Veriest1’s Dad had to come to town for a doctors appointment and dropped me off at the public library so I have one last chance for an update before jail tomorrow.

Yesterday I was crawling around in 2 inches of water repairing the burst plumbing pipes under the vacant house being renovated where I am staying. The benefit was that I have yet another comparative experience under my belt. Was this worse than waking up while camping in the middle of the night in a driving thunderstorm at 2 AM and realizing that a river was running through my tent in the freezing cold? No. That was still worse.

Just so, I have a few life experiences to compare 3 months in jail to. It will be interesting to see how it measures up to the months of disorientation after the death of my father when I was in first grade, the mental anguish of divorce or starving for a month on a grueling Outward Bound survival course. I doubt if it can top those.

On a lighter note, my current thinking is that I will be able to travel again next winter. This is better than I could have expected. I talked to my sister yesterday and she has enough mileage points for a one way ticket to Buenos Aires that she will donate to the cause. That is great news. Plus Social Security will be depositing a check for 608.00 in my checking account on the fourth Wednesday of every month now that I am 62. I’ll believe that when I see it, but if true means that I only need 400 dollars a month to travel since I usually spend around 1000 dollars a month on food, gas, lodging, repairs, tires etc.

Since I didn’t have to pay a fine I still have 800 bucks to my name. I have 0 savings since I spend all my money on motorcycles and travel. Financial security is over-rated. I can live on 600 dollars a month if I have to. Heck, since I quit smoking and drinking and lost my drivers license and am stranded in rural Texas the only thing I CAN spend money on is food which is a couple hundred dollars a month. And at home my only expenses other than food are 80 dollars in utilities on average, 100 dollars on gas and car insurance and 100 dollars on miscellaneous. I don’t insure my house since I can fix hail damage for the cost of a year’s house insurance. And if it burns down I’ll look at it as a remodeling opportunity while I live in the detached garage.

So my current plan is to get out of jail in August, work in Texas for a while, drive to Nebraska to mow my lawn and pay my property taxes, drive to Oregon to hopefully work on my sister’s house, head to Arizona in the late fall, park my truck at my sister’s winter house in Apache Junction and fly to South America.

As with all plans, it will be interesting to see how it all actually works out. It will also be interesting to see how I get my bike out of Uruguay after it has been sitting for a year and a half and overstayed it’s temporary import permit.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in life it is that everything works out in the end one way or another so there’s no use worrying about it. Half the fun is watching life unfold in unexpected ways.