March 15 2011, Z to Maz

17 March Zihuatanejo to Patzcuaro




Our time was up, we were due to leave on the 15th but decided to hang on one more day! By the evening of the 16th every thing was packed away ready for an early start in the morning. Edmundo, the RV Park owner, stopped by with a final gift for Art. He is very proud of his award! Now we have to find somewhere in the rig to display it!

Earlier in the year he had presented Art with some T shirts sporting the RV Park logo on the front and "Almost Staff" printed on the back. He wears them proudly!



But. . . that night Art became very ill, sick from both ends, not to be too descriptive. We decided to postpone our departure. For most of the day he slept and by morning he was fine. Something he ate probably, but it's hard to tell--we had both eaten the same things all day and Gillian was fine. So far.


On the morning of the 17th we made our departure. This trip should have been from Zihuatanejo to Guanajato but we got a bit delayed on the toll road just before the turnoff to Patzcuaro and Morelia!

The temperature gauge began to climb rapidly--as in seconds. The Turn Engine Off light was on--RED, not a good sign. The VMSpc computer was showing a temperature riding as fast as Gillian could read the numbers ". . . 245 250 255 260. . ." By that time we were on the shoulder, on a corner, with the engine switched off.

A highways line painting crew stopped for a moment and laid out some safety cones. The crew boss figured perhaps the thermostat. Shortly after that the Green Angels happened by. These are government sponsored mechanics driving one ton trucks on the lookout for stranded motorists such as us. They had a look but the best they could suggest that since we were so close to the large city of Uruapan we take the tow car to find a diesel mechanic, for whom they gave us directions.

Meanwhile the engine had cooled off a bit so Art started the engine and moved slowly forward. We only moved a few hundred meters before the temperature gauge rose alarmingly but at least we were no longer on the curve. In this area it is common for slow vehicles, trucks in particular, to crawl up the hills using the shoulders and overtaking traffic would straddle the centre line, double or not! We broke open our unused box of reflecting safety triangles and set them out behind the rig. The third and furthest, he set up just around the corned to give the trucks enough notice that the shoulder was blocked ahead.

Art eventually found the recommended mechanic and brought him out to the rig. He crawled underneath and in seconds was back out with a broken serpentine belt in his hand! Back to town for tools and a belt.

Back at the rig, the mechanic soon discovered that he needed a half inch drive ratchet to tighten the tensioner. No, we didn't have one either. Back to town for the them. Returning to the rig he soon had the new belt on and tightened. Almost. It was slightly too big!

Back to the shop. This time he suggested that he would come out in his truck with a helper and that he would have to shop around for another belt. Art managed to miss a turn on his way back to the rig, realising his mistake when he recognised the truck parts shop where we had purchased the first belt!

Eventually he found the way out of town and back to the rig. The mechanic and his helper arrived shortly after and the repair was made in minutes. He had us start the engine and run at high idle for a few minutes while he lay on the road below watching for any problems. All was well.

The bill was more than expected, but cheaper than it would have been at home. Besides having to pay for three belts the labour was a little high by local standards. By some stroke of luck, our mechanic had worked for a bus company in California for many years and had worked on Prevost and MCI buses. When Art had first spoken with the mechanic on the phone he had been asked what engine? When Art said a Cummins 5.9 liter he immediately wanted to know if it was the ISB or ISC version. Art was starting to think that this guy just might know what he was doing!

The bill? 1500 pesos for the three belts (the one unused one he said he couldn't return!) and 3000 pesos for their time and the truck. 4500 in total, less than $400.00

Not to mention the over 100 kilometers that Art put on the Tracker running back and forth!

In the photo are the mechanics after the repairs were made--7 hours after shutting down the rig! We were four or five hours from Guanajuato. It would be Patzcuaro tonight. Fortunately we knew the route well and so weren't worried.

As we reconnected the car the mechanics helper went back to collect the safety triangles. He returned with two. He went back to get the one around the corner but couldn't find it. Art started to go look so he went off again, this time returning with the mangled remains! A truck had driven over it!



19 March Guanajuato, Delores Hidalgo and the Azulejos

After a relatively early arrival in the RV Park located just to the south of Guanajuato we phoned the shop in Delores Hidalgo to confirm that our order was ready and that we would be there in an hour or so to pick up the tiles. The response was not what we had hoped for. Not really surprised to hear that they were not done! After some mumbling the young lady said that she would phone us back.

