LITTLE THINGS GREAT



Originally Published in Western Outdoor News the Week of January 22, 2008





In our everyday hubbub of life we met and run into all kinds of people. The mailman. The bank teller. The guy who walks the dog by your house everday at 10 in the morning. You can tell the time of day by them.

You smile. You say howdy. Perhaps you exchange some pleasantries. We call them “friends,” but actually more like good acquaintances. They’re part of the fabric of of your life. You know they are always there right as rain. You almost don’t pay attention to them or give them more than the few moments of thought when you chat with them or pass them by during the day.

But then one day one of them is gone. And you feel it. There’s a “disturbance in the force “ as they said in the Star Wars movie. Something’s not right with the universal fabric.

Arturo was a Mexican “taxista” … a cab driver. Like thousands of other guys lining the Mexican roads, airports and hotels in their garishly painted vehicles.

That is all he has ever been. In his early 60’s, I’ve known him for over a decade. Rain or shine, he was always parked in that old yellow and orange Ford Torino station wagon taxi out front of the hotel. Calling it a “jalopy” would be kind. But he was as proud of it as any vaquero would be of his cow pony.

A more pleasant man you could not find. Small of stature, with shiny dark eyes and peppered mustache, he would polish that station wagon between fares until it gleamed. Quick to smile and easy to laugh, he’d hustle to open the door for a client or pick up suitcases that seemed to outweigh him.

He always made a point to shake his client’s hands…with both of his. I would hear from some of his passengers who would tell me about his wild rides. It wasn’t that he drove too fast, it was that his car often went too slow! It topped at 45 and almost had to be pushed up steep grades. With a bad suspension and mis-aligned tires, that old Torino Taxi wiggled, wobbled and veered it’s way from destination to destination.

Clients never forgot. Nor did he. If he saw an old client at the hotel, he could remember their favorite restaurant; how many kids they were towing; and sometimes where they were from.

He always dreamed of visiting the United States, but never got around to it. “Algun dia” (someday) he would say smilingly. Right now, I am tan occupado (too busy!) Even when he hadn’t had a fare in hours. He’d go back to polishing his car ready for the next fare to hail him down.

He was a father and grandfather.

During our last chat after Christmas, he and I were laughing that the Mexican minimum wage had been INCREASED to a whopping $4.87 cents. Not per hour. That’s cada dia (PER DAY!)

He said that was good and asked about minimum wage was in the U.S. I embarrassingly told him that it was about 8 dollars cada hora (per hour)! I thought he’d jump on Americans or make a comment about us having too much money. Instead he said, “That is good that America takes care of it’s people. Things are expensive in America so they need to earn more. Mexico should take better care of it’s people too.” And he went back to lovingly polish his car.

We would have chatted more, but he got hailed and someone wanted to go into town. He excitedly said, “Adios, Jonathan, mas tarde” and lightly stepped around the taxi to open the door for the young couple. Shaking their hands as if meeting new friends and greeting them to his home.

“We want to go shopping downtown, please,” they said, as they slid into the backseat.

“Claro que si, amigos!” He lightly bowed and stepped across the front of the car and into the drivers seat. Happy to have his first fare of the day that would net him perhaps 8 dollars and a tip, he waved and winked as he drove by me on the way to town bouncing down the cobblestone driveway. That was our last.

Arturo had a heart attack several days ago and passed away. His funeral yesterday was attended by half the taxi drivers in La Paz.

I was looking through some paperwork and came across an envelope addressed to him. It was a Christmas card I was supposed to give to him before the holidays. But we just kept missing each other.

Once the holidays passed, it’s not the same giving someone a Christmas card. So, I stopped trying.

They say if you can’t do great things, do a lot of little things great. Maybe the planet would be a better place if we all stopped trying to hit home runs in our lives and just took care of our own little space on the planet making it better for others.

That was Arturo the taxi driver. There are so many people in Mexico we come across that do a lot of little things great. We barely notice them because they are good at their jobs. Waiters. Bellmen. Deckhands. Room cleaners. There’s a long list. But despite stereotypes, they take a lot of pride in their work.

The Christmas card was simple. It said, “Peace.” I wish I had made more of an effort to give it to him.


