Nov 09, 2019

We did not cross into Mexico today

I don’t know where to begin but best to go back to where I left off yesterday.

Now I know why we use the bypass via Buckeye along Hwy 85 and onto I8 and then onto I 10 and onto Tucson and I19. Going around Phoenix is a nightmare especially on a Friday afternoon of a long weekend.  We only discovered today that it was a long weekend.

How pretty our crushed recycling looks.

We were going to be arriving in the dark by about 30 minutes.

That was the 30 minutes I tried to get our Visa card to work yesterday at Freightliner.

Or the 20 minute merge onto I19 because of an accident. We had to stop along here as that loose fender began flying in the breeze again. Enough to get two truckers to warn us and and one honking single motorist.

We checked into Mountain View RV Park about 6:30PM.  We drove 283.3 miles yesterday, about the same had we done the Hwy 85 bypass.  We had not been stopped more than 5 minutes when there was a knock at the door .  A woman was selling beef tamales.  Meanwhile Colin came in as I was setting up to tell me that we had no coolant in the reservoir plus there was some dirt in there. So Colin went over to ask Bill of More Golden Years if he had any suggestions.  We knew that Carol and Bill would be there. No concrete suggestions but we had a very short visit before I chased them out as we had to eat.

Considering the circumstances I thought that we were eating a very good meal at 9:30PM.  Wild salmon patty, romaine salad, coleslaw, broccoli and rice. I finally completed my blog at midnight.

This morning we woke up refreshed at 7AM.  We were not in a rush as we did not want to arrive in the Totonaka area too soon due to the heat and us not have any cooling system with both the generator and batteries down.  Last night I had pulled out all my Mexico maps, put our US money away and filled our wallets with pesos and call forwarded our Canadian cell phone to our home number.  We were ready to hit that Mexican border.

Colin came in just before we put our slides in and told me that we were not going anywhere.  We had a major problem with the radiator.  Bill came over and said that if it was him he would not move towards Mexico.  I finally found a truck repair place open in Tucson and they said that they would help us once we arrived. So off we went heading north 😥  and got there about 10:05AM, they came over to see us about 11AM. They did a pressure test and it was very obvious that we had a radiator leak.

They obviously work on both RV’s and trucks so we felt that we were in good hands.  However this is when we became aware that it was a long weekend.  No one would work on the radiator until Tuesday.

Lots of oil on the back of the engine(last night in the dark, Colin was checking the oil level too and forgot to tighten the oil fill cap) and dripping antifreeze everywhere. So we decided to limp to an RV park less than a mile away that happened to have just one open site for the weekend.

Better to do that for three nights and return at 7AM Tuesday and have the radiator removed.  It would then be sent to a radiator shop that usually manages to do a 24 hour turn around. We would of course have to move into a hotel for Tuesday evening. If the radiator was not back by noon Wednesday then we might have to spend a second night in the hotel.  We are really hoping for a reinstall by Wednesday late afternoon so that we can cross into Mexico on Thursday.  We still have an appointment to have our generator removed the morning of our arrival into Mazatlan.  I think that possibly Saturday would work but not so much Sunday. Our only concern is that this shop only deals in cash.  We will have many trips to an ATM and between us we will get the required cash amount.

Fortunately we were able to check into the Crazy Horse RV Park for a discounted $41.40 per night 😯  We have no choice as we can’t drive too far.  Wish that the internet was better but at least we have a spot.  I was pretty much in shock for most of the day but am finally accepting the que pasa of it all. I did all of my million  to do’s today and plan to take the next two days off.  We can run around on Tuesday and Wednesday when we are homeless.

Colin with the help of our French Canadian neighbour sorted out our blowing in the wind fender problem. He provided and helped install this brace and it works.

Those two basement doors will now open as one. That white stripe in the middle is residue from the gorilla tape.  Colin will remove that tomorrow.

Lovely sunset tonight but from the wrong country.  Oh by the way, that canopy cover is all solar panels.  You have to pay $7.00 more per night to benefit from the shade of the canopy.  We had no choice as this was the only open spot.  You have no idea how much we wish to be free of being tied to an RV park.

Our original radiator only lasted until April 2008, however it was repaired twice, first time in Rincon, found it coming down the hill, second time in Aguascalientes and found it because Carmeh insisted on going to the bathroom right now.  So we stopped beside a Pemex that become our home for several days.  They were most gracias as it was a car only Pemex. Both those times it was removed and repaired off site. Then we had the core replaced in Vancouver in April of 2008 at Ed Walkers’s.  So this time we were just an hour away from Mexico when we caught the problem. Our radiator apparently prefers to break down in Mexico.  This time our second original core will be repaired here in the US.

