The Adventures of Wiley Dog and Sparky: MEXICO Sparky's 30th birthday adventure with Pat Farrell starts love of murals

It was the summer of 1976 and Sparky had talked his good friend Pat Farrell in celebrating his 30Th birthday with an special adventure. That adventure was going to Mexico by mostly hitchhiking. Sparky was a old hand at that means of travel but his friend was most certainly not. Their 9,000 mile trip lasted over a month and was packed with one exciting moment after another. One of the effects of this grand journey was that after seeing the great Mexican murals he never lost his love for that artistic expression. After driving to Davis, California and partying with friends they embarked southwards. Their first moment of hitch hiking should have given them a clue on what was in store for them. At the on ramp the two joined in with a fellow who seemed to have been there for a while and was a " little " grumpy. Sporting waste length hair and a trench coat he was not catching a much needed ride. " Where are you guys going?", he asked. " Mexico." was the response. " You guys go there and you will die !" was his response. That shook Sparky and Pat. The stranger went on with a wild story how his friends had gone and came back in a box. All the time muttering you will die. After another 15 minutes and numerous cars zipping by he ripped off his trench coat threw it in a near by garbage can and headed back to Davis yelling back at us, " See ya in hell !" Suddenly a car stopped and we were off but we were a shaken traveler. From that moment on things were always going on around us but this adventure was blessed with great fortune every day. For example; in Tepic, Mexico, they boarded a bus for the two hour trip to the coastal town of San Blas. The bus was standing room full with all going to party on the coast. Sparky's birthday is April 16 and this year that was going to be Easter Sunday. In Mexico Easter is a national holiday and this movie set of a town was packed. There was no rooms any where and not knowing minute by minute what they would be doing prevented any careful planning on this trip. Finally finding a motel on the outskirts of town that for a small price you could sleep on their lawn. The lawn was a sea of travelers from all parts of the world and after pitching their tent Sparky and Pat were at home. It was a non stop party for days, a birthday that Sparky has never forgotten. On the third night a fellow American who was camping at the same site ran into the two travelers. He looked in state of shock and explained that the motel's night watchman had gotten drunk and stole what he could and destroyed the rest. Things did not look good ! Sparky and Pat decided that they were having too much fun and what could they do any way so they continued to stay in town and celebrate. Finally the time came to return to see what if anything remained of their gear. Entering the court yard they could see what had previously been described to them. It was a mess, what once was a neat and clean camping site was a sea of destruction. In the center of this was their tent standing tall. To their surprise all was untouched ! As I said each and every day those two rode on a magic carpet. To the beach and then on to Mexico City !