A short time later she called to say that the tiles would be ready on Sunday or Monday. Art said that we would be there Sunday afternoon.

Since the day was shot, we sat back, played with the dogs, had a drink. . . .

The photo of the rig in the park was taken on Sunday from the road side on our way to Delores Hidalgo using most of the 26X Zoom on the camera.



Saturday drove the car into downtown Guanajuato for a few groceries. We have driven in this very confusing town many times and were sure we knew the way to the grocery store but soon found ourselves in a tunnel that we knew wasn't on the way. In the tunnel we took the first left. (Yes, the tunnels of Guanajuato have intersections and forks. They have parking lots too! I told you it was confusing!) Soon we were above ground in front of the main market, only one block from the grocery store.

Shopping done we returned to the rig to relax. Here is a shot of what we bought for 189 pesos (about $15.00) Not looking forward to the sticker shock we will suffer when we return NOB!

Sunday we set of on the stark dry but still scenic southern route to Delores Hidalgo, about an hour and a half away. This small town is a center of telavera pottery manufacturing and we were off to pick up the counter top tiles formed and painted to match a bathroom basin that we had already picked out and paid for last November when we ordered the tiles.

The town was heaving with traffic and people. There wasn't a shaded parking spot to be seen on the main street but on a dirt cross street we found a place under a large leafy tree. Art elected to stay in the car with the dogs while Gillian went of to see about the tiles.

Fortunately he had his trusty Sony Reader with him and passed the time with it in one hand and a Spanish-English dictionary close to the other as he followed the adventures of Milo Talon in a Spanish translation of a Louis L'Amour western novel! The heat, aridity and dust of that back street matched that being described in the story, set in Texas in the 1870s

Some time later Gillian returned saying "Well you would have been proud of me! I flashed my eyes and stamped my foot. . . . . " She had arrived in the shop and spoken there with a gentlemen we had not seen before. He was the artisan who should have painted the tiles. He said that he hadn't got the message and that the tiles were not painted and would not be ready until Monday or Tuesday!

We had already agreed that if the tiles weren't ready we didn't want to hang around waiting X number of days for them to be done. We were already a little behind schedule, planning on getting some work done on the rig in Mazatlan and also in the USA. Gillian got the shop owner to agree to ship the tiles, at his cost, to us in Puerto Vallarta where we planned to spend a couple of days visiting friends. However in retrospect. . . . . .


So, gathering up the sink,we headed back to Guanajuato again, this time taking the northern mountainous route that would take us through the city. You won't want the sound, it's just road and wind noise, but hang on. No comment as to who is driving but I believe Art was operating the camera!







And here are a few still pics of Guanajuato with AbqL, the Traveling Rock:






to be done:

21 March 2011 Guanajuato to Villa Corona

Shortly after 9:00AM we left Bugamvillas RV Park, enroute to a the small town of Villa Corona, which is a little south of Guadalajara. We had done this route before and remembered two towns that were particularly difficult to navigate due to narrow streets and lack of signage. The 2011 edition of the Guia Roji, the Mexican Road Atlas, did show significant improvement on the first part so we were somewhat optimistic.



The first part of the trip was on either toll roads or very good libres so we were making pretty good time until we hit the end of the good road and were back on the rough stuff. At one point Art had to brake suddenly for an unexpected tope, which he hit fairly hard in spite of the hard braking and a cupboard door opened--and out came a bag of flour which split when it hit the floor!

While Gillian dealt with the flour Art went to check for other damage; there was lot of stuff in the bathroom sink that belonged in the cupboard above it, but that was a semi common occurrence and of no concern. He peeked into the bedroom hanging closet then closed the door again. Gillian would find that later!

Surprisingly the route through La Piedad de Cabadas was much better than the first time through. We only missed one sign and were able to make a U turn within a block and carry on

Soon we were on the 15D, the toll road from Mexico City that ran to Guadalajara and all the way north to Nogales. We followed it only for a few miles but would be rejoining it further north in Tepic. (see map below)

Once off the 15D and heading west on the road north of Lake Chapala we stopped in Ocotlan, the first reasonably sized town with nice wide streets and room to park. It was time for our lunch break and to give Trekker a chance to relax after all the traumatic bumping and rolling. Last trip through here the main street was completely dug up. Nice to see it finished.


