Countdown 24 hours...

I have made it down South of Austin to meet up with Lou and Landon, my two riding mates. Lou, his nephew Isaac and I sat around a campfire cooking a pot roast drinking Shiner (I'm in Texas now). The back yard was filled with beautiful flowers and palms, a running fish pond and the swarming humming bird...I've never seen a humming bird before.
Lou has a hot tub up on his deck, which performed wonders on my back, as we sat under the stars dreaming of tomorrow. Landon was still riding high on his tractor seat tonight planting the final stretch of wheat before tomorrow's departure. There is always something to do, just before you get up and take an 8 month trip. Go figure...
Tomorrow morning, a group of friends will all come over, including family of Lou and Landon to pay a blessing to ourselves, our bikes and the trip. A short glass of Champagne to celebrate our long due departure, and we are off to the border.
When we get to the border, we plan on camping outside the town of Larado. We are hoping to rise early to the aroma of sweet freedom (aka Rio Grande) and cross over into Mexico. I imagine that we will cover about 300 to 400 miles of territory at most on Thursday, just past Monterey. It is time to give up our American comfortabilities and ignorant thought, throw away those cellular phones (but keep the internet) and say hello to Senor y Senorita Libre.