How we $pent Our Summer Vacation; Part Two

Ireland!

Ben, one of my many wonderful nephews, decided to marry a fine Irish Girl by the name of Claire. Of course this was just the excuse we needed for the Irish trip we have been promising ourselves for decades!

Between us we had enough Aeroplan points for the trip. Having heard about the Irish weather we thought that a week of drizzle would be enough (After all, we leave home every fall to avoid this stuff!) so we should book a week somewhere warm or even hot, in order to dry out and toast our bones. The Algarve in Portugal sounded to about perfect!

We lined up Kate, our favourite dog and house sitter and off we went: Air Canada Victoria to Toronto then Toronto to Dublin, where we would arrive at 9:40 AM Irish time. While putting our carryon in the overhead rack on the aircraft at Toronto Art hear Gillian say in a surprised voice "Hi there!" Art turned around to see to his surprise, his niece Phoebe (the groom's sister) with her husband Gordon and baby son Maxwell whom we had never met before! They live in Montreal and were connecting through to Dublin. We managed a nice visit and Art and Maxwell got to know each other a bit.

We had made arrangements to meet Steve, another nephew flying in from Paris, at the Dublin Airport. We would stay at the same hotel in Dublin, tour the city that day then drive in the rental car to the tiny village of Letterfrack, in Connemara. Steve and his cousin had been close friends since childhood and had attended university together. As a surprise for Steve, they hung around at DUB for his flight from Paris to arrive. A great family reunion! 

At the airport we picked up the Avis car and drove the 2 minutes to the hotel, had a much needed shower, changed, and met Steve back in the lobby. We took the city  bus to Dublin city center then bought tickets on the Hop-On-Hop-Off tour bus. Needless to say we hopped off at the Guinness Storehouse!  Here we spent several hours and took the opportunity to learn how to pour (and drink!) the Perfect Pint. We were successful  and each earned a certificate to prove it.

Art discovered that his first and disappointing taste of Guinness many many years ago had not been the best. We would never have ordered one but we were in Dublin for heaven sake, birthplace of his Great Grandfather Patrick! Well as luck would have it, he loved it. It was not as he rememered at all. This could be the start of something!

From the Guinness Storehouse we hoped back on the tour bus back to the center of town and where we hoped to catch the bus back to the hotel. But first a bite to eat. Pizza and beer got the vote! We caught the right bus, but then as it pulled into the airport we discovered that it was the end of the line and our driver was off sift! The next bus would depart in half an hour or so! The hotel was the first stop on the bus route and only short walk but it was a bit convoluted for pedestrians so we called for the hotel's airport shuttle!

Back at the hotel the lobby bar was beckoning. We settled into a couple of comfortable chairs, nursed a couple of Irish Whiskys and headed for our much needed bed. We calculated that bu this time we had been awake for about 31 hours and it was time for bed! We told Steve we would call him when we woke, hopefully 8:30 or so.

We took a couple of melatonin tablets, which Art finds helpful to combat jet-lag, though Gillian not so much.

We slept relatively well, woke up at a good time and met Steve in the restaurant for breakfast. The buffet was very good, even the coffee!

We were soon on the road west. Our GPS guided us out of the city but the signage was very clear. Soon we were westbound on the freeway. This was a toll road with no toll booths! All vehicles had to have transponders. There were cameras to catch those without!. We had been told by Avis, that in order to pay the toll we could stop at any petrol station showing the emblem (which we had forgotten)!  As we drove Steve searched his smart phone and paid the toll on line!

We stayed three days in the Rosleague Manor   . . . . .

where many of the family stayed and in spite of on and off drizzle and some low cloud had a wonderful time. Perhaps the smoked salmon and scrambled eggs for breakfast helped. And of course the Guinness! Not to mention the view from our room (once the clouds lifted).  

And the beautiful brass bed in our room.

The wedding was on Friday afternoon at a small local church . . . .

. . . .


the reception that evening in the  lodge's beautiful dining room.  The dinner was excellent;

  then we adjourned to the lounge for dancing.

Traditional

 And some not so traditional as we were entertained by the groom's younger brother's Break Dance display.

Saturday, the bride and groom decided to have another party in a pub in nearby Clifden! More Guinness!

Sunday was the bride's birthday so yet another party was planned but we had to move on, we only had a few more days.  South in the rain to Tralee in County Kerry to find a B&B. Small room, up a flight of stairs but neat and clean and the place was quite well located. The breakfast was nothing to write home about, but we had been spoiled at the Manor!