That’s my story. If you ever want to reach me, my e-mail is riplipboy@aol.com.

APPLES TO APPLES

Originally Published in Western Outdoor News the Week of January 15, 2008


As I’m writing this, we’re in the cold, cloudy, rainy weather of the San Francisco Bay area. We just flew in from Baja where we were enjoying temperatures in the sunny 80’s and now we’re bundled up like French fur trappers from the great white north!

We just started our 2008 road show tour which will take us to a number of western cities over the next 3 months at all the major fishing/outdoor shows. We are here now at the ISE Show in San Mateo just outside of San Francisco. Thanks to so many of you that stopped to say hi and comment about the column. We’ll be in Sacramento followed by Denver, Portland, Seattle, Long Beach and Salt Lake City so come say howdy.

Obviously, the whole point of these show is getting info for your next fishing vacation so we’re hearing a lot of common questions from amigos planning their trips to Baja for 2008.

The biggest question is mostly about air flights. In particular the costs.

Baja is undoubtedly the new horizon for a lot of air carriers. Actually, most of the resort areas of Mexico are in the cross-hairs of all kinds of airlines. As a destination, Mexico is close; safe; relatively inexpensive compared to so many other areas and it’s pretty easy to get in and get out whether it’s for a vacation or you’re gonna retire or build or find a vacation spot for yourself.

However, like everything else, the danged fuel costs are taking it to everyone but especially airlines. (By the way, here in the Bay Area, we stopped at one gas station and regular gas was $4.05 for regular!).

Certainly airline costs affect everyone’s travel plans. Here’s a few thoughts if you’re trying to plan your vacation to Baja.

If your hair is not on fire to buy your tickets right now, wait. Historically, we see some nice sales that pop up between January and March. Several airlines fire some nice sales now and then, but you have to be ready to reserve as soon as you see them.

Check out the travel sections of the major papers for ads. The Sunday travel section is a good place to start.
Find out who flies to your prospective destination and bookmark that website. Pop onto it now and again to check for specials.

There are several websites that will compare all the flights schedules and prices for you so you don’t have to bounce between 20 different websites. They line them right up against each other and are great time savers. Personally, I use www.kayak.com among others.

The cool thing is that you can actually program the site to e-mail you automatically when the price of a flight drops below a certain rate or automatically sends you weekly updates. If you work with a travel agent, ask the agent to do the same things for you. It’s a bit more expensive, but there’s nothing like dealing with a live person who’s a professional at travel!

If you have a group, you can also call the airlines directly and ask for a group discount. We have found several that will give discounts for groups as small as 10.

Once you do have the airlines, do a bit of homework. It’s important to compare apples to apples and oranges to oranges.

For instance, one airline might be just a tad cheaper than another. However, find out what about their weight limits. Can you bring 50 pounds or 70 pounds per luggage? One bag or two? How much do they charge for overweight pieces? Will they even allow overweight? (We found a few that hammer you pretty badly).

Remember too that hopefully, coming BACK from your Baja trip you will weigh more than when you arrrived because that ice chest is now packed full of frozen fillets. How much will that ice chest weigh? What happens to that fishing gear you packed in that ice chest which now has to be put in your suitcase or carried on?

There’s one airline out there that charges $100 bucks for rod tubes going down AND coming back. They also use very small planes.

Think about this, that plane can only carry “X” amount of weight. If that plane was full coming down to Baja and is now full coming back, every fisherman aboard now has an extra 50 pounds of fish. There’s a chance some of your luggage might not make the flight.

Seriously. One airline is notorious for that. More than once anglers already sitting in the plane were horrified to see their luggage being taken OFF the flight as they sat helplessly.

So, bottom line. Although one airline might seem cheaper than another, see if the extraneous costs don’t swamp you when you get the final bill.


That’s my story. If you ever want to reach me, my e-mail is riplipboy@aol.com.

THE (LITHIUM) LOAD WARRIOR

Originally published in Western Outdoor News the week of January 8, 2008


OK, for the first part of this column pull out your little violin and listen to me whine. Waaaaaaa…waaa…waaa…waaa…waaa…waaa…

I came back to the states for the holidays to see the family then flew back down here to Baja on Jan. 2nd the day AFTER New Year’s Day. Nothing like hitting the airport the day” holiday cheer” and “good will towards men” is officially is called off. Over. Done.

