Capn's Blog

[mlmooney89]

I’d still freak if I couldn’t afford a good tampon.

Tapons are sold all over the world. It's not like you leave the first world and there are no tampons. Plus they are lightweight and easy to pack.

Of course I'm not intimately familiar with all the ins and outs of tampon use, but I've never heard any ladies on the road ever say it's an issue.

If it's about affording it, again not really an issue. Not like tampons are breaking the bank or anything.

Lol yeah this is how we know you aren't intimately familiar with all the ins and outs of tampon use. The good ones Shellb requested can break the bank. $9-10 for like 12 are not uncommon. When you go through them as often as you should (TMI but some don't change them often enough and risk TSS) that box won't last long and after 7 days of that it gets expensive.

Although I doubt that someone not used to the good stuff couldn't get by just fine on the cheap ones.

---

BUT alas we are derailing this wonderful story!

[Shell B]

Yeah, tampons do break the bank if you're a menstrual diva like myself. I like to be financially very comfortable and save my adventuring for the weekends. It's a personal choice. I do think roughing it like you do is cool. I'd even do it if I weren't so persnickety, but alas, a persnicket I be.

[Seraphina]

Tapons are sold all over the world. It's not like you leave the first world and there are no tampons. Plus they are lightweight and easy to pack.

Of course I'm not intimately familiar with all the ins and outs of tampon use, but I've never heard any ladies on the road ever say it's an issue.

If it's about affording it, again not really an issue. Not like tampons are breaking the bank or anything.

Lol yeah this is how we know you aren't intimately familiar with all the ins and outs of tampon use. The good ones Shellb requested can break the bank. $9-10 for like 12 are not uncommon.

Wait, what? Maybe I should pay more attention to price tags, that does sound expensive.
But menopause is within sight for me, woot!!!
One less worry when I travel.

-Teresa

[CapnAwesome]

Tapons are sold all over the world. It's not like you leave the first world and there are no tampons. Plus they are lightweight and easy to pack.

Of course I'm not intimately familiar with all the ins and outs of tampon use, but I've never heard any ladies on the road ever say it's an issue.

If it's about affording it, again not really an issue. Not like tampons are breaking the bank or anything.

Lol yeah this is how we know you aren't intimately familiar with all the ins and outs of tampon use. The good ones Shellb requested can break the bank. $9-10 for like 12 are not uncommon. When you go through them as often as you should (TMI but some don't change them often enough and risk TSS) that box won't last long and after 7 days of that it gets expensive.

Although I doubt that someone not used to the good stuff couldn't get by just fine on the cheap ones.

---

BUT alas we are derailing this wonderful story!

---

Tapons are sold all over the world. It's not like you leave the first world and there are no tampons. Plus they are lightweight and easy to pack.

Of course I'm not intimately familiar with all the ins and outs of tampon use, but I've never heard any ladies on the road ever say it's an issue.

If it's about affording it, again not really an issue. Not like tampons are breaking the bank or anything.

Lol yeah this is how we know you aren't intimately familiar with all the ins and outs of tampon use. The good ones Shellb requested can break the bank. $9-10 for like 12 are not uncommon. When you go through them as often as you should (TMI but some don't change them often enough and risk TSS) that box won't last long and after 7 days of that it gets expensive.

Although I doubt that someone not used to the good stuff couldn't get by just fine on the cheap ones.

---

BUT alas we are derailing this wonderful story!

So that's not a major expense... like 20 dollars a month? Sometimes 30. Google says average tampon use is 20 per cycle. I mean, that's a pretty small expense and certainly being on the road wouldn't make any difference in that at all. I'm not sure why you think you couldn't get those tampons or couldn't afford them? It really would make no difference at all.

In fact it's a whole mis-perception in general that being on the road means you can afford less when in fact the exact opposite in true. If you cut out your major expenses, for example rent, that leave so much more discretionary money. I know climbing bums who live out of vans that are realitively wealthy. This is becoming more and more common for people. I mean logic just follows that if you spend less money, you have more. Most Americans who live in houses barely make ends meet and don't have the savings to cover a 1000$ emergency spending. I always have that at a minimum and normally have way more savings. In case I decide to go on an impromptu trip around the world or something.

So most concerns or ideas that people have about travelers are just weird misconceptions. That they are either super wealthy and supported by a trust fund, or they are homeless bums who don't even have a dollar and can't afford 10$ tampons. (Still confused by the concern a little) The reality is that it's actually realitively easy to live as a continuous traveler just by reducing your need to consume crap. Okay, not back to the story.

---

Capn's Blog, December 2012

These are real things that happened to me while hitchhiking from Las Vegas to South America in 2011/12




The epic of Cathy and Sterling, Part two

     Momentary panic set in. At this point into traveling with Cathy and Sterling, we knew that anything could have happened. We had seen them leave their RV unlocked and wander off, be gullible and often confused by Mexico. We immediately did the only thing we were capable of doing, which is search through the town. We ran up and down the streets, still buzzed from drinking in a slightly frantic search, luckily they had just driven to the other side of town.

