5C's Que Pasa

What a joy to wake up to 67F.   Because I had a good internet link Saturday morning we spent the first few hours of the day researching RV repair shops and making phone calls.  I found a website that listed HWH dealers and service providers by state and that then listed the various cities. This helped to narrow who to call based on where we would be on Monday morning.  After an hour of calls we found a service centre that has the parts but we don’t know if they can see us that day.  They open at 8AM and we plan to be waiting for them.  We found a backup just 20 miles away.  Part of the problem is that we don’t even know the exact problem we have.  Most places don’t carry any parts, these two do.

Caeli had been fed and was just happy to soak up the sun.

As I continued to research and call, Colin took the girls for a walk and got this cute shot. I now realize that I never even got out of the RV until much later in the day.

Not too far from us was this group of people living here in the BLM land in tents. We saw four tents and dozens of water jugs and a few chairs set in a circle. There was one old car. My question is, where do these people go the the bathroom? I don't really want to know but I certainly wouldn't want to camp where they have been.

Just past the tents were a group of about 10 RV's, all clustered close together. Why? This one looks unique.

Carmeh sitting on the dash, not wanting to miss a moment of the drive out to the highway.

We got to the junction of I40 and lucked out finding diesel at the Chevron for 5 cents per gallon less than the other stations and they allowed us to use a credit card for the same low price of $3.89 per gallon.  With the repairs to date and the cash only low diesel prices down the road we are suddenly cash poor.  We actually realized that we don’t fill very often on our way home.  Just the once in Arizona, once each in California, Oregon and in Washington.  That keeps us until we are almost out of Washington state heading South in the fall.

The heat wave has passed.  We never had to use our overhead A/C at all today and the now working dash air was on less than an hour total.  The past few days have not been heavy travel days but lots of stops and move on and stop yet again.  It was nice to get on the road again today for a longer stretch.

Tonight we are stopped in a rest area just outside of Boron, California, a short 224 mile drive. We got here about 4:00PM and just relaxed. I read my book for the first time since leaving the Isla. It only took a day and we are now used to not putting out the slides.

Boron is the home of the Borax Mine, the famous 20 Mule Team Borax. This was taken from a long ways away as we travelled past at 55MPH. My new camera has a great zoom and the best feature is the fast, as in immediate, shutter action.

Our plan tomorrow is to drive to Stockton via CA99, approximately 327 miles.

Thanks to everyone for your support via comments and emails.  It does make a difference.

Tags: The girls, travel, USA

Lots of green in the desert.

Tiny fuzz ball flowers.

We could only see 4 other RV's here, very quiet for this area.

We had a tiny freon leak and needed a new fan, etc.

Colin set us up outside as it was too warm to sit inside. No sense packing all 4 of us into the car, where to go with 2 dogs. Plus the tech needed us to keep turning on and off the engine to check things.

No one was happy.

When we arrived it was overcast which helped with the heat. We walked down this road for a short while. Caeli chased a rabbit. A few minutes later a guy drove by and advised to keep a watch out. He said he just saw a four foot rattler cross in front of our RV as he drove by. They loved this heat. He claimed it was 102F and here I was feeling cool at what I thought was 96F 😥

How ever did this tree manage to grow in the rock?

So much to see here but it would have been better for the camera with different lighting.

The sun did peak out from the clouds for a short while.

Tags: RV repairs, travel, USA, Wine

…what else are you going to do when it’s over 100F out there.  We checked out of the Yuma RV Park about 11:00AM and drove to Walmart, about five minutes away.  By now we had the generator running and the A/C going.  So I shopped for things mostly needed but some not and of course food items to get us thru the next five days.  Colin tried to walk the girls but it was too hot for them to walk on the pavement.

Best buy…new camera case for my new camera.

A great hard sided case for a mere $11.00. complete with necks strap.

It works great for my new Canon SX280HS with the 20 X zoom. This is the camera we borrowed for the Carnivale parade and it was so great that we ordered one on Amazon and picked it up in Ajo.

What next….well it seemed we needed fuel yet again.  Maybe the generator is burning more than we realize.  Good cash price for diesel at Love’s in Yuma @ 3.759/gallon.

As we left Yuma there was a semi pulling a trailer with three vehicles on it. Sadly in the last vehicle, this white truck, there was a black lab sitting in the box of the truck. True animal cruelty. The poor dog had to endure the 100 plus temperature plus the wind plus the diesel exhaust from the truck exhaust stacks. He was driving too fast for us to catch up but then what could I do.

