First, thanks for checking my blog. Second, if you haven't been to my blog yet check out the first post as it explains what we are doing here for a terrific charity.
No pictures today since there was nothing to take a picture of! Just a long day in the high desert of New Mexico and north Texas. More than 400 miles recorded without a hitch. We wound up in Fort Stockton TX which is in the middle of nowhere, and tomorrow it is a 600+ mile drive to Brownsville TX, on the Mexican border. Got our Mexican insurance all lined up and also arranged a meeting on the Mexico/Guatemala border to transfer title to the truck when we enter Guatemala. Right now it is sleeting outside and we may get some snow overnight. Kind of tired of the cold (14F in Taos this morning) so hitting the border will be a pleasant change.
Hope all of you are well and your holiday planning is going smoothly. Please take the time now to go to www.lampcharity.org/donate and make your donation to this worthy group if you haven't already done so, and again thanks to those of you who have.
Best to all...
Monday, November 30, 2009
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Third Day
I sure hope everyone had a great Thanskiving Holiday. Let's not forget what giving thanks is all about...
As for our journey on the third day: Wow! Checked the oil first thing this morning and not a drop gone! We may just make it! Got to Taos New Mexico today (another 400 +/- miles) going over the Continental Divide (almost 8,000 feet) via Monument Valley - some awesome sights plus a bit more snow than yesterday. Dropped off the hutch that we were lugging along safe and sound at my buddy Bob's house (it looks awesome!). Next two days will be brutal - going all the way to Brownsville Texas in just two days (about 1100 miles).
I want to thank ALL of you who have donated already most sincerely for your generous contributions. This means so much to the people of Jalapa, who honestly need the money more than we do. I spoke with one of the founders of LAMP this evening and apparently they suffered a severe drought in Jalapa this year so they need your donations even more desperately than before. Please spread the word to your friends and coworkers about this needy cause! Think about making a donation in a friend's or family member's name instead of sweating over what to give them for Christmas. It will make both you and your loved one feel that much better! Here's how to donate: www.lampcharity.org/donate
From COLD but pretty Taos, Don and Ruth, sore butts and all
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Day 2
429 miles today: Las Vegas to Kayenta, AZ, which is in the heart of the Navajo nation. Lots of scenery of the desert southwest, and a bit of weather as well - got some snow near the north rim of the Grand Canyon. Tomorrow we head to Taos with another snowstorm forecast, and of course we have no chains. But it's flat out here, right? Old Red chugging along nicely, still cruising at 75 when the sign says it's ok...
Friday, November 27, 2009
First day done! Started with 359,506 miles on the odometer, and went 485 miles today. Old Red ran like a champ... First stop was the mailbox to send out property tax bill, second stop was fifty feet later to snag out an oak branch we picked up at the mailbox. Got kinda lost and wound up in Las Vegas. Our journey took us on a dirt road this morning - my choice and I believe quite appropriate considering Old Red's history. We also wound up with some extra baggage - we're hauling a hutch that was made in Mexico to my buddy Bob's house in Taos. That's a couple of days away and snow is in the forecast. Tomorrow off to ??? We'll let you know then.
Cheers for now...
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Only a couple of days to go now before we leave. I want to say THANK YOU to all of you who have so generously donated so far. The response has been tremendous! I thought I was nuts for doing this but we work in such a fantastic industry I just knew you all would support this crazy effort. Just to let you know, I will miss Old Red tremendously. I NEED a truck so will have to buy one when we get back. Two weekends ago I hauled my last load of firewood, and just yesterday hauled a tractor in the back of Old Red for a couple hundred miles. Darn thing just keeps chugging along.
Couple of things to mention: first, Goldsmith Seeds isn't the only flower seed company that has a farm in Jalapa. Pan American Seed has a farm at the other end of town where they produce seed and cuttings. Second, Rick Brown of Riverview Farms actually posted my story on his website! Check it out at
http://floridafriendlyplants.com/Blog/post/2009/11/24/Support-Health-Care-in-Guatemala.aspx
What a generous group you all are. I'll check back in Friday after the fist day on the road (Aromas CA to Henderson NV).
