Brownsville - day 16

When I went to bed last night I left the AC running in the room, and when I got up this morning it was colder outside than in the room! Mid 50s, with a little off and on drizzle for much of the day.

Spent the morning before the drizzle started reloading the truck - I've lost track of how many times I've done it! Most of the rest of the day was spent working with my GPS Mexican map software trying to locate hotels in urban areas I'll be passing through, and trying to locate those hotels. Not nearly as user friendly as the Delorme software I used on my trip south through the US.

At about 8 PM Alejando Roberts, the broker I am using, came by and we discussed the route I'll take. He offered the services of a rider to accompany me, but said he didn't think I would need it. Said many people drive to Belize over this route, and that I can probably convoy with others. Also suggested using motels in some of the smaller cities/towns along the way to avoid getting tangled in urban traffic, especially with the boat. I'll play it by ear, depending in part on the convoy situation.

In the morning he will take me to Mexico to get my USD converted to Pesos. I will make a 4000 Peso deposit, $272 at the current exchange rate, which will be returned to me when I get to border with Belize. Can expect to pay taxes of $40 -50 USD on the stuff in the truck. He'll give me multiple phone numbers in case of problems, but says he doesn't expect there to be any.

I'm feeling more and more confident that the trip will go smoothly.

In final analysis, I wasted a lot of time working on my route etc that would have been better spent learning Spanish, but am ending the day with greater peace of mind than I when I woke.