Finally, Uncle Skip

My Uncle Skip drove giant tractor-trailers cross country for a living when I was a kid, and Uncle Skip was cool.

He loved snakes and spiders and rode motocross and his van was painted in a fantasy mural and my brother and I always wanted to go on a big rig trip.

My brother finally went, but I wasn't allowed to, because it was not a thing for 10-year-old girls.

If I remember correctly, Mike and Skip had some nutjob road rage them in a Smokey and the Bandit style altercation, and that was that.

Well, finally I got my ride!

My good friend here, Frankling, drives a big rig and we took it ... 14 hours ... to Managua to pick up construction materials for a guy who is building a house, and then he kindly invited me, on his dime, to go to a big bookshop to get games and books and a whiteboard for the preschool.

Jadir, which I know I'm murdering the spelling, was so generous and despite that 14 hours, which you think is hell, was pretty fun actually, and when I was waiting around, I slept in the cab and would wake up to think, "I am so tall! We could crush these cars!"

We got $200 of supplies and games and learning games for the school.

I got my rig ride.

And it was like a video game. It's big - like a bus - and Frankling was maneuvering that thing like Dom Torreto. At one point we were like 2 inches from a car, and had to back up and do a K turn in the street, cars parked on either side. There's no nose, so from my vantage point, we were IN the back seat. Incredible!

And I also spent a short time discussing the pros and cons and merits of a lie detector machine, in Spanish, so I guess I'm progressing here, and I THINK it ended with Jadir inviting me to eat iguana at his house at some point because I have not eaten the dish yet.

I will let you know if it tastes like chicken.
Here's Jadir.
PS We picked up a guy at the construction site who needed a ride, and Jadir bought him dinner too. Good guy.