5C's Que Pasa

Chris and Juan dropped in early Saturday morning for a coffee.  We had been up for a long while as today ( Saturday ) we were moving the bus.  A good deal of outside prep such as moving flower pots, the satellite dish and disconnecting various things had been done Friday but there was still a good number of things to deal with at the last minute, most of it inside the RV.  Engine on at 8:15AM.  That was the cue for Alan and Laura to come over and help us back out.  Wheels were moving at 8:30AM.  Colin turned the RV around and we were heading out.  Big smiles and waves to all as we started down what we call the horse road.  Colin had even had the tree at the RV gate trimmed so that it did not brush along the RV as we drove past which it did when we first headed out on February 2nd to take the generator out.

We had not gone very far when our smiles turned into frowns.  A grader or some other large machine had been moving the earth along the road and there was no way for us to turn right onto the paved road.  We stopped and simply stared ahead.  We could not go forward nor go back 😯  Fortunately I was able to reach Jose, the park manager by phone ( connections have been extremely bad this season ) and he said he would get right on it.  I next called Erik and explained that we would be late.  He said to simply wait until next week.  Umm Erik, we can’t get back to the RV park either.  We had to move forward.  There was a narrow area that had been left open at an angle.  It went to the left with more than a 90 degree turn to the right which is where we needed to go. We would not only bottom out but go into the ditch.  Impossible turn.  Also that small portion of what was supposed to be driveable was on a small slope on which we would have bottomed out.

Eventually a pickup truck came by, I think someone new, from RV2.  One of his passengers got out and came over and explained that he was a big rig truck driver.  He gave us a suggestion that might work and then he drove off!  So Colin then did a U-turn on the spot by going back and forth.  Not an easy feat on a road.  Now the RV was in position to back down that slope.  We were almost hanging over the sides and had to inch down ever so slowly and check from side to side.  I was the one outside in the dust and the dirt stumbling over large rocks doing the directing.  Had the cell signal been strong enough I would have contacted Alan and he would have helped.  Of course we stopped the local traffic on the one way road into and off the Isla.  What a mess 😥

We were within a 1/2 inch of bottoming out.  Had we driven down that slope we would have wrecked the RV and of course still would not have been able to do the turn to the right.  So once we backed onto the main road we were facing the correct direction.  Relief.  Well almost.  There are no photos.  We didn’t even think of taking any until we were driving towards the paved road.

You can see the shape of the road on the right, impossible to drive through.  Suddenly the horses came around the corner.  Some were panicking as they had to scramble up onto the pile of earth, others kept coming towards us.  We simply stopped.

Some were going around us to the left of the RV.  A few actually stumbled going up on the right but got up.  What a start to the day.

This is the intersection that Colin needed to do a U – turn at.  We don’t have a tight enough tuning radius so he had to do a back and forth.  Just as he started the turn a smaller local bus pulled up behind us as in directly behind us.  Colin could not back up and the highway 15 traffic wanted to get by.  Eventually the bus backed up a tad so Colin could complete the turn.

Finally we got there and after a 45 minute wait we were ready to drive up on those ramps.  Not much height but better than nada.

That is one enormous 480 pound generator.

This time there was a piece of plywood under the RV as well as a metal frame to help slide the unit into position.

This critter was there to give moral support 🙂

Getting it under the RV.

Erik decided to lift the generator into place before putting in the support beams.

Meanwhile I was working on setting up my new iPad.  I had to use my iPhone as a hot spot and use the laptop to Google to understand what I needed to do when the process did not work.  Biggest issue was Google shutting me out of setting up our email accounts on the iPad.  All about security.

As I worked, Erik was directly beneath me doing his install of the generator.

Certainly a unique method.  Layer by layer of height.

In the end it did not work.  The supporting beams could not be placed. They needed to be installed first.

We were at the shop for a long time and away from the Isla for just over eight hours.

Finally they got the supporting beams in and then the generator.  All done by manual labor.  Now it had to be bolted in.

This guy must have had a rough Friday night to be able to sleep here when his brawn was not required.

Getting the generator secured.  Actually they lost some screws/bolts and those still need to be added.  For some reason the exhaust pipe would not go back into place so a small part needs to be manufactured.  These things can be done back here on the Isla.

We were tired and happy to be heading back to Tres Amigos RV Park.  However this was not the end of Saturday.  Would we be able to get back to the RV park?  Stayed tuned.

Last Thursday was the surprise visit by Chris and Juan.  We did not walk that day as it was too cold.  I even put the heat on for a few hours.  I spent the day on the computer finalizing the details for one of our major stops in Europe when the guys happened to appear at our living room window just before 5PM.  We visited until just after 9PM when they head off to their hotel.  They did not want dinner as they had a late lunch before coming over.  Once they left we got our meal going and were enjoying a late dinner of BBQ snapper at 9:45PM.

They dropped in early in the morning Friday and said they were going to do their own thing for the day.  So we went for a beach walk.  Saw this very large waterlogged piece of wood, looked like a piece of tree trunk.  It was still there on our walk this morning.

Not expecting visitors we already had a full weekend planned.  We went to the only play reading of the season at El Recreo on Friday evening.  The play, God of Carnage, was originally written in French and than translated to English.  It was a 90 minute production without intermission.

Usually the play readings are set up with the actors sitting in a row with a stand in front of them holding their words.  This one had a bit of a set and the actors had mostly memorized their works. We did enjoy the performance.  It was “A comedy of manners ~ without the manners!”