Yes I know, not the post that you were expecting.  Still hoping to get to the Isla sometime next weekend.

 

Comments(18)

Nov 08, 2019

Pushing ahead! From one RV service facility to another….

….it is not costing us a ton of money but is huge on frustration.  Some have commented on how unlucky we are.  I prefer to say that we have enjoyed this RV from 19 wonderful years with few incidents. Now that I am blogging and mention every single incident it seems to be a lot and it is but then we are dealing with an aging lady who needs some TLC.  She has another 2o years in her.

I want to start with the Mexico updates in case you get bored reading about the que pasa of the next breakdown.

This is a brief note from Kathy of Kathy & Eric’s Travels. Click here for her post from Nogales to Navajoa. Plus this is a wee an excerpt from yesterday re travel on the Sinaloa roads “Yesterday’s travel was on Sinaloa roads and they aren’t like the new concrete Sornora ones.  Some areas were repaved but a lot were rough and …lots of expensive tolls.    However…we weren’t pulling the RV so it was a lot easier on us because the fifth wheel wasn’t bashing around behind us.  I might also add that in the two days travel from the Mexican border we did not see even one RV.  No motorhomes, no trailers or 5th wheels.  Odd.”

Carol and Bill who write More Golden Years are staying in Amado and went into get their paperwork at KM 21 yesterday.  Click here for a detailed write up between Nogales and KM21.  There is some great advice in here. Thank you Carol, now I won’t have to write about this tomorrow.  Plus you gave me some pointers about those different wave topes.

Blog reader Al sent some valuable information re manually setting up the Shaw wineguard system in the US and in Mexico.  Thanks for this.  I know that Pierre is ecstatic as he now has TV again.

SK-7003 Manual Point Procedure-1

In the good news department, Libby was flown back to Edmonton today.  Apparently she endured the flight well and last I heard was being checked in via emergency.  Likely she will be having surgery on the one arm in the next  day or so.

Back to when we arrived in Quartzsite yesterday.  We did all the usual like fill the propane, fill up our two fresh water five gallon jugs and head over to RV Lifestyles.

Buck made a point of explaining all the details of the Heathrite 10,000 BTU heating system.

You can get a manual or thermostat adjustment and of course the 10K size or even larger.  Then you have to chose between the blue flame heater ( on the left ) which directs the heat upward or the radiant heater ( second from the left ) aka as the two brick heater.  We chose the radiant  heater and as they could not install it until mid next week we will wait and have them hold it for us and get it done in March on our way north.  I have a question for all of you who already have one of these, which one did you chose and why?  I like the idea of the heat coming directly towards me and warming me up.  We then stoped at Love’s and had Alan check the tires and he agrees that we do need new ones but that these would get us the 1500 miles to and from Mazatlan. Another quick stop at Herbs Hardware for a few water parts and we were done with the errands.

We checked into the Passport America Park, Hasslers RV Park, just on the dot of five as the office was closing. A great place for $15.95 per night.  A great deal neat art on site.

We parked, put the jacks down and slides out and then noticed our neighbour who lives in this small cargo van. When I opened our bedroom window which was jus a few feet away, I gasped.  The smell of smoke was unbearable.  Colin agreed.  Plus we had no idea if he left the door open all night.

This is where our latest issue started, the rear RV airbags were not inflating.  Finally we got them half full and were able to wobble to a new pull through site. Which was one site over from this gentleman.  It  appears that he likes to collect things.

What a cute little place just across the way from us.

We want to say a very special thank you to Sky who was managing the park for a few days.  She is a Canadian from Salmon Arm and was beyond helpful.  We have always dry camped in Q but with our current issues and needing shore power we had no choice.  Hasslers RV park is an interesting place in many ways other than it’s neat decor and art and has some very unique people living there.  It would be interesting to meet some of them .  However we were beyond exhausted and needed to rest.

We ended up walking over to Silly Al’s for pizza as I was too tired to cook. This was a great bruschetta pizza with lots of fresh ‘real’ mushrooms, garlic and a good deal mozzarella cheese.  Our first time there but for certain we will be going back.

There was a live band playing and they were pretty good but the sound levels were off and made the music discordant. Colin thought that the guitarist was very good.  We even danced to two songs but I was ready to leave.  In fact I was in bed by 9:30PM.

Colin took the photos with his iPhone. Our RV.

Love the whale on the right.

Apparently there are over 10,000 horseshoes in all these pieces of art.

