5C's Que Pasa

…but first I have to finish telling you about our last day in the US.  Monday morning we drove to Lake Havasu City to see a very dear friend of mine.

From Las Vegas we crossed into California, our 5th state.

Talk about a ribbon of highway.

The last US state this trip.

As we drove I got a call from Canon Canada telling me that through the photos we had sent of the blown up battery that they decided that our battery was a fake!!!!  So it appears that we have purchased according Canon, fake batteries even though they say Canon on them and look the same.  Therefore they are not responsible for the damage and expenses occurred.  We just could not deal with this as were we less than a day from crossing into Mexico.  How would I know that I was buying a phony battery?  We just put it all aside until we reach the Isla.  Then we will check with a lawyer or possibly just Kevin/Ruth as he knows all the ins and out outs of things.  It took a while to shake that horrid call off but I did.

We were staying at the Lake Havasu State Park where we had a a great view ( site 4 ). Sadly we were not there more than a few hours total.

Great view from the Safeway parking lot.

The view from my friends front door, can you see the lake with the sunset reflection?

Libby and I have been friends from when we started nursing school together back in 1971.  Yes that means that we have been friends for over 46 years.  We have been through thick and thin together and everything in between.  If Libby called me tomorrow and said she needed my help I would be on the first plane out of Mexico.  We managed to have a wonderful visit in the short amount of time we had together.

We had to drive about 1388 miles from home to visit Libby 🙂 Good thing she happens to live on our route to Mexico.

Since we left Lake Havasu on Tuesday morning ( yesterday ) we have driven 635 miles. I posted yesterday about the drive to Lake Havasu. We also had a fellow come at 8AM yesterday ( Tuesday ) to fill a rock ship in the windshield just before we left for Amado, AZ.  Sorry we missed you R & M.  Stay well.

About 7:25AM this morning we were welcomed into Mexico.

I know that I might have confused some of you with my back and forth catch up but we are in real time now.  However the internet here at Totonaka RV Park in San Carlos is beyond slow and it has taken me two hours to get this far in the post and I already had my photos edited.  Plus the power is out of whack and we have a heater running outside the RV to try and draw the voltage down.  So many tricks one needs to know to function in Mexico.

As we left Lake Havasu City Colin decided to stop using our brake device on the Jeep.  It just was not functioning as it should and Colin felt safer not using it.  He was worried about damaging the tow car brakes.  The current plan is to call a Blue Ox Patriot Assist Device tech guy once we get to the Isla and then make a decision if we need to ship it back to the US for repairs or ???  I suspect that this may be an ongoing saga this winter.

I has some sad moments today as I realized that all of my road logs and maps had notations about stopping here and there for the girls, a good spot with grass, etc.  We did spend time talking about memories along the way of things that had happened here and there.  We did make excellent time today which was mostly due to no pee stops for the girls.  Overall it was a lovely travel day and the temps certainly warmed up.  We had to turn the A/C on about 11:45AM 😉

I want to give a brief rundown of the roads as there are others who are coming behind us and I know they check my posts to help plan their travels.

For the most part the roads were good, at least to San Carlos. Because of the ongoing construction we ended up doing a great deal of one way single lane driving and alternating from one side of the highway to the other.

The important thing to note is that if you are entering Mexico via Nogales they are now ( for the second year ) doing a very thorough entry search just a few miles after you cross into Mexico.  This stop is not far from the very first toll after crossing the border.  They asked for the paperwork for the RV and the Jeep, the 10 year RV permit and our passports.  First of all we had to wait 10 minutes for an official to come and speak with us once we had arrived.  He showed up in a vehicle with lights flashing.  After checking all of our papers he came into the RV and verified the VIN which is in a closet in the bedroom.  As we went through this last year and got questioned rather strongly on the desktop we placed it so that it was out of sight.  We also did the same with most of the wine we had with us.  Has we been asked if we had wine I would have said yes and shown what we had in the fridge as well as in a cupboard.  Today this fellow simply said ‘wine’ and before Colin would answer, said ‘beer’!  Colin said that we don’t drink beer but preferred margaritas, the guy was bored and moved on.  He never asked if we had any alcohol or what we had.  Next he went to search the Jeep and that was it.  In all, it took about  15 minutes.

