Good Ice Cream

After my last Ice Cream disaster, I decided to share with all of you just what it is I'm talking about. I would like to present: Donofrio Ice Cream. This is the most common brand of ice cream in Peru, a spin off of the Nestle company, Donofrio can be found all over Peru. This particular flavor is new, and I think it is my favorite. Vanalla ice cream with fudge and pieces of an ice cream sandwhich (the chocolate waffer). 1 quart sells for $4.

Living Water

One of the mission organizations that SAMAIR flies for is Living Water. They drill and install wells in villages where there is no source of clean water. Since many communites are located close to rivers, the villagers are used to bathing, drinking, and washing clothes with the nasty brown river water.

The wells that Living Water puts in are usually about 30 meters deep and pump out clean water, are enclosed so no comtaminates can enter them, use a simple hand pump, and the well heads last for over 20 years with no maintenance. I think this is a great technology as it fills an obvious need for the villages yet is simple and reliable.

I flew in part of a team that came down from the USA to visit and work for a week. It was a wet and rainy day which left tracks in the soft grass runway.

Down and Out

On Saturday the Internet was down all day. Couldn't load a single page and no combination of resetting all the resettables and re-plugging all the pluggables would bring it back.
On Sunday the power went out for almost 12 hours. The ice cream melted, soccer games went un-watched, and the water pressure petered out.
On weekends like this I think about the life of a missionary. Many times I think that I'm here to help people out and "save the world" (or jungle). Thats what my supporters sent me out here to do right? But when the internet goes down and the power goes off, I find my attitude is quite sour.
Its then that I remember that it does not matter how many hours I fly, sick people I bring to hospitals or engines I fix. God is more concerened about me being his disciple. That includes, as hard as it is to admit, my attitude. So while it may be very true that God is using me in my "job", He also is taking the daily challenges and giving me opportunites to grow.

So Lord, thanks for yesterday, thanks for today. Thanks for giving me opportunities to grow. Give me patience and help me choose to rejoice in You, regardless of my circumstances.

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Flap Switch. Yes, the normal Cessna flap switch has been removed and new switch has been installed. Not only is the location different, but the switch is momentary in both the up and down position, you have to hold it in that position to acctuate the flaps, releasing it stops the flap motor from running. There is also a "flap dump" switch on the yoke. Pressing this button runs the motor to bring the flaps up. The motor only runs when the button it depressed, so you "bump" the flaps up slowly. Advantage? Flaps can be deployed in the pattern with out having to take your hand off of the throttle. A normal pattern in a stock airplane would mean taking your hand off the throttle 3-4 times. Not so with the flap switch right at your fingertips (litterally). This allows you to keep the eyes outside (where they should be) with out having to look inside the cockpit during the landing phase. The flap dump (retract) switch on the yoke allows you to retract the flaps on climb out. Also a very important time to have the eyes outside and the hand on the throttle. The flap indicator system is still the same, but the microswitches with the stock Cessna flap selector are removed. This system was installed under a field approval that was developed by JAARS.

23 Squared and Lean of peak. Yes, we do fly at 23 squared (23 inched manifold pressure (or full throttle if not able to get 23 inches) and 2300 RPM. We shoot for around 65% power. Increasing RPM if MAP drops below 22 inches usually. All climbs are always (and should) be made at full throttle. In cruise we lean to 25-50 lean of peak. The leanest cylinder is about 50 LOP and the "richest" is 25 LOP. Only possible with GAMI injectors or newer Continental "tuned" injectors. As a side note, thank you to GAMI for helping us tune one of our engines to have closer matching EGT spreads on all 6 cylinders. As far as 23 squared goes, the only thing that would be better is wide open throttle (WOT) all the time even at altitudes where this would exceed 23 inches. 65% power could still be maintained by having a lower and quiter RPM setting such as 25 inches 2200 RPM. Still working on getting that one passed. The old habits and old guard die hard. More info at http://www.avweb.com/news/pelican/ Picture form article #18 by John Deakin, "Mixture Magic" This is very brief as I could go on for hours (days perhaps) about engine opperation. Right Nathan? =)

The View. The view is quite awesome. Its amazing to see the jungle and God's creation from the air.

Front office

For the pilots, here is a shot of the panel from one of the wheel planes. All three airplanes are identical, except for GPS units. Took this shot as it was the few times I'm actually on altitude and heading. =)

Mango Shooting

Cant get clay pidgeons down here in Pucallpa. So the next best thing is mangos. We have a tree in our yard so my friend Paul and I decided to just use the mangos instead! They are free, easy to throw, and give a nice juicy pop when you hit them.

