Sunday ; Sunny and very warm. Cooked a beef stew in the Sun Oven today.
Gave away my bicycle today. Took the camper off the truck, in anticipation of taking the truck in for service later this week, probably to the Dodge dealer in El Centro, California, about an hour west of here. Was going to take it to the Dodge dealer here in Yuma, but got a recommendation from a friend to consider the smaller (and more “Mexican”) Dodge dealer in El Centro.
Monday ; Sunny and hot, temperature this afternoon reaching 91°F.
Spent the afternoon running errands. Got a lot done. Dropped off recycling. Refund at Lowe’s. Large donation of stuff to Goodwill. Paid Yuma property tax bill. Took Arizona room vinyl wall panel for repair. Bought and installed windshield wiper for minivan. AHHHHH … milk shakes at Sonic!
Tuesday ; Los Algodones, Baja California, Mexico
Sunny and hot. WOO-HOO … Nugs and Coconugs!
After an early lunch at home we headed west out of Yuma on Interstate 8, crossing the Colorado River into California, then a very short distance south to the Mexico border. We parked and walked across into Los Algodones. First stop was our dentist’s office to make appointments for cleanings and examinations next Tuesday. Next was a new “spa” where I got a haircut and Joanne got a pedicure and haircut. We were both very satisfied with the results. I went to Meyer Optical to see if they could repair my broken sunglasses frame. They couldn’t, but they might still be able to order that frame. I left it with them and will check back with them in a week. I shopped for and bought a couple of leather belts. Joanne and I both bought some needed medications. We bought Nugs and Coconugs chocolate bars! And some Zuko drink mixes. And a huge chocolate cookie. And some cajeta (Mexican goat’s milk caramel). And a cold bottle of iced tea to share while we waited in the border crossing line-up.
The three people in front of us in the border crossing line-up were Canadians. They were masked, and socially distanced. The four people in the line-up behind us were Americans. Drunk obnoxious Americans. No masks. No social distancing. After “Karen” lurched and stumbled into me repeatedly, I finally turned around and told her to “move back and put distance between us”. I could tell when she explained my “request” to “Chad” that she did not understand why. What a ****ing Covidiot!
After a half hour in line we crossed the border around 5:15 PM. As was the case a couple of years ago it seemed today as if the CBP agents on the U.S. southern border are operating under “leave the Canadians alone” guidelines. It became dark as we drove home. It was Joanne’s idea to stop at KFC and buy dinner. <shrug> Fine by me.
Wednesday ; Sunny and hot.
Trailer maintenance today. Preparing to sell it.
Thursday ; El Centro, California
Sunny and hot.
Late this morning we headed out in both vehicles, west on Interstate 8 into California to El Centro, about an hour from Yuma. The truck HVAC repairs done in Steinbach a couple of months ago failed to resolve the problem, and further diagnosis and repairs are required. I made a decision to take the truck to the Dodge dealer in El Centro, a small city, rather than take it to the big city Dodge dealer here in Yuma.
Thanks to our outdated GPS database I had difficulty finding my way in El Centro to the dealership. After leaving the truck with their service department we went off in search of a place to have a late lunch. Found Cardeñas, the Mexican supermarket. We are familiar with the Cardeñas supermarket chain, having shopped at their Palm Springs store a few times. Their El Centro store is even larger and nicer than their Palm Springs store. We had a wonderful Mexican lunch at the in-store cocina (“fast food” restaurant). After lunch we decided to buy some of this week’s advertised specials, and replenish groceries. WOO-HOO … pan dulce for breakfasts and bed time snacks!
Before leaving El Centro we stopped at the Bank of America, the El Centro branch now being the closest location to Yuma since they closed their Yuma branch a few years ago, to update our Canadian address on file, which I was unable to do online. After sitting in their “customer lounge” area for about fifteen minutes, watching four glass offices occupied by staff trying everything humanly possible to avoid having to serve me … I stomped out!
However … the good news is … everybody in El Centro was masked. At the Dodge dealership, in the supermarket, in the bank. I don’t know if that is reflective of California attitudes, or Hispanic attitudes. El Centro, like Yuma, is very near the Mexican border, and El Centro is as Mexican as a city in America can possibly be.
We returned to Yuma just in time to refill the minivan with fuel before heading to Historic Yuma Theater for this month’s foreign art film presentation by Arizona Western College’s film studies program. Tonight’s movie was Corpus Christi, a Polish film nominated last year for an Academy Award in the category of “Best Foreign Film”. It was a powerful film, albeit a bit disturbing. It was about 10 PM by the time we got home and had our very late supper of carrot cheddar soup from MJ’s Kafe in Steinbach. The initial plan had been to buy a burrito for supper at Holtville Taco on our way back from El Centro, but … we were running late.
Friday ; Sunny and hot.
Saturday ; Sunny and hot.
DSK
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