In a nutshell, there is road construction from the border to Santa Ana but it moves long.  From Santa Ana to Hermosillo the road is pretty good with a few rough areas.  Hermosillo itself never gets better, just deeper pot holes and more of them.  Once you get thru the craters of Hermosillo the road to San Carlos is amazing.  You are on new roads 98% of the time even though it is for the most part single lane alternating sides of the road.  We were thrown off a bit as we approached the exit to San Carlos, the road is all torn up.  However a sign said to head to either CD Obregon or Guaymas.  We did not want Guaymas but it eventually lead to the original road to San Carlos, thank goodness.

We got here the earliest ever, again because we no longer had the girls to deal with as we traveled.  Very warm here at 85F.  Sadly as we are parked hooked up along side the main road, we only have 15 Amps with very high voltage.  At the moment we have a heater plugged in outside to deflect some of the voltage so that our inverter does not shut off my computer.

We wanted to break from our usual routine with the girls and chose to head out to Charly’s Rock to view the sunset and have dinner.

An excellent margarita for 50 pesos and the best coconut shrimp since long ago Acapulco.

Sorry but I can’t proof this, it has been close to 4 hours since I started this post and due to slow internet or ??? I just can’t keep going.  Time to shower and ago to bed where Colin already is.  Tomorrow will be a new adventure.

We are in Amado, Arizona, less than an hour from crossing into Mexico.  It is 8:20PM and I am ready with pesos, paper work, photo copies, US dollars to import the Jeep and whatever else I might need.  I am enjoying wine  but we haven’t had dinner yet.  First I must catch you up to the que pasa of it all.

Where we spent the night with only about 90 miles to drive to Vegas. Sadly it turns out that tree dropped some sort of sap all over the RV and the Jeep.  So much for our hand wash vehicle job the other day.

Some lovely art all over Las Vegas, especially along the on/off ramps.

We were in a rush to drop the Jeep off at the dealership but got caught in rush hour!  We were crawling along the freeway, it took an hour to drive 24 miles.

Once we dropped off the Jeep we headed back up the same freeway in the opposite direction that we had come from.  Just an aside here.  Once we got to Freightliner, Colin approached to owner of this Safari with an offer to buy his coach anytime he wants to sell it.  What!  They even exchanged information.

In a nut shell, the RV problem was the secondary fan used by the A/C which is what Colin had diagnosed.  We had to wait for 3 hours for them to even look at the RV and then it took over an hour to locate the part.  We did tell them where the part came from as it had already been replaced once before.  Then they had to order the part.  By 2PM we knew that we were done for the day as they shut down at 4:30PM and of course the part would never get there in time.  So we moved the RV to their over-nite site that is nothing but a piece of concrete, no power, no water, etc.  Meanwhile we had contacted the Jeep dealer who said that all was okay and there were no issues at all 😯   It took over 2 hours for their shuttle to pick us up.  Meanwhile we were able to open the RV slides for the first time in months and finally start to put things away.  The cold, snow and ice had prevented us from doing so as we were loading.

When we got to the dealership we realized that we had left the tow shield on and it was now dark.  So we had to somehow get it into the back of the Jeep on top of all our other stuff.  We did run a few errands on the way back to our RV at Freightliner.  I have to say that I now love the GPS.  We only used to use the CPS but it is getting old and weary ( Contessa Positioning System).  The Jeep GPS truly made our getting around Vegas so very much easier.

The next morning we were at the Freightliner office by 7:45AM as the part was to have come late the day prior.  It  actually never came until about 11AM.  While waiting I worked for hours with help from a friend and finally by a Bitdefender Tech to rid my computers of the program.  No go.  Thank goodness I was able to do so a few days later.  Such a relief.