    We asked about their change of location, “Uh, is everything okay?”

    “Uhhhhh, um, not really.” Cathy replied, “I was cooking pasta and suddenly the water caught on fire! Sterling was coming around the corner with the fire extinguisher and I threw the burning pasta out the door and hit him! He caught on fire, then this guy came out and beat on the flames and that’s why we moved over here. That’s his house, he’s helping Sterling.”

    Dan and I stared at Cathy for a moment and then at each other. I knew he was thinking the same thing as me. How the fuck does water light on fire? My immediate thought was that it had something to do with the propane in the RV, this thing was more than 40 years old. We were too drunk and tired to do a proper investigation at the moment. So we just looked at each other and then went to find a place to sleep. As we often did, we just climbed on top of an unoccupied building. Climbing is the instinct of rock climbers, and also nobody is going to find and bother you on top of a building. Indeed we were never bothered on our whole trip south.

     We were amused to find in the morning that the building we had slept on was the town jail. Once again Dan and I discussed potentially leaving Cathy and Sterling. We did not come to Mexico to be put in danger by a 60 year old antiques dealer from New Hampshire.

Despite our growing concerns, two days later we were still with Cathy and Sterling. Despite the occasional craziness (while driving we hit trees with the sides and top of the RV, hit a dog, were rear ended, Cathy bribed the police, Sterling drove without a drivers license) it was easy to stay with them. For one thing, they didn’t want us to leave. Perhaps the creeping realization that they were in over their heads was starting to dawn on them. So Cathy had taken to feeding us and we were also smoking out of her weed supply.

    We pulled into a gas station, and the two gas station attendants were cute young girls so Dan and I decided to go over and say hi. While we were talking to them, I perchance glanced behind me, only to have my eyes widened as I saw flames shooting out of the window of the RV.

“Holy shit!”

    We ran back towards it, just in time we stopped right before the door, avoiding Sterlings fate as on cue Cathy tossed flaming liquid out of the door. We stomped it out on the burning grass.

    Cathy bemoaned, “There must be something wrong with the water in Mexico.”

Now it’s true that you can’t drink most of the water in Mexico, but we knew it was not flammable. Sober and in the light of day we decided to get to the bottom of this, before we all went up in flames.

    “Oh well” Cathy declared, “I’ll just start over.”

    She grabbed a bottle.

    “Wait” Dan said, “That’s not water, that’s our white gas.”

    We stored our white gas for a whisperlite stove in a clear plastic container. It was however, marked with a large X and said ‘fuel’ on it. How Cathy could of started cooking with white gas, and not immediately smelled it is a mystery to me. Another thought immediately dawned on me, she hit her son with flaming white gas.

“Este, esta el dia ultimo.” Dan said to me in Spanish.

Despite that declaration, we stayed with them……..

(To be continued)

Sterling, post being LIT ON FIRE BY HIS MOTHER.


Typical Mexican roadside shanty.

[Catholic_Lady]

I peed in the woods when we did a day long hike a couple weekends ago. I had toilet paper in my pocket though. I can handle peeing and/or pooping in the woods, so long as I can thoroughly wipe. Unfortunately I had to litter, because I wasn't going to put the toilet paper that I used to wipe pee off of my urethra back in my pocket. That's nasty.

[mlmooney89]

Lol I was throwing that out there. I for one would be fine with traveling and being on my period. Actually if a girl wanted to there is a one time thing they can buy and cut out the monthly pay thing but I won't gross y'all out. I did think $20 a month would cut into your money though so I'm learning a lot from you. I really do enjoy your story so much. I'm not a traveler myself after being an army brat for so long but I like reading about it. It's like I get a feel for it without doing the leg work lol. Okay now to go read your latest passage! (I had to say that real quick before I got blown away by this next piece.)

[Angrboda]

I peed in the woods when we did a day long hike a couple weekends ago. I had toilet paper in my pocket though. I can handle peeing and/or pooping in the woods, so long as I can thoroughly wipe. Unfortunately I had to litter, because I wasn't going to put the toilet paper that I used to wipe pee off of my urethra back in my pocket. That's nasty.

Carry plastic bags next time.

[Shell B]

Toilet paper is biodegradable. Just dig a kitty hole if you have to shit.

[Catholic_Lady]

Toilet paper is biodegradable. Just dig a kitty hole if you have to shit.

Good to know!

[CapnAwesome]

Capn's Blog, December 2011

This is the true story of me and my friend Dan hitchhiking from Las Vegas to Patagonia, in Southern Argentina in 2011/12

The epic of Cathy and Sterling, third and final part. (But the story does not end here!)

     It was not our last day with them. In fact we stayed with them to the Guatamala border where it turned out that they had no proper paperwork for the RV. Suddenly we thought it was our chance to perhaps leave them, as we went through the line on foot with ease. However a quick bribe from Cathy saw her to the front of the line, and a quick trip into town to a Lawyer, 30 years old and dressed in hawaiian shorts wrote up some quick paperwork to get them across the border.