We spent two nights at the B&B and one full day driving the Ring of Kerry and the Dingle Peninsula. Both were quite picturesque, but we agree that Dingle was a bit more scenic.

Back to Dublin, we dropped the car back at Avis and took their shuttle to the airport then from there the shuttle to the hotel to check in for the night.

A few photos to come-- they are on the other computer!

How We $pent Our Summer Vacation; Part One

I really will fill this in, but we are turning the house and dogs over to the house sitters and their big dog (keeps Trekker in line). First away for a long weekend, then back for a day and off again for a couple of weeks. Seems that the house sitter spends more time here than we do!

First thing we needed was 6 new Michelins for the rig.

Then a new floor for the shower--they had to make one! Don't keep them in stock, just the mold! That plus the shipping, removing the old shower and reinstalling the new one, we probably could have had a custom made one! They found a bit of rot behind the wall which they cut out--previous leak it looked like. Tech said it was dry and looked to have happened a long time ago.

We also decided to redo the mounting for the flat screen. To make a long story short, the current TV won't work out--the back is not flat enough! So what's another $250.00 for a new LED 29" TV (a little bigger than the old one, a 26)? Now we have a flat screen for the bedroom but what to do the the old Picture Tube TV currently there?

Then we needed a new DVD. Cheap. And countless trips between the downstairs shop and the rig at the top of the drive.(Huff, puff, Oh forget that--take the van!)

Art had found that several fasteners securing the solar panels had pulled loose from the roof. He can't scrambled around there any more so another call to the tech. (Different tech than above--we thought we might have to pull the gray and/or black water tank and didn't want to do that in Chris' driveway--OR ours!)

Had them all taken off and the fastening redone--lots of rusty screws up there!!! Not a good thing. Since they were coming off any way Art and Chris came up with a simple mounting system that will allow 4 way tilting to take best advantage of the sunlight.

Now we're getting ready to set off Thursday for an FMCA Vancouver Islanders weekend, a couple of men arrive tomorrow (Wednesday) morning to wash and wax. Art turned the fridge on to start cooling it down and was not happy with the growling sound coming from the fridge! While investigating the source of the noise he found more rust than he is comfortable having on the coils of the cooling unit. The noise seems to be coming from the fans somewhere inside the fridge. Perhaps a bearing?

He took a few photos to post on RV.NET to see what the consensus of the experts is:

Overview, closeup of bottom left.

Tank

base of burner

Top of cooling unit coils.

More later. Maybe September?

Yup. September! Here we are at Pedder Bay RV Resort and Marina with our FMCA Chapter, the Vancouver Islanders. A beautiful sunny weekend so far.

Meanwhile, back to the cooling unit and the fridge:

On the Thursday morning, Art was ready to head out to the Cowichan Bay rally the fridge wouldn't light (or rather stay lit) on propane and wouldn't run at all on the AC!  Art called Gillian on her cell phone so she bought a new cooler and a few blocks of ice to get us through the weekend. Gillian had had a few things to do first, so Art set off in the motorhome then she and the dogs would drive up later in the Jeep.

Of course when we got there the fridge lit just fine on propane! Art ran the generator for a while but couldn't get the thing working on AC. So a call to Chris who agreed to come to the house on Monday, where he found a bad fuse on the control board. Hard to get at but done and working now. This was something Art could have done himself but he is trying to limit the amount of time he spends on his feet. Ah well, what's an hour's service call?!

As for the corrosion on the coils, the consensus is . . . . . who knows? The external rust itself isn't a problem, the corrosion of concern is what occurs inside the tubing! The fridge is working well and cooling down as it should. The fan noise went away. One suggestion was that it was harmonics created by the one of the two fans running a bit slower than the other. Maybe on  the way out but.. Here in Pedder Bay it's running normally, the fan noise is gone. We'll just cross our fingers and plan on replacing the fridge when it finally fails.

Last Leg on the homeward stretch

 Friday, March 29th


To make a long story short, back at McKay Truck we found the rig parked in the lot. We packed away all our stuff, paid the bill (ouch), hooked up the Jeep and pulled out of the lot at 3:37. Port Angeles here we come! We had made reservations for the morning Coho ferry so would be home tomorrow,

Knowing that today would be rather long, and that Gillian would rather not drive the 101 up Puget Sound in the dark we planned out route to give Art a bit of a break before we got there. Fortunately the weather looked very promising for the trip.

