January 11, 2026 “Long Strange Trip”

 What a Long, Strange Trip It’s Been

January 11, 2026

Today felt like a true road-trip odyssey. Many hours on less than perfect Panamanian roads. In tribute to Bobby Weir’s passing last evening, and all the music and memories tied to him and the Grateful Dead, Rebecca let me listen to the Dead for most of the drive. There’s something about those songs rolling on in the background that makes the miles feel like part of a story rather than just pavement passing by.

It was a six-hour drive from Panama City to the small beach village of Cambutal. The day, the music, and the long ribbon of road all seemed to fit with that line: what a long, strange trip it’s been.

We checked into the Cambutal Hotel just in time to watch the Jaguars lose their divisional playoff game to the Bills in the wild card round. Cambutal feels like a sleepy little place — slow air, quiet streets, ocean somewhere just beyond the horizon of trees. This afternoon was all about rest after the long ride, especially after the last hour, which was a pothole-marked stretch advertised as the “new road” into Cambutal. New, apparently, in spirit only, certainly not in road texture!

The drive carried us through countless small Panamanian villages, each with its familiar rhythm, and each with a Chinese-owned supermercado, a dusty main road, and a sense of time moving a little differently. When you go into the store, you learn the trick quickly — pick the package with the least dust and hope that means it’s the freshest. We also stopped at Quesos Chela, of course — a compulsory stop on any beachward drive leaving Panama City.

We grabbed empanadas and queso blanco for the road. The final hour into Cambutal was winding and narrow, full of potholes, blind turns, and hills — jungle on both sides, road ahead uncertain, the ocean somewhere waiting at the end of it.

Now it’s time to rest, let the road unwind from our shoulders, and listen just a little longer as the music fades into the sound of the evening.