Couple of things to mention: first, Goldsmith Seeds isn't the only flower seed company that has a farm in Jalapa. Pan American Seed has a farm at the other end of town where they produce seed and cuttings. Second, Rick Brown of Riverview Farms actually posted my story on his website! Check it out at
http://floridafriendlyplants.com/Blog/post/2009/11/24/Support-Health-Care-in-Guatemala.aspx
What a generous group you all are. I'll check back in Friday after the fist day on the road (Aromas CA to Henderson NV).
Monday, November 16, 2009
Well, it's only a week and a half before we leave. I had a chance to load Old Red up with firewood over the weekend - the last of hundreds over the years...
I've got a couple of questions for anyone interested. First, any suggestions on places of interest or which route we should take? We're going to have to take a more southern route to avoid snow chances I would imagine. I do plan on entering Mexico at Brownsville, so if anyone has driven through Mexico along the Gulf Coast any helpful hints would be most appreciated. Second, any suggestions on what I should do to Old Red to prepare for the journey? Darn thing runs just fine so I am leaning towards just an oil change. Seems to me that if I did something like change the transmission oil I might jinx the thing...
Don
I've got a couple of questions for anyone interested. First, any suggestions on places of interest or which route we should take? We're going to have to take a more southern route to avoid snow chances I would imagine. I do plan on entering Mexico at Brownsville, so if anyone has driven through Mexico along the Gulf Coast any helpful hints would be most appreciated. Second, any suggestions on what I should do to Old Red to prepare for the journey? Darn thing runs just fine so I am leaning towards just an oil change. Seems to me that if I did something like change the transmission oil I might jinx the thing...
Don
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Dear Fellow Flower Lover,
It’s finally time for me to get rid of Old Red, my ancient Toyota pickup. Many of you know of Old Red, having given me a hard time at Pack Trials over the years, asking ‘When are you going to dump that piece of junk (I am paraphrasing here)?’ I’ve had Old Red for over 19 years now, having bought it the week before I started working for Goldsmith Seeds. The darn thing now has over 357,000 miles and has only let me down once, just a couple of months ago while camping in Northern California. Wound up replacing the fuel pump in a campground. I’ve only changed the clutch once, and have never had to monkey around with the engine or transmission. The rascal doesn’t hardly even burn oil! So over the years I have become perhaps a little too attached to this truck. ..
Not too far in the past, I thought I would just drive this thing until it either blew up or got wrecked (no worries about it getting stolen). However, one restless night a couple of months ago, I had an inspiration: why not get more out of Old Red than the junk yard would give me, like using Old Red to help raise funds for a needy charity! But what charity, and how could I use it to raise funds? With my personal history I decided to find a needy organization that helps Guatemala. Our industry really benefits from the fantastic work in seed and cutting production that is performed in Central America, so why not try to give something back to them? So I Googled “charities Jalapa Guatemala” (Jalapa is the town where we used to do geranium cutting production and still produce seeds) and lo and behold, I found a group named Latin American Medical Providers (LAMP). This is a group of wonderful volunteer doctors that makes an annual pilgrimage to Jalapa to provide free medical and dental care to the residents of the town and surrounding villages. After speaking with the founders, I decided to actually drive Old Red from Gilroy to Jalapa in order to raise funds for this charity. And no I am not going to drive it back; there is an orphanage in town that I am going to donate Old Red to.
My wife (yes, my wife Ruth is going as well) and I are leaving on this odyssey the day after Thanksgiving, and expect to arrive in Jalapa around the 11th of December. We’ll be doing a blog along the way (insert link here) so you can keep track of our progress and perhaps have a chance to wish us all the best if Old Red breaks down or whatever.