While relaxing we spotted a horse drawn cart, the local equivalent of the "rag and bone man", or recycler. While we watched, a small truck pulled in front of the horse and stopped. A couple of young men jumped out and began handing plastic garbage of who knows what to the youngsters on the cart. Poor horse appeared to be hauling quite a load!



In the map photo, one pointer shows where we entered the 15D, the next where we left it, taking the yellow road to Ocotlan (our lunch stop). From there we proceeded west along the red road for some 50 kilometers then turned south to Chapala. Through Chapala and a significant distance beyond to the west along the lake the traffic was horrendous. It was the last time too. This year was worse as it was the last day of the long weekend celebrating the first day of spring. The road was good, just slow so we idled along until we got to Jocotepec, marked by the third pointer. The last pointer shows Villa Corona, our day's target.


Jocotepec. Well. We remembered the last time we came through, the streets were narrow, but this year! Words were spoken. As we entered town we were faced with a large sign saying Guadalaraja and a left pointing arrow. Another sign said "Vehiculos de Carga Pesado Obligatorio" (heavy commercial traffic obligatory) So left we went. There was a bus just ahead which we noticed turning right. There were no further signs so at that intersection we had good look and notice a large temporary sign a couple of blocks up that seemed to say something about a detour. So right we went. We arrived at the town square to find the large sign was indeed a detour sign, pointing to the right for Guadalajara. So right we went. A bit further on we came across yet another traffic sign sending all traffic right yet again. So how's your geometry? Can you visualise our route yet? Another couple of blocks down very narrow streets found us east bound at the intersection where we had been west bound and had turned left. We were now aiming down the highway back towards Lake Chapala!

Art made an immediate right down the same road but this time carried on a bit further. Then we came to a T junction. No signs. Well, it should be right, so right we went. Slowly cruising along we notice a fairly wide road going right again, but had just gone through the intersection when we realised that maybe we should have turned here! Just then we noticed a gentleman sitting on a bench in the park to our left: "Por favor senor, la carretera por Guadalajara?" He pointed to the street beside us! With the traffic, the park, and parked cars there was no way we could back up to make the turn. El senor seemed to realise that as well as he grinned and shook his head and pointed straight ahead and said " a la derecha, la secunda calle" (right at the second street.) Well we hoped so because in two blocks the street we were on became a goat track!


Turning the corner we just looked at each other and laughed. The locals were looking at us in amazement! We managed to get through without losing any more paint and at the end of a very long block was a wide road and a sign: Guadalajara Left. YEAH!




But did it get better? Not a lot! The main highway was under construction!

Eventually we were moving towards the three highway junction where we would make our turn south onto highway 80. As we progressed we suddenly realised/remembered that there was no left turn where we needed one. Not just not allowed, there wasn't one. We were on a divided highway. Then we remembered that we had to make a "retorno" -- U turn, and back track!


A short while later we arrived at Villa Corona and found the RV Park,which is located in the back of Chumulco water park and hot springs. Remember I mentioned the 21st weekend? TRAFFIC? We managed to get inside the grounds, found the office where they told us to take any vacant space. However the entrance to the RV Park was so crowded with vehicles that we couldn't get in. We headed down the back weaving around out bound cars trying to exit via the entrance lane and boondocked alongside the soccer field amongst Mexican families picnicking on the grass.

A security guard came by and suggested that we move into the RV Park when everyone had gone. It would be dark by then and we didn't want the bother. We were fine where we were. In fact four or five years ago we had parked in the same area as the RV spaces had all been taken.

It was about 5:30 by the time we were parked, level, slides out, the Starchoice dish searching for a satellite and Art was looking for his whisky bottle.

Tomorrow we would cross the Sierra Madres Occidental to Puerto Vallarta, a route new to us. Maybe an early start? Don't hold your breath!



Villa Corona to Puerto Vallarta
Coming soon

Tuesday morning we were out of Chamulco by 9:10, not bad! Our route was to be highway 70 which we have never taken and have heard various stories. The last few people we spoke to about this drive said that it was very scenic, hilly and steep but not too bad.

The options were to turn northeast again and take the new bypass around Guadalajara and then either turn west to the this same highway or continue north and join the 15D to near Tepic and through Compostela. We had done Tepic to Compostela to Puerto Vallarta south bound a couple of years ago.