Happy Passengers

Some shots of some of the passengers I fly. All very content they dont have to be travling by road or by boat. Note also the very interesting cloud pattern. Just like corn rows back in Michigan.

Rainy Season

Rain season is upon us here in Pucallpa. We average about 90 inches a year and as they say, when it rains it pours. Here are some shots from around the hanger during a rain storm. Note the plant/fungus growing from the rafter right by the down spout!

Cloud dancing

Another hot, humid, and sunny day in the jungle. Not quite rainy season yet so most of the puffy clouds are harmless to fly though. The only reason you wouldn't is because the "ride" can be a bumpy. Since there is pleny of sun and humidty in the jungle, as the day goes on puffy clouds billow up and shoot skyward, leaving white towers to fly around. Here is some video for today shot at 5'500 feet on the way back to Cashibo.

The glory of float plane flying.

You know, many times float plane flying is pretty glorious. I mean, who gets to take off and land on small rivers and worry about hitting logs, dugout canoes, or other floating objects during their day to day job?

However, come dry season, the game changes. Just this past week I brought a medical team to a Shipibo indian village called Caimeto, about 25 minutes away. Caimito is a lake and the water lever rises and fall just like it does in the rivers. So in dry season the lake is lower than it is during rainy season. All that to say, sometimes you run aground before getting to dry land. And sometimes you have to get wet! I had to get into the water and push the plane around for both docking and undocking.

My shoes did stay dry though as I took them off before jumping into the water. A few small kids tried to help push as well, expending more effort making faces than pushing I think...

So, here is a parting shot of the "glorious" float plane pilot, barefoot and wet from the waist down, flying back to base.

Ingenuity

Peruvian are pretty good at being ingenious. They rarely throw anything away and find unique ways to recycle and reuse things that otherwise would discarded back in the States. One example of this is with vehicle. In the city of Pucallpa, there is not a single junk yard. Granted, some of the maintenance garages LOOK like junk yards, but even the oldest beater is made to run here. Looks are definitely secondary while reliability and easy to fix are held in very high esteem.
I had some shocks that were worn out on my vehicle. One of the results of driving on a dirt and potholed road. In the states I would have to buy a complete shock assembly because the bottom rubber bushing was worn out. Here they just press the old one out, reuse the metal insert bushing, and pressing a "new" rubber bushing that is made from 3 inch thick tractor tire rubber! The price was only $3.


Around the house I have used a little of my own "ingenuity". The showers here are made for Peruvian size people and six foot tall Americans get the shower head right in the chest. So a trip the the plumbing store resulted in an ingenious modification to my shower head. Now I can actually get in UNDER the shower head. What a remarkable concept.
There was also a problem with critters entering the bathroom due to gaps between the mason work and screens. A can of spray foam (from the USA) took care of the holes!

Mazamari

Mazamari is located in a mountainous region of Peru, about 200 miles south of Pucallpa. While the scenery if beautiful to look at with many waterfalls and mile after mile of virgin jungle, the terrain can create challenges as clouds can obscure mountain peaks and haze limits visibility to 3-4 miles. One of the tools we use to avoid the cumulous granite is topographical information that is displayed on our GPS units. This is backed up with charts that have predetermined routes with known altitudes for crossing passes and entering valleys.

The day we returned to Pucallpa, the haze was thick and I had to fly half of the flight solely with reference to the flight instruments. Thankfully I had just finished some Instrument training when I was in the USA over the summer so the skills were fresh in my mind. By the way, the color GPS is so easy to use even a pilot can figure it out. The red shows terrain that is above your present altitude and the yellow is anything with in a 1000 feet below you. Dont fly in the RED and be very careful in the YELLOW.

Back in the saddle

Greetings once again from the hot and humid jungles of Peru. Since being back over the last three weeks I have been flying quite a bit. After a brief few days in Lima getting my pilot license squared away, I was able to do some recurrency training in the SAMAIR floatplane. The following week I already had three flights.
One of the flights was the pick up two missionaries that were preparing for a visit by a medical team in late September. Since there was extra room on the flight, I took along another SAM missionary who works in Pucallpa. He was surprised at how smooth the air was and at how cool and refeshing it was up at 6500 feet. 65 degrees and 140 miles per hour for one hour sure is nice compared to 95 degrees at 15 miles per hour for a whole day in a small boat!


Special thanks to Tim for the use of his pictures.

