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October 28, 2017
The Curse of the Village Idiot
Today, I checked my mail. I've been checking it every day which is so not like me. But, every day I check the mail because I've been waiting on lots of things to come in the mail. Like my passport and the title to my motorcycle. Ostensibly, these items were preventing me from taking off to South America.
But then, today, I check the mailbox, and guess what? My title is in there. It's so silly. A little green piece of paper issued by the State of Colorado with my name on it and the correct VIN of the motorcycle on there.
And now, it's sort of like....uh...ok....go ahead sparky. Do what you said you were going to do. Because, either go you to Tierra Del Fuego now, or you were just a liar and a braggard.
See, I do this to myself on purpose. I intentionally paint myself into a corner where I'm forced to get out of my comfort zone and go roll around and see the world for a bit.
The first time I ever did this was when I was working out in San Diego. Everyone said they used to go down to eat lobster on the beach in Rosarito, but that was in the 70's when there was no crime. Now, of course, it was too dangerous to go down there. Now, there were drug runners and people smugglers (coyotes) and it was all too dangerous to go.
But, in spite of all of this, I decided to investigate for myself how dangerous the situation was. I did everything in baby steps. First, I'd walk across the border to see if I was killed. I walked across the border to a row of waiting taxis. Had a taxi drive me around Tijuana, waiting on me as I bought candy in a few stores before returning me to the border. I wasn't raped. Or killed. And I ended up with a coffee table of imported Mexican candy.
After that, I decided I'd drive across the border. So, I drove across the border. I was so upset to find that the road signs were in English. That there was a freaking toll-road from Tijuana down to Rosarito, Mexico. How I hate that I allowed others to pump their fears into me. That was 8 years ago in 2009.
Posted by Rob Kiser on October 28, 2017 at 6:50 PM
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