Art started out driving and though we were into rush hour(s) the traffic was moving well. Even the 405 look around (now through!) Portland was uneventful though busy  Once through Portland via the 405 loop and back on the I 5 we pulled into the rest area at Exit 11just into Washington state at 5:20. The dogs were a bit disappointed in that they didn't get a walk; we were on the high way again 5 minutes later with Gillian in the left hand seat and Art reclined in the right.

At 6:45 Gillian stopped at the mile 91 Rest Area just south of Olympia where we stopped for 20 minutes to feed and walk the dogs. Rested, Art returned to the driver's seat and in a few minutes we left the I 5 for the 101 to Port Angeles, estimating 2 1/2 to three hours enroute.

On the shoulder of the 4 lane highway leading in to Port Angeles we stopped to disconnect the Jeep. Art carried on the the motorhome with the dogs while Gillian followed along in the Jeep. At 9:45 we were at Safeway taking on fuel. Good thing we weren't much later: they close at 10:00PM!

10:15 we were in the ferry lineup, just past the Tourist Office. We took the dogs for a little walk around then decided to see what we could do for dinner. We  were getting a little peckish! It had been 12 hour since lunch.

Almost  beside us was a wine bar called appropriately enough, Wine on the Waterfront. We had thought about it before, so in we went. Finding the entrance was a bit of work and the stores below were closed. We finally found the way up and took a couple of stools at the bar.

Our luck being what it is, the kitchen was closed.

However all was not lost, we had a glass of wine, then another, as we considered our options and chatted with the bartender (who happily was quite knowledgeable about wines). They had a few small thing to offer including individual pizzas made locally daily and cooked there as they were ordered so which we took a chance.  Good decision. We were both pleased, they weren't very big, but big enough.


Back outside the wind was a bit brisk so the dogs got a final quick walk and we were off to bed.

 Saturday, 30 March



We were awake early enough for Art to boil the kettle and make a  cup of tea, Gillian would get one later from the espresso stand beside us. We hadn't needed an alarm because the Espresso stand starts setup around 5:30!!!

One the gate opened we got into the outer parking lot where Art had to wait for the rig to be measured before walking inside to purchase his ticket. Gillian was infront of us in the Jeep and was able to drive-straight in to the inner lot via the ticket office. There was a lot of construction inside the terminal lot due to new security measures and devices being put in place hence all the traffic behind that entrance was sent onto the outer lot.

Art took this opportunity to make a bowl of oatmeal in the microwave using the inverter--sure sucks the amps out of the batteries! Gillian fed and walked the dogs and went over and got her coffee.

Mean while we enjoyed the view. The weather was beautifully bright and sunny, the Olympic Mountains were spectacular. We took a few photos from the lot, the motorhome on the right of the photo under the red Olympic sign is ours.

At 8:05 Art, the dogs and the motorhome boarded the ferry, Gillian was somewhere ahead of us. Art met up with Gillian in the Cafeteria where we sat and sipped some hot chocolate for a while. The ferry departed right on time at 8:20. Once we moved away from the dock we were able to get a larger. view of the mountains and Port Angeles.

9:50 the ferry arrived at the dock. Once unloaded we had customs to deal with. We were just a tad over our duty free allowance--the heat pump alone put us into 4 figures! We don't try to fudge anything, nothing is worth being on their S*** list for the next 7 years!

By 10:15 we had paid the taxes and we clear customs, Gillian on her way home directly, except for a quick stop for groceries. Art, accompanied with the dogs, went to the Sani Dump provided (free) by the local Co-op, to empty the holding tanks. We cleared the dump site at 10:55 and were home at 11:15 AM.

13,233 kilometers since leaving home last October.

Waiting in Albany, Oregon

Tuesday, 26th March.

Ron, the service manager was ready for us even though Art had found an unlocked door a few minutes before opening time and had come in the back way!

We were finding our way around Albany, this being our third, no 4th, visit here. We were off to breakfast, fed and walked the dogs--there are a few nice parks for them. On leash only, but that's probably just as well!

There is also a very nice brew pub. As we perused the menu at lunch time Art finally had come to a decision, but said "You know for some reason I really felt that I could go for fish and chips, but I guess that was too much to hope for." Then for some reason he looked at the back cover of the menu and there it was!

We ate quite well over the next few days, though Art was getting just a little tired of shopping!

One day we drove to Wilsonville,  just south of Portland, to investigate new GPS units, and to see about getting a US Cell phone for Gillian, one that was or could be unlocked, had all the frequencies for North America as well as Europe.

We checked out several GPS units at CampingWorld but none of the RV or Truck units had Mexico maps available.  Back to the drawing board.

Phones too were not exactly what we wanted. More looking I guess.

