Ann wrote this late Sunday night 19 April 1998 from Antigua, Guatemala. By the way, they have cancelled their voice mail service. -- Phil ------------------------------- Hey Family and Friends! A last note before we leave Antigua and lose our easy access to email. It's hard to believe that the day is actually coming up! Monday we'll start riding on towards Honduras through the rest of the mountains of Guatemala. Why oh why do we have to be in the middle of the most mountainous country in Central America? At least it will continue to be cooler for a bit. If you have a map, find Antigua and follow the small roads to a town called Jalapa, then head east and south to Escuintla and then into Honduras where we will take some more back roads to Tegucigalpa. Should take us about a week to get there and then another week or so to Managua or nearby. We're trying to unload some of the stuff we've gathered over the past 2 1/2 months. A sitting stone gathers lots of moss, if you know what I mean! We ended up with a few sponsorships which really helped (a wholesale tandem from Cannondale, equipment from Cascade Designs, REI, JANDD and free work from our local bike shop, The Pedaler). Kent's parents were kind of like the office managers who spent tons of time tracking down leads and equipment and sending things. Couldn't have done it without them! Physically, we're probably as ready as we'll ever be - total wimps after the long rest! My back gives me trouble, waking me up in the wee hours of the morning and I am frustrated by it but it doesn't seem to bother me while riding, even on the bumpy cobblestones here in Antigua. Kent's wrist is strong enough now and doesn't seem to bother him at all. Psychologically, I think we're a little tense about getting started; it's easy to get used to security and hard to step away from it. But we have a long way to go and still have a desire to go there! So anyway, God be with you all and remember us! We'll be in touch as we gain access to email! Love, Ann and Kent ------- End of UPD17.TXT