You know what I’m talking about. Grumpy. Grumpy. Grumpy.

Everyone bustling. Places to go! Airport is jammed. Scores of parents at the end of their tethers after visting granny with three kids in tow. Vacationers stacked with skis and other vacation paraphernalia. College kids headed back to school from winter break. Businessmen already back on the treadmill with ice-cold stares.

I am stuck in line with a bunch of orange-shirted fans from the Illinois University trying to convince themselves that they got “robbed” in the Rose Bowl by USC (Sorry folks…losing 49-17 isn’t robbery, it’s a mugging.) A British couple behind me kept going on and on about how skiing at Big Bear (ski resort just outside of Los Angeles) was nothing like the the Alps and how Europe knows how to take care of skiers! (What were they expecting at Big Bear? )

I go to the security gate which is always a lovely experience taking off my jacket, hat, watch, belt, pulling out my laptop, all while a long line of other grumpy people eyes me impatiently.

Everyone LOVES the shoe part. I happened be wearing high-top lace-up work boats. I take them off and pop them into that grey plasti-basket and PLOP! My white sock lands right in something cold and wet!

Liquids are prohibited, so someone had left their cup of coffee right there where no one…least of all me…had noticed it spilled and chilled. My left foot is in a pool of cold cream coffee. I now have a soaking cold sticky wet sock. Can you feel that? Some people don’t like spiders. I can’t stand soggy socks ‘tween my toes.

The unsympathetic TSA person says, “Hey, got a spare pair of socks?” Oh sure. Carry them all the time in my laptop bag. Do you know what it’s like to put a sticky cold soaking wet sock back into a lace-up shoe? (By the way, I’m also now holding up the line who could care less about my dilemma)

I limp off to the bathroom dangling belt, jacket, shoe-in-hand, with backpack and briefcase a disheveled mess to wring out my sock and try to dry it in the hand dryer. Itself another lovely image in a crowded public restroom. Bad start to my trip home. Waaa-waaa-waaa- waaaa….

So, peripherally, what does this have to do with Baja? Well, listen, I know we gotta protect our air space from terrorists and all so they take away our bottled water and cups of coffee (which you can buy on the OTHER side of the security gate); deadly shampoo; fishing line and duct tape; but here’s the latest.

This I also learned on the day I soaked my socks. As of January 1st, there’s one more thing you have to check off. The FAA is now taking moves to ban laptop and gadget lithium (rechargeable batteries) on planes.

Apparently, in the wake of “exploding batteries (what are they talking about?), it looks like you may have to listen to the screaming baby in the next seat because you can’t bring aboard your iPod. Got an important business meeting? Forget working on the Power Point presentation in the airport or on the plane.

And that expensive laptop? Yes, you’ll have to check it into your soft sided duffle luggage along with your digital camera. Oh, did I mention that your cell phone, Blackberry, and that new iPhone you got for Christmas also have lithium batteries? I have friends that would give up their first-born before parting with their cell phones.

Actually, the way the new rules are written, it currently only applies to spare batteries right now, but reading the actual rules is perplexing. Or maybe I have a small brain.

Go to: http://safetravel.dot.gov/whats_new_batteries.html and give it a read. As I read it, you are prohibited from putting spare batteries into your checked luggage. Carry them aboard. If the batteries are already installed in the device you’re cool. All is fine.

Except…here it comes.

You are limited to no more than “25 grams of lithium.” Total. And no device can have a lithium battery over 8 grams. Most cell phones and laptops have batteries under the limits. But take a look at the rest of the list of how to calculate “grams.”

Anyone keep a gram scale in the house? Last time I saw a gram scale I had long hair and a puka shell necklace and we were…well, that’s another story.

My office is mobile. I live in a place where back-up systems are necessary. I carry two cell-phones; a Blackberry; two laptops; two digital cameras; an iPod and…and…and…

Life’s too short to start the year with a wet sock and taking away my iPod and laptop at the beginning of the year. Waaa- waaa-waaa-waaa-waaaa….

Feliz Ano Nuevo, amigos!


That’s my story. If you ever want to reach me, my e-mail is riplipboy@aol.com.