At 11:45 Friday morning we were told that the ordered part had finally arrived but did not fit 😥   That was it for me.  We had already told them where to get it but no that is not the way Freightliner does things and no we could not go get our own part.  If we let them order the part we knew the we would be there until at  least Monday ( maybe longer if it was the wrong part yet again ) and there was no guarantee that the part would fit.  We took the damaged part and headed out in the Jeep.  We knew that part could be found at Auto Zone and GPS told us it was only 3KM away 😀   We were back within 35 minutes and  I felt so very good dropping the part on the managers desk.  However what should have been a 20 minute install took two hours and then as the computers were acting up we had to wait another 45 minutes for the bill.  They charged us for 2 hours of labor.  Plus our purchase of the part for $70.00 which they would have marked up.

We finally got settled into the Las Vegas Resort about 30 hours late. They did not charge us for checking in a day later, I of course had let them know the day prior.

We made friends with several people in the Freightliner waiting area including two other couples who live in BC.  In fact we all live within an hour of each other.  What are the chances of us meeting up at the same place with RV issues.  What is most amusing is that we ended up parked right next to the fellow with the Safari that Colin wants to buy.  What are the chances?

We spent the next two days doing all errands that should have taken 3.5 days.

This was my favorite spot:)  In fact we had been there the night before and purchased a few bottles to sample to chose some favorites.  Wow, how we love US Costco.  So many food choices and so many organic products.  I had the best ever eggplant parmigiana for dinner that first evening.  At one point we had 6, yes six, open bottles in the fridge.  As we were only sampling we didn’t drink t00 much.

We had so many errands to run from buying more paint for our patio on the Isla which became an issue as they no longer have one of the color codes that our color choice last year had, so the paint came out the wrong yellow color and then it was a big to do to try and get it right ( never did but by then I no longer cared ), to good soil for my veggie pots, to more wine and specialty items, to sandpaper and polish cloths re waxing the Jeep and RV, etc.

Of course you now know about the Canon camera battery issue and fire on Sunday.  Once we got ourselves together we were off yet again for a final shop at Walmart but now we had to get Best Buy to check my melted hard drive ( it is okay ) and buy a few new things that had been destroyed.  Rush back to the RV and laundry for me while Colin unloaded and also set up the tire sensors on the Jeep.

As a surprise to me, while still back in Kelowna Colin had booked us a table at Nacho Daddy’s for dinner Sunday night.  The perfect way to unwind.  The margaritas were fabulous as was the meal.

I had a seafood taco and a lobster enchilada while Colin had two lobster enchiladas.

A stroll along Fremont Street helped wear off our dinner.

Always so much to observe.  It helped take my mind off the events of the day.

Love the colors and the energy. Las Vegas was unseasonably cool while we were there.  I used the seat heater on the way home.

Somehow on the way back to the car I stumbled into a casino.  Colin loves to watch as I manage to make $10.00 last a very long time.  We had fun.  It was the perfect way to end the crazy day we had had.

Perhaps he did.

This post is long enough and it is getting late. ( 10:20PM ).  Must get to bed soon as we are up at 5:30AM.  I will finish up with the US side of things tomorrow along with our first day in Mexico.

We were supposed to be out but at the very last minute I decided to delay our outing and wash my hair first.  That saved our RV.  While I was in the RV having a shower Colin decided to stop all his rearranging of things for the trek south and take a guitar break.  Thank goodness!  As he was playing he heard a loud fizzing noise behind him.  He turned and looked and saw blue smoke coming out of the overhead cabinet.  He did not think but reacted and jumped up and opened the cabinet, the entire living room area filled with smoke.  He started pulling things out to discover where the smoke was coming from.  In his haste he broke a guitar nail while picking things up to throw out the door.  I had no idea of the unfolding drama as I was in the shower.

He found the source of the burning and threw it out the door.  Many other items are smoke damaged.

It appears that one of my camera batteries had exploded and was the cause of the problem.  The middle item is what exploded, it looked like the damaged battery on the left.  The battery charger in on the right. The battery had been left in the charger inside the plastic yellow bag.

That is my melted hard drive on the right.  We took it and my USB cable that charges my computer mouse and keyboard in to be checked.  I needed a new cable but the hard drive although no longer pretty still functions.  Apparently they are enclosed in some sort of metal compartment and then encapsulated in plastic.  It was only the plastic that has melted.