We could also continue west on the 80 and turn north on the yellow road, joining the 70 near Ameca. That was our final decision. We would give the southern route a try!


We reached Ameca in only an hour and a quarter, looking promising. We made a quick stop for photographic evidence of AbqL's having been here as well as at this end of "La Ruta Turistica".






It was a very scenic drive, though a little up and down and around! Like a baby version of the Espinaza del Diablo route from Durango to Mazatlan. Our maximum elevation was around 6300 feet.

At 1:00 PM we stopped in the town of Mascota for lunch, finding a place to park well off the street alongside a commercial agricultural feed store.

Two hours after leaving the lunch stop we were back on the flat, and stopped for fuel in Ixtapa (Jalisco) and an hour after leaving the Pemex, we arrived at Puerto Vallarta Trailer Park at twenty to five.

Tomorrow we will look up our friends Melchor and Marta as well as Bill and Anita, two couples we have known for over 20 years. Our first trip to Mexico was due to encouragement from Bill, who with his wife have operated Casa Anita since the 60's! While there we met Melchor, from whom we took our first Spanish lessons. We also met his girlfriend Marta, now his wife and have watched their children grow from babies to young adults. Melchor now operates his own language school. We have taken level 2 and 3 there and found the method used to be the best and most effective we have seen.


22 - 29 March-- A week in Puerto Vallarta

It wasn't meant to be a week, but hey, it's Mexico.

Today we got a phone call from the tile shop in Delores Hidalgo giving us the tracking number for our tiles which had just been shipped. We could expect them tomorrow or more likely Thursday.

We wandered up the street to Melchor's school and popped in during a break. Good thing we know his schedule! We chatted for a while then left him to his students having made arrangements to go out for dinner with the family.

Yesi, their daughter is attending university in Morelia but son Alex was able to join us as did a visiting student from the United States. Alex is now 17, a fine young man who plans to study computer science when he finishes high school this year. Art took great delight in pointing out that the first time we went out to dinner together Alex was less than a year old and spent dinner sleeping in Art's arms!




Next day we just hung around the RV Park, though Gillian did take a load of laundry down the block. It will be ready tomorrow. During the afternoon we noticed some activity in the park, several people, including Gaby (the Park manager) her staff and kids all looking up into the trees. Art grabbed the camera and went out to see what he could "shoot".




The cause of all the excitement was a pair of chacalacas, a very noisy bird (they sound like their name) that was very common around El Manglar in Zihuatanejo. The birds followed each other around the trees, occasionally stopping for a cuddle before wandering again from branch to branch. After a lot of effort and staring up vertically into the trees Art managed a couple of adequate snaps.

Note that you can click a picture to enlarge it. To return to the blog page use the back arrow at the top left of the screen.

Thursday we went into Estafeta, the local courier company, to collect our tiles. After the young lady studied the computer screen then went into the back, she returned to the screen, studied it a bit more, looked a little confused, then told Art they would be here tomorrow, Friday, at 1:00PM. Art was a little annoyed but what can you do?

Friday afternoon around 2:00 PM Art returned to Estafeta. Fortunately is was reasonably close by. The young lady checked the computer, went to the back then returned to tell him Monday! Art was livid and everyone in the line was aware of it! Looks like we're not leaving Saturday!

Bill had invited us to join a group Friday evening at a new nearby sports bar for their rib night. We were the second couple to arrive and had been chatting a few minutes when another couple arrived. The lady looked familiar but we couldn't place her. She introduced herself as Anita's sister! The resemblance was striking, hence the familiar look. She and her husband, both in their 80's had just immigrated to Puerto Vallarta from Montreal!

Bill and Anita and the rest of the group soon arrived--they had been watching a Canucks hockey game!--and the party got under way.

The food was excellent, the company better. The only "low point" was the bill: 2 rib dinners, a bottle of wine, one margarita and two beer. 500 pesos. A touch over $40.00! And we had enough left over for dinner the next night! While chatting we realised that we would still be here on Sunday and asked Bill if the Sheraton Hotel still did their Sunday Brunch.

Bill replied that it was indeed, and that we should join the Casa Anita table. He told us that we should not pay at the door like everyone else, just tell the staff we were with Casa Anita.






