December 23 to 29 ; Yuma, Arizona, U.S.A. to Los Toltecas, Sonora, Mexico
Sunday ; Another beautiful, sunny, warm day in Yuma !
This morning I did an agility session with Bo. Well done, Bo, good dog ! This afternoon
I polished shoes and sandals. I visited briefly with Hans and Peta. They will likely be moved to our lot when we depart on Thursday. How convenient ! We will leave the Arizona room and shed open and available to them. Peta will water all my plants. We attended the regular weekly ice cream social, then had supper. HA HA HA ... on Sundays we always have dessert before supper. Late in the evening Joanne went grocery shopping to Albertsons.
Monday ; Christmas Eve ; Today I remember my father, who died on Christmas Eve seventeen years ago.
Last night at bedtime Joanne thought she was feeling a cold coming on. She was right ! She woke up this morning feeling pretty miserable with a sore throat and cold ! Fortunately, and somewhat unusually for the circumstances, she felt better as the day progressed.
Today we began slowly preparing for departure on Thursday morning by packing and storing. Hans came over requesting some computer help. I tried but wasn't able to accomplish what he wanted done because Kofa Ko-op's Wi-Fi signal had "disappeared". HUH ?
Last night Joanne baked a cherry and rhubarb pie as a Christmas gift for our friend Larry. This afternoon she delivered the pie along with three types of fruitcake for Carol Mae. We have "store bought" fruitcake from Penticton as well as two different types of fruitcake home made by my sister and mailed to us recently. Thank you, Sharon. I had some of her fruitcake for the first time tonight.
Upholding her family’s tradition Joanne prepared tourtière ( French Canadian meat pie ) for Christmas Eve dinner. Thank you, my dear. Shortly after we finished dinner, Larry and Carol Mae showed up for a visit, followed a few minutes later by Hans and Peta. Everybody had some fruitcake and egg nog. We spent the evening chatting. And I was able to complete the online task Hans wanted help with.
Tuesday ; Merry Christmas !
We recently learned that one of the park's residents is a Canadian lottery winner from British Columbia. It's satisfying ... and somewhat validating ... to know that we live the same lifestyle as that chosen by a lottery winner.
I'm tired today. Bo woke me up three times during the night frantic to be allowed out. Three diarrhea attacks. Maybe he shouldn't have swiped that large piece of my sister's fruitcake out of Peta's hand last night ! ! !
This morning we had a somewhat slow start. I was tired ... and felt as if I might have a cold coming on. Joanne already has a cold. We had our traditional Christmas morning waffle brunch. We went outside to the Arizona room to open gifts. This year we had our Christmas tree and gifts in the Arizona room. Despite being almost nine years of age, Bo still gets Christmas gift opening frenzy. HA HA HA ... what a funny little dog ! We allowed him to open every gift ... his, Joanne's and mine ! Joanne went off to the clubhouse to peel potatoes while I phoned my sister. BRRRRR ... temperature with wind chill factor last night in Lorette ( Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada ) was 40 below ! Sooooo ... I guess having to wear long pants in Yuma on Christmas Day isn't so bad after all ! HA HA HA !
Bo and I went on today's pack walk. HMPH ... small pack today ! Just Bo and Maisie. I did some financial work on the computer while Joanne went to the clubhouse to get set up for communal Christmas dinner. Christmas dinner was fine. We continued our ongoing battle against the "eat and run" mentality found in this RV park ... as well as many other RV parks. Within an hour of the commencement of Christmas dinner the clubhouse was almost empty. We sat at our table and chatted for a couple of hours after dinner with some of our table mates and others who came over after most had "eaten and run". After we returned home Joanne phoned her sister then gave me a foot spa treatment. My Christmas gifts from her included a foot bath along with some foot lotions and creams. Thank you, my love.
Wednesday ; Boxing Day ( in Canada ) For the second night in a row, Bo was sick overnight. He woke me up seven times overnight desperate to be taken outside. Poor Bo ! Joanne was too sick with a cold to share the "take the dog out" responsibility. Poor Joanne ! AND ... Sully woke me the eighth time because the pet water dish was empty. Poor Daniel ! ! ! I did not start my day feeling rested. And I was irritable and cranky all day. So what else is new, right ?
We spent the day repairing things and storing things in preparation for departure tomorrow. I was very frustrated by my inability to get our little generator started.
And I broke the starter recoil cord on it ! I did a temporary repair on the starter recoil cord, but that didn't help get it started !
Late in the evening I went out to run errands. I bought spark plugs and carburetor cleaner at AutoZone and a starter recoil cord at Lowe's. I withdrew cash from the Bank of America ATM and refilled with diesel at Barney's. Great ... took care of a bunch of tomorrow morning's departure errands.