We then finally decided to head to Quartzite where we meandered with the RV from one of the few still open store/outlets to the next.  FYI, it is hard to meander with an RV.  If those merchants want our business I suggest that they advertise parking for RV’s.  We somehow managed to spend $100.00 over two hours in three places.  In fact we went back to the first place for a second time and spent the final $48.00 on outdoor dog beds of all things.  We bought two the first time and I got to thinking that these would be perfect for the Isla as they are washable, so we went back and got four more.  Now what?  Drive to Parker where we have a 9:00AM appointment ( only 40 miles away ) to get the front end air repaired or just stay in the BLM lands here in the big Q.  We decided to stay here in Q.

Great shopping at Gem World.

Spring must be in the air.

The forecast is two more days of 100 degree temps and we should be out of here just as they start to fall.  Our weather station shows that it is a mere 1% humidity outside.  That must be why my nails have all broken in the past few days.

At 8:00PM it is finally down to 87.8F outside. Because of the dryness and the dogs we will keep the generator running a few more hours. This is a first for us. We have never ever had an issue with temperature in this area.

This is what 6 dogs beds looks like when compressed.

So another night just hanging out but not really relaxing.  The shopping therapy did help but I am now ready to drop….literally.

Tags: RV repairs, travel, USA

Hola from Yuma!  Do people really live here year round?  Loco!  It’s only early April.

The past 48 hours have not been fun at all.  We stayed in a Passport America RV Park in Ajo last night and  I have to say that it was a very unpleasant experience.  The staff were rude and uncaring and none of the pull thru sites were level.  We had to use 2 of our jack pads under the back right tires and one under the front right tire and the last one under the front right jack and we were still twisted and heading downhill plus our slides were right against some trees.  We will never ever return there again.  Normally we boondock, but we needed to have WiFi to check on my Dad’s situation and to research who we could contact this morning for help with the A/C repairs.  We did go to the only RV repair shop in Ajo but they would not even take the time to check the situation.  Too busy.

Fortunately my Dad is doing alright despite being rather sore in certain areas.  We were driving at 7:00AM this morning while it was still cool with a list of shops to call as we got closer to Yuma.  We did find one person who could take us without an appointment, CJ RV Repairs, and they were able to fix the overhead A/C.  Something to do with the circuit board.  It did stop again midday but Colin now knew what to do to repair it.  We may need to get the circuit board replaced.  Meanwhile we have an appointment for Friday morning in Parker to get the front end A/C repaired.  So now we drive with the generator running so we can run the overhead A/C.  George asked about our second A/C unit, yes it is working but with the temperature the way it is and driving West into the sun it does nothing to combat the heat.  It seems that this area of the country is in the midst of a heat wave and we are in right in the middle of it.  Yesterday as we drove I kept putting ice packs on the girls to try and cool them.

Today I was able to get an AT&T SIM card for my unlocked wireless hotspot device and sorted out all the to do’s and the many don’ts and hundred of exceptions re having a monthly account with them.  It will be the perfect solution for us while traveling in the USA.  This afternoon we checked into another Passport America RV Park, Arizona Sands, here in Yuma.  Lovely park and staff , but oh so very very hot.  The manager figured we would use up $8.00 of electricity before checking out in the morning.  Yes it is that hot.  Good thing we only had to pay $18.00.  But what a waste of a day, just sitting inside.  When the temperatures started to go down to about 95F we saw people coming out of their RV’s.  I so miss the Isla and Mexico.  It is very very dry here, our skin is shrivilling up and our noses are so dry and irritated.  I tried my new neti pot but the relief lasted less than an hour.  Our A/C has been on for 12 hours now and I just hate it.  The dogs are very unhappy.  The good news is that once we get all of the air conditioning functioning we will be just a day away from cooler temps as we head North. Starting tomorrow we will be boondocking until we get home on the 18th.  The next two nights will be the worst because of the heat.

I know I have yet to post about the rest of our trip out of Mexico and I will do so along with some photos. I also will reply to your comments.  Right now we are in crisis management plus Colin is working on a quote for a huge year long photo contract so I no longer have unlimited access to the computer.

Sunset in Yuma taken while enduring fire hot winds.

Tags: Isla de la Piedra, RV repairs, The girls, travel, USA

We did cross into the US today, however we are suffering.  I have many photos and stories to share but it is too hot to think.

I must start with my Dad.  I finally was able to speak with him tonight and he is doing well.  Yes he fell and it is a very long story but it will NOT happen again.   He is in pain but will recover.

Meanwhile we have been driving thru hell….our inside temps are close o 95F.  It looks like we fried our overhead A/C last night in San Carlos because of the bad  current.  It was low and just the attempt to run the fans might have fried our A/C.  I want to know why everyone else could run their full A/C and not us?

So with no dash air and no overhead A/C via the generator we had a day from hell.  The girls were so hot, I used my cold packs to try and keep them cool.  Tonight we are in a Passport America RV Park in Ajo, Arizona and we are all panting.  Plugging in does us no good.

It seems that the plan is to head to Yuma in the AM to find help.

Wish us well!

Tags: emergency, travel, US/Mexico border, USA