Saturday we walked the malecon (sea walk) and looked at the sculptures. We took a photo or two of AbqL for the record as well.






Something new this trip--on going ever-changing sand sculptures, the artists competing for tips! From whimsical to traditional the artistic craftsmanship was superb!







Sunday at 10 we got a ring side seat with the mariachi band right behind us! We had done one of these brunches before and remembered it will in spite of the unlimited "Champagne" the waiters were constantly offering.






I'll let a few more pictures speak here:



And a few of Art falling off his diet wagon. There were a couple of plates not photographed! He has been very proud of the results of his recent lipid profile results...he could stay off his cholesterol meds! Not for long at this rate!


The music was wonderful. Bill was invited up to sing! This happens regularly. Bill is well known and well liked all over PV and he has a good voice as well. Not bad for the wrong side of 70.


Monday -- looking again for the tiles.

Monday afternoon Art returned to Estafeta. Same performance as on the previous visits but this time the young lady returned with the manager. The manager apologized and said they would look for them. Art explained that we were in Mexico on tourist visas and had to leave the country soon, we couldn't hang around waiting. He left our e-mail and Mexican phone number, told the manager that we had to leave in the morning and returned to the rig.

Here he sent a detailed e-mail to the shop owner explaining the problem and saying that we would keep in touch, but in any case would return to Mexico in the fall and have him ship the tiles to us via DHL, a very reliable courier here as well as in Canada. We sent a cc of the email to the Estafeta manager as well.

As as aside, over the nine months of this long trip we have had our first class mail forwarded to us via DHL; twice to Whitehorse, once to Halifax, once to San Antonio and twice to Zihuatanejo. All arrived in a timely fashion.



29 March, Puerto Vallarta to Mazatlan

Up "early" today, hoping for an early start which of course didn't happen! Does it ever? Not a lot to do, most things had been put away the night before. All that remained were the water hose and step stool that we couldn't get back in the bin until the slides were retracted, and of course Art had forgotten to check tires so that had to be done first.

Straightening up after checking the last tire, the left front, he whacked his head on the corner of the still extended dining room slide. He entered the rig holding his head and muttering while blood ran down his face and neck onto his good Sailfest 2011 T shirt! Into the bathroom to run water over his head and neck, holding tissues on the cut until the blood stooped. Next was to run the bloody stains under cold water, then the shirt was left wet on the shower floor as we had no time to spend giving it a proper wash.

Engine started, slides brought in, jacks retracted and water hose put away, all that remained was to pull our of our site and hook up the car. All this went fine by 9:30 we left the Puerto Vallarta Trailer Park for our run to Mazatlan.

In past trips we have always taken the "red" and "yellow" road turning off the 200 at Las Varas and going through San Blas and Villa Hidalgo before returning to the 15D, north-south toll road. This detour saves a long up hill grind through Comopostela to Tepic and also avoids a few tolls.

This year we had received reliable information that parts of our favourite route was in very bad shape, with a mile of so of potholes in one section and overhanging branches in much of the rest. Unfortunately this would mean that we would miss the tiny village of Mantanchen, famous for it's banana bread!

Another factor in our decision was that Trekker really doesn't like bumpy roads! He gets quite stressed and fearful. He has slowly been getting better so we opted for the hilly, more expensive though faster route.

Fifteen minutes into our drive Art's cell phone rang. It was Estafeta. They had located our tiles. They were in San Luis Potosi! About the same distance as PV from Delores Hidalgo but in the opposite direction! The courier offered to ship them to Canada without charge, but import and brokerage would make it excessive. The tiles only cost about $25.00! We told them to return them to the shipper and we would make arrangements to collect them when we return to Mexico in the fall. We will probably get then shipped by DHL to Zihuatanejo.

Back to the drive: Two years ago we had driven this route south bound and remember saying of the Compostela route that we were happy to be driving down hill rather than up as there were many looooong snaky lines of vehicles crawling uphill behind semis and other slow trucks. We were pleasantly surprised to find that we managed to get ahead of all the big slow rigs until about 25 kilometers from Tepic, and that truck full of old cane pulled off after ten or fifteen minutes.


Along the way we came upon a brush fire that seemed to have no one concerned, at least no one was doing anything about it. There are lots of burned areas like this along the highways, probably started by cigarettes and or broken bottles.