    It was clear that Cathy had anxiety about us leaving them, worried about the managing changing currency and dealing with the language. However it was that trip that they started on and we were increasingly ready to set out on our own. Our first stop in Guatamala was at a fair sized city, while Cathy and Sterling cooked, we went out to explore a local market.

    It was similar to the markets in Mexico, perhaps a few more drunk people and a lot more guns. Unlike Mexico, guns are legal in Guatamala and there are a shocking number of armed security guards. Even the McDonald’s parking lot had serious looking man pacing with a shotgun in it. The second thing that Dan and I noticed was that as soon as the sun went down, all of the people cleared off the streets and the only cars driving around were pimped out lowriders.

We knew immediately that if the regular citizens don’t walk the streets at night, we shouldn’t either. So we hurried back to the RV only to find Cathy and Sterling cooking in a conspicuos open square, with door unlocked and open. We told them it was better to park somewhere discreet, tucked outselves away and spent a rare night where Dan and I slept in there as well.

    We crossed another border the next day and it was in El Salvador that we finally left Cathy and Sterling. We decided to stop in El Tunco, it was a town famous for it’s surfing and tourism. Pulling into El Tunco, sterling came within inches of pulling right in front of a moving semi. We found a guy who rented a room to us in the town for 5 dollars. It had two beds and a shower and was simply an extra room in a family home. We were preparing to go rent surf boards when Cathy came running up to us.

    “This guy said Sterling hit him with the RV.”

    It had finally happened, I thought, after all the crazy driving they had hit a person.

Luckily they had not hit a person, but instead a car. Through bad luck they had managed to hit the newest, and most brightly colored car in El Salvador. A brand new bright cherry red, japanese import economy car, less than a month old. Arriving on the scene we found Sterling being yelled at by a young El Salvadorian in Spanish another man, his friend or cousin was standing behind armed crossed. They looked like fairly respectable people but they were pissed.

Sterling was yelling back in English. “I don’t understand you!”

    We ran up and Dan started to speak to them in Spanish. It was amazing how fast the man almost snapped out of his fury, looking at the Blonde haired, blue eyed Dan speaking in perfect native Spanish. Even though his car had just been hit he became fairly friendly to us and asked where Dan learned Spanish.

    “I grew up in Venezuela, my parents are Americans.” It was his standard answer.

    Then the man gave a long winded explanation to Dan in Spanish, rattling off the whole story of hearing the crash, seeing the RV drive away, etc. Dan turned to Cathy and Sterling.

    “He says Sterling hit his car.”

    “I didn’t hit it.”

     We left for a moment to investigate. The ZigZag express had bright red paint residue on it’s bumper, right at the same level as the dent in the car. We returned to report our findings.

    “We think Sterling hit the car.”

     Of course I knew that he had the moment someone said he did, with all of the erratic driving I had witnessed.

    “Well what should I do?” Cathy asked us.

    We were reluctant to even offer advice, After all she was on a trip to Panama that she decided to go on, a 60 year old woman who ran a successful business. We were about to leave them and they had to start making decisions on their own if they were to successfully finish their own adventure. Nevertheless Dan offered up what seemed to be the only two choices.

    “Well, you can either maybe offer this guy some money, or take your chances with the El Salvadorian police.

    There was a good chance that the El Salvadorian police wouldn’t do jack shit to a white tourist in a tourist town like El Tunco. There was also a good chance that, no matter how normal and respectable these guys appeared, that they had another 20 cousins in town who would fuck up Cathy and Sterling if things weren’t made right. It was our first time in El Salvador as well and we didn’t really know exactly what the police were like or local customs. Luckily for Cathy and Sterling the guy was willing to take 200 dollars, many times less than it would cost to fix in America.

    With tempers down and everyone satisfied, we took this opportunity to take our stuff out of the RV, and move it into the room we were renting. We finally left Cathy and Sterling, telling them that we wished them well and that we were sure they’d make it to Panama. (I was not sure at all)

That same day we met an old surf instructor by the name of Sebastian, an Argentinian who claimed to have been to every state in America, but North Dakota and every country in the Americas. We told him about our journey with Cathy and Sterling.

    “These people will die without you.” He declared.

    I’m happy to report they did not die. We followed their blog and while they did talk about 8 hour waits to get through borders and different adventures and misadventures, they made it to Panama and all the way back up the other coast of Mexico and home to New England, a testamony to their growth as travelers (also a testamony to Toyota engineering, as the old RV had nary a problem on the whole trip.)

    As for Dan and I, we hitched on, leaving behind our two week long ride and continuing on to hitch into El Salvador, one of the most dangerous countries in the Americas….. (To be continued)

Dan and I, on the beach in El Tunco

Dan, Sterling and I. This is shortly after we found weed, if you can't tell.