Oshkosh

One of the highlights of this past summer for me was the annual EAA (Experimental Aviation Association) fly-in and airshow in Oshkosh, Wisconson. When I am in the states, I usually try to go and the last few times have spent the whole week there. For an airplane nut there is plenty to see and do.

I had the chance to go to some aviation forums and learn about different topics that ranged from GPS units to fabric covering of airplanes. Some of my favorite things were walking the grounds talking with all the vendors, looking at airplanes, and sitting on the edge of a runway with my dad watching airplanes takeoff and land.

When I am in Peru, where there are only 50 airplanes in the whole country, I think about Oshkosh and how for one week every year over 10,000 airplanes are on location at Oshkosh. I think the only bad part of the whole week is that it ends all to quickly. But, there is always next year!

P.S. Sorry Uncle Mike, I will try better next time in my T-shirt selection.

Podcast

When I am down in Peru, riding the tractor cutting our grass runway, I usually listen to some Podcasts. For those of you who are not familiar, a Podcast is an audio program that can be downloaded from the internet or through other pod catchers such as iTunes. Anyways, I thought I would share some of the podcasts that I listen to from time to time. The first is my favorite. It is called Uncontrolled Airspace, and is about aviation. I also listen to Airspeed, Airplane Geeks, and The Pilot Flight Podlog. As you can guess, all of these are also about aviation.

However, I and a little more cultured than that so I also listen to, High Speed Stuff, 60 Minutes, This American Life, Truth For Life, Car Talk, and NPR's Technology Podcast. This is a great way to pass long hours on the tractor and keeps me reasonably up to date with things that are happening back in the USA.

If you find yourself with time to listen while you work, try some of these Podcast. You might enjoy them just like I do.

Finding Money

Today I became 20 dollars richer! Well, I guess I was already that rich but I just did not know where the money was... Two years ago, when I first left for Peru, I had a fair amount of clothing, namely long pants and coats, that I left in Michigan. I knew I would not need any of that in Peru as where I live and fly, it is always hot and humid! This morning when I was getting ready for Church I found a 20 dollar bill in my pant pocket. I also found a note that I had writting to myself over two years ago!
Later on in the afternoon, I put on some shorts that I brought with me from Peru, and I found 20 soles (Peruvian money) in the front pocket of those as well! Not really sure what I am going to do with that for the next few months, but I did think about trying on the rest of my cloths to see what other "economic stimulus" I could find. Now if I could just figure out who took in the waist on all my pants that I left here two years ago...

Trip to California

This past week I took an 8 day trip to California to see some friends and supporters. I was in the Los Angeles basin for 5 days and spend the rest of my time in San Diego.

Two of my friends are fellow pilots and I was able to visit both of them and see that type of flying that they do day to day. One friend works as a pilot and mechanic for a company that sprays for fruit flies. Since fruit flies can damage crops, my friends job is to fly over the LA basin "spraying" sterile fruit flies that have been exposed to radiation. When the sterile flies mate with the normal flies, the result is no offspring and a decreased fruit fly population. I thought it was a pretty neat to see how aviation was used to do a needed task.

My other friend is a flight instructor and flies everything from small single engine airplanes, up to helicopters! I had the opportunity to fly with him in a helicopter and he even let me try my hand at flying! Although some things are similar to airplanes, it was still very challenging although I was able to manage a drunken looking ten foot hover all by myself. A third friend, living is San Diego, has know me since first grade! Needless to say, there was plenty of reminiscing. I also showed everyone pictures of video of my work in Peru with SAM AIR.

Other highlights included flying to Catalina Island for lunch, going to an Air Force Museum, watching the Red Bull Air Races, and of course spending lots of time getting caught up on over two years worth of experiences. Overall, I enjoyed my time very much and better understand why so many people live in Southern California. There certainly is much to do an see.

Legal!

I received an e-mail from our secretary at SAMAIR in Peru and she told me that I am legal to fly in Peru again! That is a big answer to prayer and I am very thankful for all of you who were praying about.

Looks like the Peruvian Aviation Authorities (DGAC) will not be fining me for flying with an illegal certificate. Thankfully SAMAIR has a very good relationship with the DGAC. Once return to Peru I will have to present some more paper work that documents any flying that I have done here in the USA, but I have learned that papers are something all 3rd world governments love!