This morning was the big reveal.  As I showered Colin called around to find where we could get air bag repairs.  He even discovered that possible the local Love’s might be able to help.  We dumped and filled the fresh water tank as we had no idea if we would be leaving and if we did how far would we get or would be stuck at a truck repair chop over the weekend.  Colin walked away to dispose of our garbage while I sent out a prayer to the powers that be to get us going.  I then started the engine.  Colin came back and put it into cruise control at 1200 RPM in order to speed up the compressor that would create a greater flow of air to the air bags.  It worked and we were driving by 9:30AM.

We stopped at Freightliner in Tolleson just west of Phoenix at 11:30 PM.

They have their own RV division but were fully booked but promised to fit us in.  The RV was not taken in until 12:40 and we only then learned that they only work until 3:30PM on a Friday.  We really did not want to stay there until Monday. At 2PM we were told that the RV was ready.  They have no idea if they fixed the problem as the problem did nor manifest itself.  They only had the one part out of the two that could be the problem so they changed that.  $418.00USD!!!  The part cost $76.00. Ouch  😯  However we were not hooked up and driving until 2:50PM.  Colin moved the RV and the Jeep and did the hooking up while I spent a full thirty minutes trying to pay the bill.  Their credit card machine refused our Canadian card.  We tried bypassing the PIN, etc.  I called ScotiaVisa and they said that the card was fine but the machine was the problem.  Finally my Mastercard worked by bypassing the PIN.  Just one more thing to deal with.  That half hour delay would become an issue later in the day.

It is now midnight and we are crossing into Mexico tomorrow.  You will get the rest of the story in the next post. Suffice to say we are in Amado and hopefully good to go.  Oh yes there was another coolant reservoir issue tonight.  More on that tomorrow.

 

 

 

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Nov 07, 2019

I have reached the end of my rope

Woke up to a trashed bottom sheet. Guess I was restless last night.  The sheets were thin but not that thin.

Wonderful to see fisherman out on the lake early this morning.  So peaceful.

Got here by 8:45AM to get the dash A/C repaired. We were promised one hour but possibly two hours max.

The shop foreman told us that it would be done by the end of the day!!!!!

They did get it done in within a reasonable amount of time but we thought that we would be there most of the day. I had already called around to RV parks looking for a spot to spend the night.  Joe’s repairs suggested that we go out for breakfast.  With my intermittent  fasting I don’t eat until 2PM but what the heck.  Anything to relieve the stress.  They called as we were almost done to say that that the A/C was still not working.  Colin  had an idea and we headed back ASAP. By the time we got there it was finally working.  Plus they did a test on the engine radiator cap and it was only holding 10PSI.  No wonder we were losing coolant.  A simple fix of anew radiator cap for $8.50.  The freon repair was just under $200.00.  We left Lake Havasu about 1PM.

Got to Parker where we fuelled the RV just on the southern outskirts for 3.19 per gallon. This has been our best price thus far this trip.

We are in Quartzite but I have run out of energy.  Not an easy end to the day and that did me in. No more, I was done.  I have been up since 3:30AM due to an RVer’s dog barking since 3:30AM back at the LH state park.  I did call the rangers and complained.  The owner was inside watching TV and had his dog was tied up outside and barking.

I will fill in the blanks tomorrow.  At this point we are not certain that we can even get out of here and continue  our journey south.  We can only hope that things will somehow work properly in the morning.  We don’t want to be towed to Tuscon.  I should be making our egg salad and tuna salad for our travel sandwiches but we have no idea if we will be leaving in the morning.

Libby is still in Lake Havasu. They were going to do surgery on her arm Sunday and here it is end of day Thursday and she is still there suffering.  Once I get some energy I will take that insurance company to task.

Oh yes, sweet sixteen’s insurance company has officially accepted full blame.  That means that our $300.00 deductible has been waived and our insurance will not go up next year.

Certainly not the post I expected to write tonight. Meanwhile I need to go to bed as in right now…nite!!

 

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Nov 06, 2019

A sad adios

This is going to be a basic post.  I am quite worn out.  I spent the better part the day packing up things for Libby to take back to Edmonton, Canada and trying to figure out what to include.  This morning she was told that she would be being flown out today or tomorrow.  She panicked and I said not to worry, we would deal with it all. The case manager needed the weight and dimension of her chair.  I simply called back to Edmonton and got that info. That chair weighs 300lbs, all part of  how they decide which plane to send.  Libby is so fortunate in that she had a medical travel insurance from when she worked for a certain company many years ago.  They however would not allow her to have the one arm repaired in surgery, they want her back in Canada first. Cheaper for them.

