Mexico erupted in a war among drug cartels in the summer of 2010. Violence that had been somewhat confined to some border cities spread to other places located on prime drug trafficking routes. The fictional city of Ciudad Tampa was one of those places. The story of that summer is told by Emilio, a businessman in the city and a part time minister to people in a shanty town on the edge of the city. It is a story of how the violence destroyed the fabric of life in what had been a quiet, little city, and how people took desperate measures to protect themselves and rid their city of the violence and crime. This is a story of human tragedy and triumph.

This book tells the story of a retired couple taking the long way home from San Diego, California to Melbourne Beach, Florida. It is a tale of adventure, teamwork, and faith; a story of how two retirees went outside their comfort zone putting themselves in positions where they had to rely on strangers that just seemed to pop-up at the right time. They met people they would have never seen whizzing across America in a car. Along the way, a cowboy, state troopers, EMTs, preachers, a bike racer, an Emmy winner, and a lot of friendly people crossed their path. Of course, dogs often came to greet the bike riders pedaling past. Crossing America at 15 miles per hour while stopping in every small town in their path, Frank and Helen saw a very different country than one they have experienced driving at 70 mile per hour on the interstate highway. This is an account of a couple married 35 years working together as a team to accomplish a shared goal. Their adventure riding bikes for hours on empty roads through wide open spaces shows how shared experiences can change lives. It is the authors hope that this book will inspire others to step out of their comfort zone and risk taking the long way home.