Sitting here this morning, alone in the quiet home of new friends, coffee in hand…and it makes me reflect on the recurring theme of our journey: the kindness of strangers.
We had planned to leave Corpus Christi early on Sunday for McAllen and the Mexican border but our wonderful hosts Gerald and Cynthia Tunches asked us to stay for a celebration Texas Barbecue later that day. Well, I’m all for advancing cultural exchanges (plus I can eat my weight in back ribs) so we pushed our schedule back again and enjoyed a fantastic day filled with meeting their extended family, down home cooking and a chocolate birthday cake around which we sang a very sweet happy birthday to Alyssa, who would have turned 15 years old that very day. In the Latin American culture, the Quinceañera (also called fiesta de quince años) is the celebration of a girl’s fifteenth birthday. This birthday is celebrated differently from any other birthday, as it marks the transition from childhood to young womanhood. They understood the significance of the day for our daughter’s memory and made it a very special moment.
Following the BBQ, we jumped in their car and they drove us to the harbour area of Corpus Christi. If you’ve never been, you may want to include this on your next family vacation as it is world class.
We toured their sailboat, then drifted past docked shrimp boats and many strolling Sunday pedestrians on our way to see an exact replica of the smallest of Christopher Columbus’ ships, the Niña. And there it was, moored to the break wall, not a living soul around it…and it looked like I could fit it into my pocket. How in the world did those early adventurers pull that off, sailing across the ocean blue in a tiny wooden bobber?
We then saw the USS Lexington across the harbour from the Niña and it’s still a majestic sight: During World War II, the Japanese referred to the Lexington as a “ghost” ship for her tendency to reappear after reportedly being sunk. This, and its dark blue camouflaged hull, led the crew to refer to her as “The Blue Ghost.”
The soft blue sky was now darkening as daylight began to fade and, knowing we had another 2.5 hour ride to McAllen, we returned to their home and began to pack up. Gerald showered us with gifts upon our arrival (shirts, two bags of candy for Holly, bike tools, new motorcycle rain suits for both of us, neck coolers, beef jerky, a security flashlight, safety sunglasses, wet wipes, etc.) and it was now a challenge to fit it all in so he dropped a large box in front of me and said, “Whatever you can’t take with you I’ll mail to your home.” So we filled that box and managed to fit in our new shiny gifts. We were even able to squeeze in the bags of candy!
Gerald announced that he wanted to accompany us to the border that night so we set off together as the sun was setting and the near-full moon rose. Darkness soon enveloped us as we tore across the arrow-straight Texas back roads angling our way toward Mexico. Holly and I were happy to be riding in windless warm and dry conditions for a change and we could have ridden all night.
We passed through a large part of the famous King Ranch and soon found ourselves navigating the quiet streets of Edinburg, Texas. Mexico is a mere 20 minutes away now.
Stage Three of our journey begins bright and early tomorrow morning as we enter Mexico, that bustling, beautiful country. It’s now after 11:30 am and Holly is still sleeping so I’m grateful to our hosts Elma and Jorge for allowing us as much time here in their home as we need. The news of Holly sleeping in will make Mary very happy…
Yesterday I thought a lot about our experience with Alyssa’s birth and how the early days of our journey evolved into just being able to focus on her health and survival thanks to SickKids Hospital and the CMN for removing the distractions of outside forces. The final piece of the puzzle for me came when we were given a spot at the Ronald McDonald House near the hospital and we no longer had to worry about where we would sleep each night or how much money it would cost us. I will be grateful the rest of my days on earth for that wonderful organization. And as we were gearing up to ride here, I asked Gerald what Elma and Jorge did for a living. He told me that Elma was a librarian just like his wife Cynthia. “And Jorge?” I asked.
“He’s the administrator for the Ronald McDonald house at the Children’s Miracle Network hospital for the McAllen area,” Gerald replied.
🙂