No matter how many times you have walked down a street there is something new to see.  Did you catch the green plant?

First time I noticed this plaque at the Melville Boutique Hotel on Constitución.

I would not trust stepping out on this old balcony.

Besame mucho means kiss me a lot.  It is the name of a popular Mexican song.

It was almost 9PM and we were hungry and we knew that Johnny O was doing another solo evening at La Bohemia so we went there for dinner.  At the moment this is my favorite place to enjoy a margarita.

A unique decor.

So ended Friday. We headed home ASAP as Saturday was generator day.

Wow, the last five days, plus, have my head spinning.  In the last seven days we have attended seven events, of which two were on the same day.  Our surprise guests flew away today and I am working on getting the blog caught up.  Please bear with me.  I may even publish two posts in one day.  It all depends on my free time.  I spent several hours today sorting through 300 photos which are now in five different folders, that means five new posts.  You may even get more than one post per day.

I will start with last Wednesday which is the post that I would have written and published last Thursday but we had some surprise visitors as you now know.

We were on our way into Mazatlan with Laura and Alan last Wednesday but delayed long enough to get this photo. This is a Mexican cruise ship which does what they are calling the Mexican Riviera cruise. It is a new route and our friend, an Isla RVer Ferne is on it. I think I saw her waving at us. A very special cruise and it even goes to Acapulco and back.

We drove to the embarcadero, took the lancha across the water channel, but were stopped by a train!!  Every so often a train does actually go along the train tracks.  This is the first time in nine years that we have actually seen this.  Once it passed we were able to get into a pulomnia and head to the Plazuela Machado.

The four of us were off to see Johnny O at La Bohemia on the square.

This is Howard, a Canadian, playing his sax.

Rob on the piano on the right.  The fellow on the left sat in on the first set with his harmonica and vocals.  He is from Toronto and was well received by the sold out crowd.

No idea what Alan and I were talking about but this is the only photo of our foursome that night.

This was a special designed label of a bottle of Concha y Toro Sauvignon Blanc 2017.

Stars for Johnny O the star.

We had a fabulous evening.  A late night but we knew we had a free day ahead 🙄  Stayed tuned for the next update.

It was late afternoon and I had been on the computer since early morning.  What else could I do what with the cold weather?  We did not go for a walk today.  I even had the heat on for a bit.  I had just poured a half glass of vino blanco and was finally at the point of being able to make sense of the complex issue that I had been researching for hours, when I glanced up.

Seriously I could not believe my eyes 😯   I must have said something to Colin because he looked up and was as stunned as I was.  Neither of us could move.  Because of the weather the door and windows were closed so we heard nothing.  Someone, actually two people were standing on my patio.  I was in shock.  It took us a few moments to get up and out the door.

Surprise visitors.  A huge surprise.

Juan and Chris flew in for four nights. Chris write the blog Living and Boondocking in Mexico.  As it turns out they had already been spotted by Laura and Alan as they read that blog as well as mine. They are staying almost next door to us at the Maria Coral Hotel.  I am still in shock and can’t believe that they are here.

Fortunately  Mother Nature came through and gave them a wonderful welcome.

I had a special post of our outing last evening ( yup we went out yet again ) but that will have to wait a day or two.

Colin took my camera in again on Monday.  When he had it apart and put it back together one tiny piece was out of place and that created the problem I had with it last weekend.  Colin also asked him to remove one more piece of dust that we found.  As I type this Colin has gone in to pick up the yet again repaired camera.  I can’t remember if I have already told you or not but I have decided to purchase a new one.  A newer model of what I already have.  Click here to see it but I will order it in the red of course :-D. Colin just got back and all is well with the camera except there is one tiny piece of dust between two pieces of glass that he can’t reach.  Colin says of that if that is the case the dust spot will probably be out of focus.  The repairman wanted no money but Colin paid him anyway.  Total repairs this winter have cost 850pesos/44.30USD/58.35CAD.  Well worth every penny to me and to you my blog readers.  I will pick up the new camera when I am in the US next month.

Erik was able to get that metal part made for the generator but that then involved something else.  Last night he discovered part of why we were having a problem “Today I started the generator and let it run and I now see why the tensioner pulley didn’t last, the pulley mount arm isn’t aligned so that kept a constant pressure on one side of the bearing causing the bearing to heat.  It won’t take much to align it, basically we just need to bend the arm slightly so I’ll make sure that happens”.   Hopefully we will be taking the RV out on Saturday to get the generator replaced.  Fingers crossed that that will go well.  You can expect are report on how it all went.

The research for our six week trip to Europe is going well.  I am at the halfway point.  It is taking several hours per day but we are still managing our beach walks.  This morning we only got 1.95 of a mile in as it was cold.  Yes nippy with a biting wind.  I had goosebumps the entire way and we turned back early.  It took both hands to keep my hat on. It was sunny then but it is now overcast and only 71F outside.

Once again those frigid temperatures in the US are making their way down here.  More snow expected in Las Vegas 8-O.  We are going down to 56F tonight.  If only the winds would stop.  Temperatures should be warming up again early next week.

At least the weather is making it easy for me to say inside and research.

Colin has been working on the RV headlights again.  Now that he has courser sand paper ( thank you Alan ) he has been able to do a better job of removing rock pits, scratches, etc that kept us from even seeing the light bulb.  It wasn’t just discoloration.

Before.

After.