Sunday ; Early this morning I received the very sad news that my childhood best friend, and Best Man at our wedding, Dwight has died after a two year battle with pancreatic cancer. Rest in peace, old friend. We offer our deepest sympathy to his wife, Jennifer.
Sunny and warm. Joanne went grocery shopping by herself this afternoon. I did maintenance on the minivan, in preparation for selling it. And I listened to the CFL Western Final (Winnipeg Blue Bombers vs. Saskatchewan Roughriders) football game online on CJOB radio. WOO-HOO … THE WINNIPEG BLUE BOMBERS ARE GOING TO THE GREY CUP!
Monday ; Sunny and very warm.
Tuesday ; Los Algodones, Baja California, Mexico
Overcast and mild, a few drops of rain late in the afternoon.
This morning we left home at 10 AM heading for Los Algodones where we both had dental cleaning and examination appointments for 11 AM. I was seen promptly at 11 AM. EXCELLENT Covid protocols and procedures in our dentist’s office, including spraying disenfectant spray head to toe on each patient and putting surgical gowns on them prior to entering the examination rooms. When my dental cleaning, and periodontal examination, including X-rays were completed at 12:05 PM Joanne was still sitting in the waiting room … seething. I paid my bill (fifty bucks), Joanne tossed a bit of a hissy fit at the receptionist, and … we left. And while my dental cleaning was excellent, my periodontal examination was done by a very young and inexperienced “general” dentist, because my periodontist was “delayed by surgery at another location”.
We went for lunch to our favourite restaurant in Los Algodones. Dos tacos el pastor, uno taco carne asada y Fanta Naranja for Joanne, uno taco carne asada, uno taco pollo, uno taco camaron, y Coca-Cola Lite for me. Fifteen bucks. After lunch we went to three different optical shops and got prices on eyeglasses. Over the years we have previously purchased eyeglasses at each of those three opticians. Today we got eye exams and purchased three pairs of eyeglasses at Algodones Optical ; single vision eyeglasses and prescription sunglasses for Joanne, Transitions trifocals with anti-reflective coating eyeglasses for me. Eighty-one dollars for Joanne’s two pairs, a hundred and sixty bucks for mine, frames and eye exams included.
Joanne bought some medications, I bought another leather belt, after buying two leather belts last week, and we wandered around town browsing dental cleaning prices (for Joanne) at various dentist’s offices. We got tired around 3:30 PM and headed to the border crossing line-up.
A minute or two after we got into line an old, unmasked, American man got into line inches behind us. I turned around and politely asked him to “please back up six feet and give us some ‘social distance’ ”. He got “lippy”. I snapped at him to “fuck off and back up !” Well … that worked ! Joanne was displeased with my methodology. HEY ! Plan A didn’t work, so … I deployed Plan B, and it worked well, didn’t it ? ! Today’s border crossing line-up was twenty minutes, less than usual.
Wednesday ; Holtville and El Centro, California
Sunny and hot.
Late this morning we headed west on Interstate 8 across the Colorado River into California. About an hour later we were in Holtville where we bought a couple of California burritos at Holtville Taco Shop. A California burrito is a carne asada burrito with french fries also in it. Joanne thinks it’s very efficient to include french fries in a food item. HA HA HA! We went to the beautiful municipal park at the centre of town (like in every town, large or small ... in Mexico) and had a picnic lunch.
A few more miles west and we were in El Centro where I picked up our truck at Imperial Valley Chrysler Dodge Jeep. I had taken it there six days ago to have a problem diagnosed, but after a preliminary check, they quoted US$1200 as the cost of diagnosing the problem. PHHHHT … I don’t think so! After picking up the truck we went to Cardeñas, the Mexican supermarket in El Centro. WOO-HOO … more pan dulce. And Dos Equis beer!
We returned to Yuma in both vehicles. As we crossed the Colorado River back into Arizona Joanne headed to Fry’s to refill the minivan with fuel, and I drove straight home. After our sunset exercise walk I prepared Scotch eggs for supper. MMMMM … well done, Daniel!
Thursday, Friday, Saturday ; Mix of sun and clouds, cool during the day, cold in the evenings and overnight. Winter has arrived!
We sold our fifth wheel trailer on Thursday. We spent the last three days moving everything out of the trailer and into either the camper or temporarily the Arizona room. The buyer is supposed to take the trailer tomorrow/Sunday afternoon.
We bought the trailer in Ottawa in the fall of 2003, and in June 2004 began living in it and travelling full time for about ten years, and about 400,000 km./250,000 miles! For the past eight years or so it has been our winter home here on our lot in Yuma. It has served us very well. We sold it (very cheap!) to a Hispanic family business that buys and refurbishes old, inexpensive trailers, then sells them as winter season housing to migrant farm workers. And so, like us, Harvey the RV is embarking on a new phase of life in its “golden years”.
DSK
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