In other news, it has been confirmed that once I move back to Peru in August, I will be living in a new (to me) house. The good news is that it is only 100 yards away from my old house so moving will be a snap! Also, while I am gone, high speed internet is supposedly being installed! This would be a HUGE impovement over dial-up and I would even get to post pictures on the blog with our having to go to an Internet Cafe every time I wanted to do that. As they say in Peru, vamos a ver... (we shall see)

Furlough

I never have understood the word furlough. In the airline industry, being "furloughed" means you are laid off until business picks up again and you can start flying at your old job. In missions, nobody gets laid off and there is never a shortage of people but I guess you do leave your work for a while. All that is to say, for the next 4 months I will be on "furlough" in the USA!
Having been in Peru for 2 years, it was coming close to the time when I would be going back to the USA to reconnect and visit supporting churches, individuals, family and friends. Due to the fact that there is only a limited number of pilots at SAMAIR, we always have to coordinate our coming and going with each other. For me, it worked out that mid April though the first week of August would be best. I had less that 3 weeks to buy my tickets, pack my bags, and box up all my household items (I will be living in yet ANOTHER house when I return to Peru) before coming to the USA.
I will be stationed out of Michigan for the next 4 months visiting and getting reacquainted with friends and family. I will also be traveling out to California, North Carolina, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Please do not hesitate to send me an e-mail regarding getting together this summer! It could be another two years before we have the change again!
dspeyers"at"southamericamission.org

Maybe Legal?

Yes, that is right, I might not be illegal with my pilot certificate anymore... but I am still not sure!

I presented all the paperwork that the Aviation Authorities said I needed present, however a week later they came back and said I was STILL lacking proper documentation! So this past week I was in Lima and went down to the Licenseing Department and talked with them directly. They in turn gave me a new list of paperwork they needed and I set about once again to comply with their instructions. Interestingly enough, one of the things they wanted was a simple cover letter from the mission say that I wanted to renew my pilot certificate and was presenting the following documents to do that. I ended up sending legalized copies of my Pilot Log Book, Annual checkride from SAM AIR, my Resident Visa, and my Pilot Medical certificate. So hopefully in a week I will hear back and see if my Pilot Certificate is valid once again.

Illegal!

Today I found out that I have been flying illegaly in Peru since October!
I was looking into the requirements for renewing my pilot licence in Peru and found out that the Peruvian Aviation Authrities (DGAC) had me down for an expired pilot license due to a Medical certificate that was not filed properly with them. Back in October I recieved a second class medical certificate which I dutifully took to the DGAC. They accepted the medical certificate, making a copy for their records and I went back to Pucallpa task completed.
However, it appears as though the DGAC is putting up a fuss now and are requiring me to ¨validate¨my medical certificate. That means taking it to the U.S. Embassy in Lima, having them stamp it for $40 validity that it is a ¨real¨medical certificate. Then, it has to be translated into spanish, brough to the Ministry of Forgien relations, where they have to stamp is saying that ¨yes, the US Embassy stamp is valid and approved¨. Then I have to take the medical certificate with those two stamps to the DGAC where they in turn will stamp it a third time accepting the validating from the Ministry of Forgien relations which accepted the validity from the US Embassy which accepted the validity that my medical certificate really is real and valid in the first place!
Does anybody else think this is just crazy! Anyways, until that happens I am effectively grounded and can not fly. I am hoping to have this all worked out by the end of this week... I´ll be sure to keep you posted!

Conference

This past week was the South America Mission annual conference. All the SAM missionaries in Peru got together for the week and had a time of prayer, teaching, and fellowship. Yours truly was on the planning committee and oversaw the volleyball tournament, photo scavenger hunt, and was the co-MC for our daily teaching and worship sessions.

It was a great time of fellowship and a chance to redirect our focus on the topic of "Christian Worldview" and how that impacts our actions with the community around us, our ministries, and also, how we in turn, pray. I was personally renewed and very much enjoyed the Bible teaching that was in English for a change!

Here is a picture of all the people who attended. Can you spot me? =)

Middle on the Jungle!

Hello from the deep jungle of Peru! As I sit here over 300 miles away from my home base of Cashibo, I am amazed at the computer that sits before me in this small Peruvian town. Today was a long day of flying the float plane and in the end, due to bad weather, I was not able to get back home! The small town that I am staying in is build arond an oil drilling rig that us just a few miles away. We keep fuel in 55 gallon drums here and although I have been many times to this location, this is the first time I will be spending the night.
I was VERY supprised to find a place that had internet access! I am actually sitting next to a bare foot kid of 10 years of age who is playing Counter Strike! The small hostal I am staying in is spartian but it does have a bathroom, shower, and a sink that are all in the same 5 by 3 foot space. A very interesting idea as it saves on space and still fits into the principal room that is 10 by 15 feet. I had supper from a street vendor and it seems as though EVERYONE in town knows that there is a white, american, pilot who is in town for the night.
Hopefully tomorrow morning I will be able to have good enough weather to fly back to Cashibo. The tenative plan is to pick up two people at a destination about 45 minutes away. The only catch is that their exact location is not know, only that they are at an intersection of two rivers. So that should be a challenge to find tomorrow. Thanks to eveyone who has been praying for safetly while flying. The Lord continues to grant safety.