The motorhome performed beautifully, that little 5.9 turbo Cummins just purred along, the engine temperature never going 190F, and the Allison transmission ran a bit cooler. Surprisingly, looking in the logbook, it seem that the uphill trip between PV and Compostela took 2 hours and 20 minutes while the downhill run two years ago took 2 hours 35 minutes! We did notice that today's traffic seemed very light.



We took in the scenery as we drove, we were certainly going slow enough to enjoy it!


Through Tepic with out incident, though it's a good thing the the navigator had her eyes open as the sign for our turnoff for the cuota (toll road) north was not unambiguous and we had three lanes of traffic to cross from the sign to the turn off only 50 meters away!


At any rate we were rolling on the toll road, made a 40 minute stop at the toll booth at Estacion Ruiz, and at 4:15 we were at the end of the toll road at Villa Union. 227 kilometers in 2 hours 40 minutes driving time! Not bad for a cruse control set at 100 Km/H!

Cost of the tolls: 1,011 pesos=$84.00

At our lunch stop we parked behind this semitrailer which had this very realistic paint job on the right rear cargo door. We really did a double take. It is a painting! (You can click on the picture to enlarge it and click again for an even closer view)



From Villa Union into Mazatlan we were again surprised to find the road surface in excellent condition and the traffic reasonable. We had to pay attention to not exceed the speed limits which varied between 60, 90, 80, and 70 seemingly randomly!

Into Mazatlan we found ourselves in the construction zone we had been warned about. It only took us about 10 or 15 minutes to get through, so not too bad. The left turn into Maz centro from the north end of the city was closed to north bound traffic but as we were bound for the North Beaches area, carrying on north wasn't a problem.

In the pics to the left note worker up in the tree, pruning branches, and the particularly attentive traffic cop!


Where the libre and toll road separated we took the toll road, knowing that there would be no tolls before we turned off west to the Cerritos area (Signed as "Mazatlan Playas") and a few minutes later arrived at Las Jaibas RV Park. We were booked in and parked by 5:20.

Because of the time zone change it was only 4:20 locally, which made us realise that we have missed the trauma of going from standard time to daylight time: Instead of losing an hour for the change, nothing will really change for us as Mexico doesn't change until the end of March! We went from Central Standard Time to Mountain Standard Time just north of Puerto Vallarta and so gained an hour on today's drive. When we cross the border into Arizona it doesn't change to daylight time so we will stay on Mountain Standard time until we cross into California which of course is on Pacific Daylight Time, which are the same! As a bonus, the TV guide on our Starchoice satellite system is set for Pacific Daylight Time, so now what we see is what we get--no longer do we have to wait until 7 o'clock for the 5 o'clock CHEK TV News!

We booked in for two nights at what to us was an outrageous price: $30.00 US, which they converted to pesos as 366 per night. The practice of some businesses charging in US dollars for items that are have nothing to do with U.S. costs annoys us a lot but it appears to be common in Mazatlan. In Zihuatanejo the daily price is 300 pesos, while in Puerto Vallarta it was 320.

We recognised two couples already in the park from previous years and joined them for a drink.

Our friend Paul had been watching for us from his beachfront condo with the aid of a pair of binoculars (which he says he uses for watching wildlife) and soon arrived along with Jacqui and Derek, all close friends from Victoria who winter here in Maz.

As dinner time was rapidly approaching, if not almost past, the five of up went into town for dinner at a new restaurant, Panchos, for an excellent dinner and a bit of a catchup chat.

Home again we watched some TV (the satellite dish is working well) and went to bed ready for a good night's sleep.


We woke early (shortly after six!) to a cold bedroom--windows were closed, vent closed, but the inside temperature was down to 63F! We grabbed a Mexican woolen blanket to lay over the duvet and went back to sleep for an hour!


Yesterday we had called Juan, a body shop owner who has worked on our rigs before, to let him know when we would arrive. He told us he would see us at the rig at 10:00 this morning. At 11:00 Art phoned Juan again--he said he would be right over!

He soon arrived, but had trouble at the gate, but they finally let him in. He looked at the required work, gave us a written quote and said that it would take two days and that he could start tomorrow. But not in this park! Apparently the park owner demands a significant percentage for any work done in the park and most trade people refuse to work here.

