blend into the environment. I donated my unsold books, pictures, boots and neckties to a local school’s bizarre and got a $23,000 receipt for tax deductions. I think as long as I can speak enough Spanish to buy petro, food and find the banos, anything else will be a bonus.

All of you receiving this e-mail have meant a lot to me over the years and those “new friends” have done your part to warm my heart. I thank you all for your friendship. I am only saddened by the fact that the distance will inhibit our ability to visit in person. As most of you know, I have never been much of a spiritual person. But, if there is an all powerful supreme being a lot of you would call God, I am thanking that being for having had the opportunity to give and receive all the bountiful love that has made this life so great in spite of the numerous topes and potholes. I hope to see each one of you again ASAP.


 

 

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A Special Note: While the following links are the best I have found, they are commercial sites outside my domain. Some do put spyware on your computer. It is how they are paid for what they do. As a rule, it is generally harmless but, those who are concerned should do a scan after visiting. Search for AdAware from Lavasoft on the internet, it is free.

Click For Weather Underground's Satellite Weather Image Of This Area

Click Here To View GOES - East Visible Caribbean Satellite Animated Loop

Click Here To View METEOSAT 7 Satellite Loop Of The Eastern Atlantic (Where Tropical Activity Begins)

Click Here To Visit Stormcarib.com

Click Here To Visit The National Hurricane Center's Atlantic Information Web

Click Here To Visit AccuWeather's Xcalak 15 Day Forecast

Click Here To View Detailed Current Weather Conditions in Mahahual

For The Following Links If You Want To Use Portillas (3 miles south of Xcalak) As Your Location, My Location Is: 18.2285 ° N By 87.84166 ° W

Click Here To See How Close A Hurricane IsClick Here To See How Close A Hurricane Can Get According To Current Forecasts

Click Here To Pick The Center Of Your Satellite View

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