Thursday ; Yuma to Tucson, Arizona
I got up early this morning so that I could repair the generator before finishing our departure preparations. A new spark plug, and carburetor cleaning, and the generator runs like new ! BUT ... I broke my 3/8 drive ratchet working on the generator. DARN !
If it's not one thing, it's another !
We completed our departure preparations, pulled out of our lot, refilled two propane tanks, adjusted the air pressure in the trailer tires, paid our electricity and propane refill bills, and said goodbye to Hans and Peta, who are moving onto our lot for the next nine weeks. My goodness, Kacey is growing fast. I am SOOOO thrilled that we didn't have to head to the Humane Society to drop off a stray kitten on our way out of Yuma !
Before leaving Yuma we stopped at Wally's World and I bought a new 3/8 drive ratchet. We headed eastbound on Interstate 8. Teacapan, Mexico, here we come !
We stopped to have date shakes for lunch at Dateland, an hour or so east of Yuma. Poor Bo ! We didn't give him any date shake because his digestive system has been "out of service" for a few days. Yesterday we fed him small quantities of our home remedy for doggy diarrhea, a mixture of boiled ground beef and white rice. It worked, as always. But ... assuming his system is still fragile ... no date shake for Bo today. He did not understand why we had date shakes and he didn't get any ! I felt so badly for him.
We continued eastbound on Interstate 8. We stopped at Gila Bend so that I could nap briefly. More eastbound on I-8 until it merged with Interstate 10 near Casa Grande. Eastbound on I-10 into Tucson, and then through Tucson we turned south on
Interstate 19 / Nogales Highway. We found a Wal-Mart and did our last Wal-Martin' for a couple of months ( I hope ! ). We went to Lowe's where I bought a couple of items that Wal-Mart didn't have, then we went to Burger King for supper. A few more miles south on I-19 and we found our way to Desert Diamond Casino where we boondocked overnight.
Long day, lots of work, lots of miles, everybody's tired, Joanne is still sick !
Friday ; Tucson, Arizona to Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico
Joanne is still very ill with a cold. We departed Desert Diamond Casino's parking lot this morning and headed south out of Tucson on Interstate 19 / Nogales Highway. We stopped at a Pilot fuel station in Rio Rico to refill with diesel. We crossed the border from Nogales, Arizona to Nogales, Sonora, Mexico. Mexico Customs just waved us through ! About 21 km. / 13 miles into Mexico we had to stop at Immigration.
Driving across the border from the United States into Mexico is completely different than driving across the border from Canada into the United States. Mexico doesn't care who you are, where you live, what you're bringing into the country ... as long as you pay the somewhat exorbitant fees to enter. HA HA HA ! And the process is complicated and inefficient ! We spent two hours waiting in lines, shuffling from Immigration agent to Banjercito agent to Immigration agent, waiting in more lines, filling out forms, waiting while agents filled out lots of forms, and paying lots of money. We paid about $25 for each of two tourist cards ( like visas ), about $50 to temporarily import the truck, about $50 to temporarily import the trailer, and a $300 vehicle import deposit, refundable when we leave the country ... IF we turn in the proper paperwork of course !
When we were finally finished at Immigration it was time for lunch. We had lunch in the Immigration parking lot, then headed south on MEX 15. At Magdalena we left MEX 15 and drove through the city to avoid yet another toll booth on MEX 15. Thank you to Church's Camping In Mexico guide book ! When we reached yet another toll booth just before Hermosillo we turned into the Pemex ( fuel station ) and boondocked overnight.
The scenery today was unremarkable, just a lot of scruffy desert, not unlike parts of Arizona and West Texas. And I had forgotten that in Mexico even a "good" road like MEX 15 is quite poor by gringo standards.
Saturday ; Hermosillo to Los Toltecas, Sonora, Mexico
Oh, yes ... now I remember ! < sigh > Travel by RV in Mexico certainly has a lot of difficult challenges ! And ... we made mistakes today ! That resulted in us travelling for half an hour at dusk and more than half an hour in darkness ! That's a cardinal sin when RV'ing in Mexico !
This morning before departing the Pemex station we pulled over to the diesel pumps and refilled with diesel. WOW ... a thousand pesos ! I need to readjust my money thinking into pesos ! While still at the diesel pump we refilled our freshwater tank. Which took FOREVER with a very slow water flow ! While Joanne patiently held the water fill nozzle
I wandered around the Pemex station. I befriended one of the two stray dogs that obviously considered the Pemex station their home.
There are three aspects of Mexican cultural that bother me. Obviously one of the three is the plight of dogs in Mexico. Most seem "stray" ! The old girl that I made friends with had some Golden Retriever in her. She was old and arthritic, mangy and flea bitten. But most upsetting was her severely damaged left eye. Hard to believe that an old dog could survive such trauma without some veterinary care. Her left eyeball was just a blob of infected mush. Around the eye socket was heavily scabbed. Poor old girl. I fed her some of Bo's food.
