if i had a cd jacket this is what it would say...

‘Tyler you are, by far, the most interesting single serving friend I’ve ever had’

‘how’s that?’

‘You see I have this thing, that everything on a plane is single serving’

‘Oh I get it. It’s clever.’

‘Thank you.’

‘How’s that working out for you?’

‘What?’

‘Being clever.’

‘Great.’

‘Keep it up then.’

That is about as close as I can get from memory but essentially one of my favorite exchanges in Fight Club. Or any movie for that matter. Well, I met my first single serving friend yesterday on the ferry from La Paz to Topolobampo. Hopefully, one of many I’ll document over the course of the next year. 25 year old kid from San Diego moving to Ixtapa named Mitchell. I agreed to give him a ride into Los Moochis to the bus terminal since it was late and he was unsure of his ability to get one at the dock. I didn’t think to ask how much stuff he had; skateboard, backpack, 2 surfboards, and 2 suitcases. We made it work. Ended up camping with him on some derrick south of town. Me in my tent, him in the back of the Cruiser. Gave him a ride all the way to Mazatlan, had lunch and said goodbye. It was nice to chat in English with someone for a day or so and realize I’m not the only American wandering down here with limited language aplomb. Can ‘limited’ and ‘aplomb’ be used in the same sentence? I guess I just did it. Anyway Mitchell good luck on the new life and good luck with the waves.

Mexico proper. Not what I expected so far. I travelled through a well developed agricultural region today. With the occasional coco palm here and there to remind me I wasn’t in the Sacramento Valley or Central Oregon. Lush green fields of corn lined the hwy and there seemed to be less trash on the road. Even the roads were in decent shape. I miss Baja. Mitchell made the comment that he thinks most Mexican Nationals view Baja the way we view Alaska and I happen to agree with him. It’s remote, it’s separated from the rest of the country’s land mass and it’s unbelievably rugged and beautiful, but why do people want to live there? Well having now spent some time in the former and lived a number of years in the latter I can think of few places I would rather live all things being equal. I ventured out to the beach tonight, about 30miles south of Mazatlan, and decided I didn’t need another windy night. So I found my way down a dirt road to a shallow lake or estuary full of birds. There are times where you can pick the perfect camp spot, have the perfect sunset and know everything is going to be just fine. I like to think of Long Canyon in Moab, Hells Backbone in Escalante, or the Dollhouse. Then there are times when you just get lucky. Tonight was one of those nights. Just enough of a breeze to keep the very few bugs at bay. A picturesque sky as the sun fell behind the trees. A local fisherman, off in the distance, singing every time he pulled in his nets. Ideal temps to wander around taking pics of the cranes and herons filling the shallow water. I got lucky tonight and I’m thankful. Or maybe I earned it for helping Mitchell out. Regardless tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I’m trying to keep the proper attitude about how fortunate I am. Except…

I get to spend my turkey day rotating tires, centering my steering wheel, figuring out why my washer fluid pump stopped working. Wait I’m still a very lucky man.

So on this eve of reflection. I need to thank a few people, publicly, who helped put me down here in such a wonderful place.

Kevin Smith

Jason Lee

Carter Beauford

Stefan Lessard

Josh Carmack

Neil Young

Larry David

Dave Matthews

Ben Harper

Ed Abbey

Wallace Stegner

Christy Turlington

Jerome Garcia

Indiana Jones and Han Solo

Marty McFly

Goose

Oh wait people I actually know and not just celebrities and superstars..

In no particular order…

Ray and Linda Connors, Travis Jeremy Farnes (the strangest, most eccentric and best friend a person could ever have, but truly just bizarre, insanely bizarre), Will Carroll, Jen Carroll, the 2 Carroll Kids. The Websters, The Trunk Monkey, Kurt Jeffrey, Ryan Davis, Kaleb Galbraith, Dustin Francis, Trent Ashby, Adam Tolman, Johnny and Angel Lange, Pablo and Kiddo May, The Morgans, The entire Call clan, Dr. Stephen Lewis Petersen (for the half a tank of gas in the paypal account tonight),Henry Cubillan (the real reason I’m in this mess, him and his damn stories) Eric Vogt, TJK, Troy Seinfeld, My Boy Beef Stew, Jeremy LaVar, Trent Anderson, Bart Anderson, Ken Thibault, Brother and Sister Hardass, THE 2007 WORLD CHAMPION BOSTON REDSOX, Alancia (or however the hell you spell your name),The Roses, Jack C, Dan D, Mr. Trent Taylor, Worm, Worm’s Twin Brother, my surrogate family the Muirs for teaching me that weird is good and home is wherever you make it, I miss you guys more than you know, Maddog, Ty Maddog, Brad Gillespie, Robert Segal, Wes Johnson, Scott Brady, J and Trevor Ralls for allowing me to live their dreams for them, Benji Butterfield, Crazy George, Hampton the Dopefiend Killah, Brian Hanson, Kent McComb, McArthur, Ivan, Ophir Nuiqsit, Jim Jackson, Curnutt, Scott Simpson and for real, Josh Carmack. Thank you all and to everyone else who has helped me over the past 6 months, or past 10 years. No more sappy crap from now on. Tomorrow curse words and sarcasm.

Gracias and buenas noches,

Dave Connors

Lead - Expedition Americas

http://www.expeditionamericas.com/

oh I included a pic I’ve been meaning to post for a week now, this is for the Petersen clan and my bro, (I already emailed you so you know about it already but here is proof)