We went back and forth a few times between the hospital and her home to sort it all out.  So many details re her meds, computers, cameras, chargers, hearing aid  details ( they lost one in ER the day she was brought in) and so on.  She has trained someone to drive her special van and he knows how to put the ramp up and down so I contacted him to come and get the chair to the hospital.  Colin figured out how to change the WC to manual and he got it into the van.  The other fellow showed up and drove it to the hospital and returned the van.  So many tiny details like finding the keys to her apartment in Edmonton and even to her home here.  She just uses the garage door keypad. Colin also got her backup electric chair into position to be charged every Monday until she returns next fall.  The neighbour across the street has the garage door opener and I asked him to do a few things like shut off all her heat and A/C, etc.
I was finally able to establish a time line.  She last emailed me Saturday around 5PM and she was found by a concerned neighbour at 12:30 noonish the next day.  We have no idea how long she lay on that cold kitchen floor.  Not everything adds up but it must have been a horrific night for her. Fortunately the fire department cleaned up all the blood.  Very nice.  Libby is in a massive amount of pain, much worse than yesterday.  I finally figured out that she thought she could only get pain meds every six hours but she can get morphine every two hours.  So she was not asking for the meds. Being an RN like me she is very strong ( probably even stronger than me – which those of you who really know me won’t believe ) and I had to be very strong to her to explain to her that she was wrong.  Finally she agreed and said “ give me pain meds every two hours “ and I made sure that that was documented on her chart.  I also asked that they give her as much as they can before she leaves.  Right now if you even bump her bed she cries out in pain.  Yes she is in that much pain.
Sadly I had to be strong and cut through her stories and tell her to focus. I felt bad and could see that she was not happy with me, but we are leaving tomorrow and our time here is precious.  I believe that she is not herself due to the concussion.  Today her eye was shut and her pain intense.  Regardless we got it all done. The only thing I forgot to get was her Edmonton cell phone charger.  She has a wallet, cards and ID for the US and another one for Canada and two cell phones, one for each country.  Fortunately the charger works on both phones.  She would not believe me but she did accept that from Colin.  He has been a true gem driving between the hospital and her place, figuring out how to make two different electric WC’s manuel, etc.  I even had him running to the nurses station to get them to Google a phone number and other things.  It was an intense several hours.
It was ever so difficult to say goodbye to my dear friend and to explain that we were not coming back.  Hopefully I will see her in Edmonton this coming summer.  She does not know it but I am still co ordinating the pasa between her friends here and those in Edmonton so that everyone knows what is going on. The hospital has my cell number which is only good until end of day Friday before we cross into Mexico.
I really wanted to go back tonight and I am upset that I did not but we had to get organized.  We needed to get a repair estimate on the Jeep from a body shop before we left.  Then ICBC, our Canadian insurance company called and that took almost an hour but we are good to travel to Mexico and deal with repairs once we get back in April.  They will even pay for so many massages and chiro appointments but we need proper receipts.  Almost impossible to get in Mexico.  We also had to start packing things up.
Our first appointment is at 8:45AM tomorrow  for the dash freon and a few other issues, here in Lake Havasu. Next we have to do several  things in Quartzite.  Tomorrow will be a full day.  There is no way I can get back to the hospital but I will call soon. As it is, we are going to split a take out tuna Subway for dinner.  The past few days were to be our relaxation time.  I insisted that we at least sit and watch the sunset tonight. Because of our extra time dealing with Libby’s issues we did only get glimpses of it.  I was already two days behind in washing my hair (I still showered ) and could not wait any longer.  So I the sunset between drying my hair and Colin was loading.  I want a redo next year. The photos were taken tonight from the doorstep.
So yes another long day.  Only five sleeps until we get to the Isla but at least another week before we can relax. We have to deal with the generator the day we arrive and I am dreading that.
This is the only Mexico news I have for you tonight.  This fellow is a long time caravan leader and knows what its all about.
You can read the link on RV. net here.  I agree with the comment by iguana07, this has also happened to us.  It doesn’t matter how experienced you are, you can’t take your eyes away from the money for even a second.
Here is a link to a very detailed and wonderful write up by Kathy of Kathy and Eric’s Travels.  They drove today from Nogales to Navajoa.  Despite being very tired, Kathy just posted this to help all of us coming behind her.  Please click here for her fantastic write up.  Thank you for posting this Kathy.
PS…many thanks to all of my wonderful readers who have left a comment on my last post.  I really need to stop and feed my husband. He needs to eat in order to get us to our next stop.  I will reply later tomorrow.