So tomorrow we will move into a park in town--more money apparently, but they have a pool! It will be too cold to swim in I'll bet! (Note added later--It is!)

Just as we finished up with Juan, our friend Paul arrived to see if Art wanted to go to the Marina Restaurant to join a "Guys' Lunch". No need to be persuaded he jumped into Paul's Mercedes and off they went.

Lunch specials today included a fish sandwich with French fries and a cold beer for 55 pesos. ($4.50) The fish sandwich was excellent as were the fries and of course the beer!

Since we wanted an early start we began to put things away ready to move in the morning.

Last thing before bed we noticed a foul odor in the bathroom. We recognised it a sign that the grey tank was over full and the waste water was rising up the shower drain! This was no time to dump the tank as the "easy access" sewer drain was too short to reach the drain. Moving the rig was out of the question--slides would have to come in, jacks retracted etc etc. So we shut the bathroom door and went to bed.


Thursday, March 31

Thursday morning in the wee small hours (la madrugada) we woke to the pitter-patter of small raindrops on the roof!

Art woke again to full daylight, checked his watch to find that it read 7:45!!! We had wanted to get into town before 8:00 AM to avoid the traffic! Art called to Gillian and flew out of bed to the bathroom. Out of fresh water too! Just a trickle left. Well, it would have to do. At least the sun was shining!

Finally the rig was moved closer to the drain, enough grey water drained to avoid spillage and we were off to San Fernando RV Park. (Art hadn't completely drained the tank as he hoped that the sloshing of the water in the tank during the move might clean off the level sensors.)

Through surprisingly light traffic we arrived at San Fernando at 8:45. There was no one around, all was still and quiet. The sign on the office door said they opened at nine, so we decided to just find a space and park.

Sewer connections here too were in strange locations, most on the wrong side of the site and well back! However we found a level site which had the drain for the neighbouring site very close to ours so Art thought the 15' hose just might stretch. It didn't as it turned out but the 5' extension made it work.

Now it was breakfast time for us and the dogs. Still quiet around here though one couple did come over to say hello and to see it we wanted them to move their trunk which was parked on the road way, but we were fine.

We turned the satellite system and TV on for the news, then Art realised that we hadn't been as late as previously thought--his watch was still on Central Mountain Time! It was essentially an hour fast! We had actually arrived at 7:45! Another bonus, this park was significantly cheaper than the last!

We later phoned the shop to say we were here and were told that Juan was off buying supplies and would return in an hour. Or maybe two.

At any rate they arrived about 11:00 and unloaded their equipment, Juan set his helper to work and left for the day taking a small piece of trim to use while he mixed paint to match.

Meanwhile Art had realised that he had left his Tilley hat at the restaurant yesterday so once the work was underway he returned to the Marina hoping for the best. He was delighted to find that they had put it away on a shelf and returned happy that he hadn't lost another one!













Here are a few "before" pics.



We spent the day around the motorhome, Art spending some time on the blog as the repairs, filling, sanding and painting progressed. By 6:30 PM the primer coat was finished.




During









Priming in the breeze:



Now that we could get a good guess on our arrival time in the USA Art got on the phone looking for an RV shop that could get us in for the Norcold Fridge recall. He was successful with a shop in Yuma and we are booked in for Wednesday, pending a confirmation call Monday.

After dinner Art continued with the blog--posting the photos seem to take a good bit of the time, but was able to put it away knowing that this long section will be done tomorrow!


Friday morning we again woke up at a reasonable time and while we were having breakfast Juan's helper arrived and began prepping the undercoat and remasking the rig in preparation for the colour and clear coats. Juan arrived shortly thereafter to supervise. For a switch, Juan, the Master, was applying masking while the apprentice was operating the spray gun. Juan later took over for the clear coat.

It was interesting to watch them paint in the outdoors, in wind and sun! Note the serious lack of eye and respiratory protection--they depend on the fresh air and not standing downwind!

During all of this Gillian did 2 loads of washing only to find that the dryer wasn't working! The maintenance man eventually started it manually but it was very slow drying--turned out they were out of gas! The gas truck has just left (as I type!) so hopefully we won't be setting off tomorrow with a bag of wet laundry.

We are off to dinner with Paul and Jacqui and Derek--back at the Marina. Art won't take his hat this time!

Then home to pack up everything up so we will be ready to go early in the morning.

There. This mega post is done!