For the Pilots

This post is for the pilots. Just to give you an idea of what a day flying in Peru is like. Granted, this is one of the longer days, but it just did happen today and here is the story!The alarm goes off at 5am. I get ready for the day with breakfast and am out the door and driving to Cashibo, where the airplanes are, before 6. Get to the hanger, file a flight plan, check the NASA satellite for South America grab my gear and head down to the float plane. At 7am the passengers are there and Pablo helps me load and tie down the cargo. We pray as a group and are off the water at 7:30. It is two hours to my first fuel stop, but today there is a 15 knot headwind and I sadly watch the GPS dance between 99 and 102 knots. High overcast for the first hour until a lower layer develops and meets me at my cruising altitude of 4,500. Another cloud layer is up ahead but I see a space where I can duck under it and find that it is clear below with just a light rain falling.I manage to get back to 4,500 still under the overcast and land at the first fuel stop in Industrial. After docking next to the bank. I unload five 5-gallon plastic jerry cans and walk over to a shed that is locked up. This is where we keep fuel in 55 gallon drums. I siphon out almost 40 gallons and fuel by hand through a funnel and filter on top of the wing.After being on the ground/water for 40 minutes, I am back in the air. Just one hour now to Galilea, but there are clouds all along the ridge line between me and the destination. I talk via HF radio with the community and they report light rain with low clouds. Not good. I make a course change and head for the place in the ridge where a river cuts through. I decent to 700 feet above the water and follow the river through the gorge. Just below the clouds, I have about 5-7 miles of visibility but there is still light rain. I follow the river for 20 minutes and arrive at the village location. Ceiling is now 500 feel but there are breaks in the overcast. I land against the current and dock where a group of 30 people and kids are waiting for us.After unloading a couple, their 3 children, and all their baggage I quickly climb up on the wing and check my fuel in the left and right tanks. Good, 40 gallons for an estimated 1.5 hours of flying plus 1 hour of reserve fuel at 16 gallons per hour. I write own the tach time on my flight ticket and quickly weight and load more cargo. Two missionaries are returning to Pucallpa after 3 weeks out in the jungle visiting many of the churches along this particular river. They are happy to see me!Off the water and the cloud are definitely broken now, I climb on top and can see a low spot in the ridge at 3,500 feet, I cross at 5000 and start my decent to the next location of Boca Chivasa. I have never been here before but I have a drawing from our chief pilot. As I arrive over head I immediately see two canoes tied up at my docking location. I perform 3 full circles over the landing sight evaluating the current, approach path, and takeoff path. I also look for boat or logs that may be float in the river. I elect to land into the current again and have to modify my final approach leg as there is a slight bend in the river. I touch down on one float in a turn and smoothly set the other float down as I power back to idle, drop the water rudders and send a message over the HF radio saying I am safely on the water. Two more passengers get on and I weigh their cargo and check fuel levels gain. Perfect, we are within the weight limit by 30 kilos and I can tell by how the float are sitting in the water that C.G. is at the aft end to give me a little more cruise speed but the water line is still 2 inches below the back of the floats so I know I am fine.After casting off I open the throttle half way with mixture in ICO. Master on bust pump on. Wait till I hear the tone change that the pump is circulating fuel and there are no more air bubbles, mixture rich momentarily to clear the distributor line and give a small prime. Clear prop! One, two, thee, four blades go by and the engine catches. Mixture rich and quickly retard the throttle, 1000 RPM. I love that hot start technique on the Continentals! I go through my ¨P´s¨ Power (alternator) Power (ammeter showing charge) Pump (boost pump off) Pump (vac pump indication) Pressure (oil pressure indication).It is 1 hour back to Industrial and by now the cloud base is 1500 agl with tops of the broken layer at 5000. I pick my way through holes and corridors up to 5,500 where I am above it all. I clean my hands with some hand sanitizer and eat an apple and grapes as I watch the clouds float by. Lunch to go!Now with 4 people aboard, I realize yet again what a privilege I have to transport there people in Peru! They are all older than me but have seen fit to put their confidence and safety in my hands... something I do not take lightly. I ask the front seat passenger if he is anxious to see his wife and two kids. He nods and smiles!After refueling again by hand, I takeoff for the tow hour leg back to Cashibo. On the way back almost everyone takes a nap, except for the pilot. The morning overcast is still there, I estimate bases to be at 10´000 msl. I fly back at 5,500 in perfectly smooth conditions and enjoy a tailwind as I see 125 knots of ground speed. After an hour and 15 minutes I switch tanks and note that I should have 8 gallons left in that tank if I need it. By the time I get back to Cashibo I am down to 20 gallons total fuel. A smooth landing back at Cashibo in spite of the quartering crosswind. I unload the cargo and fill out the paperwork. It is 4:30 in the afternoon and I head up to the office where I spend another 20 minute figuring out the billing for the flight and completing my flight ticket, 7.1 hours today, 5 landings, and 1 tired pilot!Hope this give you a small glimpse into what flying in Peru is like. There is so much more like how you load chickens and lawnmower engines into the airplane, or communicating with ATC in Spanish. But maybe that is for some other time.