I had been charging a camera battery yesterday and it appeared to take a long time to charge.  As always when charged I take it off the charge and store it until needed.  I have no idea how we were so very lucky to be here when it exploded.  We changed our plans twice this morning, each time delaying our departure.  Had we left as originally planned, there is not doubt in our minds that the RV would have gone up in flames.  It was just pure luck and perhaps good karma that Colin was sitting so close to the incident.  I am still shaking my head at the enormity of what could have been.  Our entire lives would have changed in a flash but they didn’t.

Fortunately the charger for my new iPhone was not ruined, just blackened.

Of course I will be on the phone to Canon tomorrow to ask about this horrific incident.  We did pick up a new camera battery today.  Fortunately I had a second charger and for some unknown reason had brought it with me although I clearly recall thinking about leaving it home.  After all who needs two chargers?

All I have thought about today is what could have happened.  And then I worry about this happening again.  We also discussed what would have happened had we been driving down the highway.  We would not have beard the noise and things would have been much worse before we became of the smoke and fire.  The entire RV was filled with blue smoke and that horrible electrical burning smell.  Even now, 12 hours later, we still can smell smoke and many of our things will likely have to be thrown out due to the smell.

We were so very very fortunate, but still I can’t help thinking that we would have been homeless.  I have been somewhat paranoid today about smells and anything plugged in.  Which is loco as the battery was just in the cupboard, not plugged in.  It could have been in a bag in the car or in my purse where it usually is when it exploded.  Too many negative scenarios to visualize.  Not much online about exploding camera batteries other than one exploding in a camera  just 3 days ago in the Orlando airport.  It caused panic and the evacuation of the airport and several flight delays.

I still can’t believe that our timing today saved our RV.

Earlier in the day I tackled removing the Bitdefender  antivirus from my computer.  What a process!  It has taken me 2.5 days and I ended up being locked out of doing the uninstall.  I ended chatting with four various techs and believe it or not the last one was the winner and he turned out to be a Geek Squad dude.  I am finally free of this chain around my neck both slowing my computer and sucking my internet data dry.  I had never asked for it to be installed in the first place.  So I was rejoicing this freedom as it means that I am now able to resume posting on a regular basis…eventually, give me a chance to catch my breath.  And then less than thirty minutes later we have a fire.  We were more shocked than anything.  Reality has not set in.  We were fortunate this time.  I have however decided to keep a fire extinguisher at my feet as we travel so that I can combat such an issue should it arise again.  I wonder if I will sleep tonight.

……maybe we should get a metal box for all of our batteries 😯

Which is amazing considering that our alarm never went off and instead of driving at 6AM we were just waking up 🙁   Also the fact that it took us 55 minutes to drive 24 miles on I15 as we were in the middle of rush hour.

Too tired to do a post tonight but I am sure that many of you want to know the que pasa of it all.  For certain details will follow.

We first dropped the Jeep off at 9AM and it was able to be driven.  End of the day today, there is no damage showing on the computer diagnostics and we don’t know why the grinding problem even happened.

The RV is a different story.  Suffice to say that we are boondocking in the Freightliner parking lot.  Hope to get parts tomorrow but no guarantee that that will rectify the problem.

Fortunately the RV Park allowed us to cancel at 2:30PM ( which is when we found out the que pasa of it all for us ) without losing our deposit.  They transferred it to tomorrow.  Sadly there is someone in an even worse situation than us.  Tonight is their fourth night here.  Their problem does not seem to be an easy fix.  I hate to see their bill at $150.00 per hour.  Fortunately  I found a coupon for 10% off labor for us.

So we have the Jeep back but not the RV yet.  I will admit to a sinking feeling earlier when we had no wheels at all.

A new glitch has come up in that our Mail program will not let us send an email.  It says that we are offline and no matter what I try per my Google research I cannot get online.  We can receive emails but not send them.  Also I think that it might be Bitdefender for Mac that the Geeks installed on both computers that might be eating up my hotspot ATT data.  I have no idea how to delete it.  So on and so forth, problem after problem.

Meanwhile be happy to know that the wine is flowing and I blew my diet with a full pasta dinner 😎

Details when I have better internet and am not exhausted.

…just got this…..it appears that our gmail accounts do not exist…… i can’t deal with this…..help???  However we can receive emails , just not send emails.