Comments(8)

Nov 05, 2019

Not expecting this

The view from our site ( #37 ), that is the corner of the Jeep on the bottom right.  Truly a wonderful spot in a state park for $35.00 per night.

I truly appreciate all your blog comments, emails and even a special  phone call today from Quebec.  Robert used to be our neighbour at Holiday Park and knows trucks and wanted to be very sure that we knew the situation we were dealing with.  It has been wonderful to discover comments from several readers who have never commented before.  Nice to know that you are out there as well as others I have not heard from for a very long time.

This is the huge engine which sits under our bed.

The only reason that we have been coming here to Lake Havasu for years and years and years was to see my friend Libby.  She is the one that I went through nursing school with way back when and she has had  MS for several years and is confined to a wheelchair.  Libby knew that we were arriving Monday the 4th but I lost touch with her Saturday the 2nd about 5PM.  Nothing all day Sunday and I started to worry Sunday evening and by Monday I was most concerned.  Libby always responds to texts, emails and phone calls.  Once we got set up last night I could no longer deny what I was feeling and started to call medical facilities.  I found her at the Lake Havasu Hospital.  They refused to tell me anything about her condition or why she was there or when she had arrived.  They would only tell me if I knew the code.  What code?  At least I knew that she was somewhere safe for the night.

The white part is that coolant reservoir that empties each time we drive.

It takes a long time to write a blog post and yesterdays was extra long which is why we didn’t eat until 11:30PM local time and never got to bed until 1:30PM.  As we went to bed so late, we slept in this morning.  Colin spent some time still trying to figure out the reservoir problem plus calling Freightliner in Kelowna.  I made final shopping lists and menu plans until we arrive on the Isla.  As we will only have the propane stove top to cook on I had to come up with some creative menus for a few days.  No generator, so no microwave and no A/C.  I keep mentioning that as I am concerned about the heat.  Gosh I just about melted from the heat today, such a change from the cold the past ten days.  I love it, but Mexico will be much warmer.  I also called the RV park in Amado, something in the back of my mind saying that I needed to check on our reservation which I made close to two months ago.  They did not have it.  Well fortunately I averted that crisis by calling ahead. We only fit into three sites in that park and they had one left.

A cute little unit here in the park. Interesting how it all pops up from a flat position.

These cabins were being started the last time we were here and they are almost ready. Love how they all have four solar panels.

We had a full day planned but wanted to visit Libby at the hospital to find out why she was there.  Lovely newish hospital but impossible to find a nurse to speak with.  We went to her room but she was sleeping and I wanted to see if it was okay to wake her.  Again I needed the code to get info. I now have that code. Finally I was told that it was okay to wake her.  When we went back to the room she had her eyes open.  Libby had an accident sometime Saturday evening, she fell out of her wheelchair on her tile kitchen floor.  We are still trying to piece together how long she laid there drifting in and out of conciseness for several hours.  She remembers hearing people leaving voice messages on her machine but she had no phone and could not move to reach one.  From what I can gather, a neighbour found her sometime Sunday ( I will meet him tomorrow ) she laid there all night and well into the morning until he came over to check on her. Libby has a broken wrist and a break in her other arm in two place and needs surgery.  She fell out of her wheelchair onto her head and has 13 stitches and a concussion and is still seeing double.  You can imagine my shock when she told me all of that.  Her memory is not clear and of course she could not understand how I knew she was there in hospital. Somehow I just knew.

We unexpectedly ended up staying much longer than planned.  She can’t eat, drink, push a bell to call for a nurse nor make phones calls, etc.  Fortunately I was able to help her contact a few friends. Libby is being air evacuated back to Edmonton in a few days.  One big problem is getting her specialized rehab wheelchair flown back as well.  That has been approved by sending a larger plane, however the chair needs to get from her home to the hospital.  So many tiny details to deal with.

I could see that in our time there she was have increasing pain.  I got her nurse to give her more morphine and we left so she could rest.  We did bring some items here in the RV for her so I need to contact the neighbour and deal with that tomorrow as well as get her a few things to the hospital.  We headed out to do a few errands that needed doing today.

Taken on the drive back to the RV.

Sadly it was dark within we left Walmart, our final stop and missed our walk along the beach.  Hopefully that will happen tomorrow.  We did not get unloaded and put away until 7PM so another late dinner but I was able to pick up a lovely frozen eggplant parmesan.  It will go well with a salad.  Gosh this is not the rest we had hoped to get here in LH.  Please excuse any spelling errors, etc.  Too tired to do yet another proof.  Tomorrow promises to be another active day.

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