Then I wandered over to a vendor selling "road food" for truckers and travellers. What we call "road food" is extremely common in Mexico, and one of the aspects of Mexican culture that we really enjoy. Especially Bo ! But, alas, not today for Bo. His digestive system is still too fragile for Mexican road food. The vendor was selling burritos, obviously prepared by his wife, probably last night. I bought a bag of cinco ( 5 ) burritos for cuarenta ( 40 ) pesos, about $3.20. Tres ( 3 ) burritos were filled with machaca con papas ( shredded beef with potatoes ) and dos ( 2 ) were filled with frijoles ( refried beans ). We ate them for supper. Bo thought we should have eaten them right there and then for breakfast !
A few miles after leaving the Pemex I pulled off the road onto a scruffy gravel roadside area and dumped the shower and kitchen waste holding tanks. HEY ... it's Mexico ! A few miles later we passed through the first of what should have been five toll booths today. It had been our intention to travel from the U.S. border all the way to Mazatlan on the "good" but expensive toll road MEX 15. However, on impulse, we decided to try to evade toll booths, if it seemed feasible. There is always a "free" road ( libre ) alternative, and many of the toll booths are adjacent to cities. By leaving the toll road on one side of the city, driving through the city, and coming out the other side of the city, the toll booths can sometimes be avoided. And each toll booth costs us the peso equivalent of ten to fifteen dollars. We enjoy ( for the most part ) the adventure of driving through small cities. The libre road is always in bad condition, but, HEY ... MEX 15 is not much better most of the time. Today we paid two tolls and avoided three others. And we determined which "evasions" were worthwhile, and which were not, for the return trip.
At a traffic light in Hermosillo two boys, about ten and twelve years of age, jumped up on the truck's front tires, reached as far as they could over the hood of the truck, and began washing the windshield, despite us vigorously waving them off. When finished the older one asked for "a dollar". I said no and gave them each a scribbler and pencil, both emblazoned with CANADA. At least they're doing something productive and not sitting at home watching videos on Saturday morning like most NorteAmericano / gringo kids !
Driving through Hermosillo I saw a small shopping mall with two banks and a large grocery store. We pulled in to check out the banks' exchange rates. We need to exchange some U.S. dollars for pesos. The mall parking lot was not "big rig friendly". WHEW ... tough job getting around in the parking lot. And parking ! All for nothing ... the banks were closed ! And Joanne said we didn't need any groceries yet.
At Guaymas we reached the shoreline of the Sea of Cortez for the first time. And driving along the beach we could see fishermen pulling up their pangas ( small fishing boats ), and selling their wares on the road side. I slammed on the brakes as soon as I saw a vendor holding up bags of freshly caught shrimp. I mean ... caught this morning ! ! ! The shrimp were right out of the sea, not yet washed, not yet cleaned, not yet chilled. I bought three bags full of large shrimp ( about a dozen per bag ) for ciento cinquenta ( 150 ) pesos, about $12. Bo was really upset that we put them on the dashboard until we stopped shortly thereafter for a lunch break, then put them into the fridge to be cleaned and repackaged for freezing later. "HEY ... why are you eating turkey sandwiches when we have PERFECTLY GOOD RAW SHRIMP ? ! ? What is the matter with you people ? ! ?" HA HA HA ! Not today, Bo.
We got lost ( for the first of three times today ! ) driving through Ciudad Obregon avoiding a toll. I was proud of my ability to ask directions in Spanish at a Pemex station. "Good afternoon ! Do you speak English ? ( NO ! ) Where is route 15 to Navojoa, please. Thank you. Goodbye" That conversation repeated itself two more times today, with just the name of the city changed.
Driving through Navajoa I saw a Scotiabank ( Canadian bank ). Thinking that maybe the exchange rate and / or service charges would be better at a Canadian bank when I use a different Canadian bank's ( our bank is BMO / Bank of Montreal ) debit card to withdraw at an ATM, I decided to withdraw a thousand pesos. I did the withdrawal process incorrectly twice, but got it right the third time. Later in the evening I was able to calculate the exchange rate and service charges, and they were quite reasonable.
After getting lost in Huatabampo avoiding a toll booth near Navojoa, we found our way back to MEX 15 at dusk, and then drove in darkness on MEX 15 until we found a Pemex station to park at / boondock overnight. Initially I thought it was in the middle of nowhere but after getting parked we realized that a small ejido ( farming village ) was behind the Pemex. It was somewhat rowdy, tonight being the Saturday night of the New Year's weekend. It was disconcerting to occasionally hear nearby revellers firing their guns into the air, a Mexican New Year's "tradition".
DSK
No comments:
Post a Comment