Jungle Flights

In December, I had a flight for a missionary family that was going back to their village location about an hour flight away. It was a sad occasion because the family was leaving Peru and was returning to the USA after over 6 years of ministry in Peru and Brazil. I stayed with them for a night in the village as they said goodbye, then they left in a boat to travel 45 minutes down steam to where there is a rare straight part in the river long enough to take off from. I flew the 3 minutes to the location as taking off from right in front of the village is marginal and only ever done with one person and a very low fuel load. After securing all the cargo, we were off the water for the last time. It was a quiet ride back to Pucallpa.


Fortunately, I found out just this month that there is a new missionary family that will be taking over the work out in this community! So, I am happy that SAMAIR will get to keep serving the people and missionaries in that location.

Not again!

Well the on going saga continues with my motorcycle. I finally put all the pieces together and took my motorcycle out on a trip this past weekend. We crossed over a nice little river with a log spit in two to walk your bike across. There was also a fair amount of mud which always makes for a messy ride.

Needless to say, we were off the beaten trail by a good ways and two hours into the ride found us lugging our bikes over logs 18 inches in diameter. It was a tight jungle trail that were were on and my engine had started making a ticking sound. I hoped that it would not give out on my and we presed on! An hour later we were wet, filthy, but out of the jungle! That is when my bike broke down. Again. I was unserimoniously pulled back to Cashibo where I systematicly checked out every system. When the easy things such as fuel, air, and spark were ruled out I knew it had to be bad. And yes it was, a valve keeper had broken and allowed the valve to fall into the cyclinder. The piston bent it, broke the guide, and that was all she wrote.

So once again my bike is in 100 parts and I am waiting for some parts to come from the USA. maybe by the middle of Febuary I will have it working again...

Moving again.

With a New Year comes a new place to live again for me. When I first got to Pucallpa last spring, I lived with another single missionary for 2 months until he left for the USA. Then I moved to another house and lived with two single missionary guys. Now, after 6 months, all three of us have moved again and are living in a third house while the previous occupants are in the USA for a six month furlough. However, once they get back... you got it, we will be moving yet again.

Needless to say I have gotten good at packing and unpacking all my things, and it has motivated me to keep the amount of "junk" that I have down to a minimum. It also got me thinking about "home" and the things I associate with that word. Having moved around a lot the past two years, I have found that I can live just about anywhere. However every place I have been, I have known that it was not my true home because I would move on from there eventually. To a larger extent, even being in Peru is not my home because I will one day leave here as well. Thus I realize that my true home is the place that is being prepared for me right now. The place where there is no suffering, no pain, no good bye's, and where every tear is whiped away. I look forward to that home!

One piece!

During the New Years holiday, I had a couple of days to work on my motorcycle. I had assembled all the parts and pieces to the point where I would be able to ride it once again! After starting it up I put it in first gear and it pronptly stalled. Eveidently there was a problem with the clutch and it was not free wheeling. So, I took the clutch cover off and started rooting around in there looking for the problem. Thankfully I found a washer that had not been placed in the correct location and was causing the clutch basket to bind. Anyways, after putting the washing in the correct location everything was free to spin again! Now, I have a working motorcyle again and it only took 5 months to get it to that point. I'll be able to return a friends motorcycle that I was borrowing and start using my own. It was nice to finish my New Year's resolution so quickly and have my bike all in one piece again!