Please join me in helping: I am asking you (and anyone you can convince) to help fund the LAMP doctors so they can keep helping the needy residents of Jalapa. I think it is the least we, as an industry, can do for the folks in Central America since they do so much that benefits us. I think if my wife and I can drive the more than 3500 miles to Jalapa then you can pony up a few bucks in order to support these selfless doctors. I suggest a donation of 2 cents per mile, or $70.00, but of course you can donate whatever you like. And, all donations are tax deductible. Please go to their website at www.lampcharity.org/donate and make your donation now. And please spend some time checking out their site so you can see all the wonderful things they do. There’s a very inspirational video there that may just inspire you to donate even more!
Thanks from the bottom of my heart in advance for your generous donation. I have personally travelled to Guatemala over 60 times and have found that the Guatemaltecos are some of the kindest, hardest working and most generous people I know, and I can proudly say that many of them are some of my best friends. I also know that without them and other Central Americans, we would not as an industry have the quantity or quality of flower seeds and cuttings that are available to us now, so it wouldn’t hurt to give back a little to such wonderful people.
-Don Snow
It’s finally time for me to get rid of Old Red, my ancient Toyota pickup. Many of you know of Old Red, having given me a hard time at Pack Trials over the years, asking ‘When are you going to dump that piece of junk (I am paraphrasing here)?’ I’ve had Old Red for over 19 years now, having bought it the week before I started working for Goldsmith Seeds. The darn thing now has over 357,000 miles and has only let me down once, just a couple of months ago while camping in Northern California. Wound up replacing the fuel pump in a campground. I’ve only changed the clutch once, and have never had to monkey around with the engine or transmission. The rascal doesn’t hardly even burn oil! So over the years I have become perhaps a little too attached to this truck. ..
Not too far in the past, I thought I would just drive this thing until it either blew up or got wrecked (no worries about it getting stolen). However, one restless night a couple of months ago, I had an inspiration: why not get more out of Old Red than the junk yard would give me, like using Old Red to help raise funds for a needy charity! But what charity, and how could I use it to raise funds? With my personal history I decided to find a needy organization that helps Guatemala. Our industry really benefits from the fantastic work in seed and cutting production that is performed in Central America, so why not try to give something back to them? So I Googled “charities Jalapa Guatemala” (Jalapa is the town where we used to do geranium cutting production and still produce seeds) and lo and behold, I found a group named Latin American Medical Providers (LAMP). This is a group of wonderful volunteer doctors that makes an annual pilgrimage to Jalapa to provide free medical and dental care to the residents of the town and surrounding villages. After speaking with the founders, I decided to actually drive Old Red from Gilroy to Jalapa in order to raise funds for this charity. And no I am not going to drive it back; there is an orphanage in town that I am going to donate Old Red to.
My wife (yes, my wife Ruth is going as well) and I are leaving on this odyssey the day after Thanksgiving, and expect to arrive in Jalapa around the 11th of December. We’ll be doing a blog along the way (insert link here) so you can keep track of our progress and perhaps have a chance to wish us all the best if Old Red breaks down or whatever.
Please join me in helping: I am asking you (and anyone you can convince) to help fund the LAMP doctors so they can keep helping the needy residents of Jalapa. I think it is the least we, as an industry, can do for the folks in Central America since they do so much that benefits us. I think if my wife and I can drive the more than 3500 miles to Jalapa then you can pony up a few bucks in order to support these selfless doctors. I suggest a donation of 2 cents per mile, or $70.00, but of course you can donate whatever you like. And, all donations are tax deductible. Please go to their website at www.lampcharity.org/donate and make your donation now. And please spend some time checking out their site so you can see all the wonderful things they do. There’s a very inspirational video there that may just inspire you to donate even more!
Thanks from the bottom of my heart in advance for your generous donation. I have personally travelled to Guatemala over 60 times and have found that the Guatemaltecos are some of the kindest, hardest working and most generous people I know, and I can proudly say that many of them are some of my best friends. I also know that without them and other Central Americans, we would not as an industry have the quantity or quality of flower seeds and cuttings that are available to us now, so it wouldn’t hurt to give back a little to such wonderful people.
-Don Snow
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