On Thursday, the 28th it looked like we would be done that day. Just the generator service to do and a few finishing touches here and there. Art asked that before they buttoned everything up would the tech please have good look around underneath and all around checking hoses, cables, wires, connections  for signs of corrosion, constriction etc.

Later he received a call from the service manager, could we come down and have a look at something:

This is the left rear wheel well. The bracket is supposed to attach the motorhome body to the chassis frame. The next one forward wasn't in much better shape, but was at least still attached. There should be a gap of about one inch between the chassis and coach frames. Here there was no gap. The (coach frame was resting on the chassis frame! In the top photo you can see the wood block the tech used to hold the frames apart while he formed a new and longer bracket.

LATER NOTE: For comparison, I found a photo of the same wheel well from our Alaska trip in 2010.

$800.00 of welding and fabricating we were done. But not tonight Josephine!

He would not be able to finish today. In order for us to sleep in it tonight they would have to put the wheels back on, let it down, and then start over tomorrow. There was a dog friendly motel not far away--right next door to our now becoming regular breakfast place, so off we went.

The dogs had their own beds at least and settled down quite well.

Though when Gillian went out to the Jeep, Trekker waited anxiously at the door!

Friday morning we drove up to Salem to check out an old weaving mill that was now a Historical Site. The weather was improving and the drive was as pleasant as a drive up the I 5 can get.


The mill site was very interesting and well preserved, though some of it had been rebuilt. Unfortunately I can't seem to find any photos. However, I did find a link to their webpage; it's worth a look. http://www.oregonlink.com/mission_mill/index.html

After the mill tour we went looking again for a phone for Gillian and found one!  An unlocked quadband smart phone, by IDEOS with Google, at $89.99! Next we needed to find an AT&T office to buy the $100.00 pay as you go card which would be good for one year as long as we didn't use up the time.

We found AT&T but the machine there wouldn't accept our Canadian Visa or Mastercards! Nor could the assistant be of help! Gillian finally went to an ATM and took out the cash. Now we could phone each other without Gillian's Telus phone running up big roaming charges.

Meanwhile Art had asked were we might find a restaurant or cafe for lunch, not a fast food place. We don't do Big Macs! At the other end of the little strip mall from AT&T was a lovely little bakery and cafe where we had a quick but very delicious lunch then returned to McKay's to see what we would find there.

Homeward Bound from Ajo.

Sorry, a little late getting back to blogging!
 
8:30 Saturday morning, 23 March 2013

 Just a week late, Art pulled out of the park to fuel up while Gillian took the dogs for a walk. The Chevron station across the street was out of diesel!

A bit further back down the highway was Woody's, and they not only had diesel, but it was cheaper than the price Chevron had posted!

The computer estimated we had 66.5 gallons left. When done, we had taken on  61.3. It's a 90 gallon tank! That means there was only 28.7 gallons left. We had lost almost 39 gallons of fuel!

Art returned to just in front of the RV Park where he topped up the propane (in case we needed the furnace on the way home) and got the Jeep hooked up just as Gillian and the dogs arrived.  We were northbound at 9:20.

We found the Yuma Palms Mall without difficulty and more by good luck than good memory ( we had been here last year) we parked quite close to the Pet store and a couple of electronic shops.

No luck on a GPS, but found the required dog food without difficulty, had lunch and a few minutes after 1:00 PM were California Bound.

We found our way to Desert Hot Springs OK but got lost on the way to the RV Park--missed a turn! After a nice tour of Beautiful Down Town Desert Hot Springs, we got to Sands RV and Golf Resort by 5:00.

Walk and feed the dogs, shower, change etc we set off in the Jeep to our friends Celine and Peter. We met them quite a few years ago in Zihuatanejo, they dropped in to visit us at home in their sail boat a few years ago and last year we visited them in the park. Now they have bought a house here for the winters.

We had an excellent dinner and good time visiting them and another Canadian Couple, then headed home to bed, hoping for an early start in the morning.

And early it was, for us, anyway--departing at 8:40.

Our route was I 10 to the I 5 at Los Angeles, by what ever route our temperamental GPS or the Road Atlas or the Highway signs indicated. We managed to keep the GPS functioning more or less but followed a slightly different route than last year.

Where the 210 joins the I-5 we did not follow the truck route. In hind sight we probably should have as the multiple lanes thin out to just 2 going up a very long steep hill. Note the car passing us on the right in the merge lane.

The truck route appeared to be a little longer but less steep.










 At any rate, we were on the I-5 and fueling at the Flying J at El Tejon at 12.30 (exit 205) Just a quick stop here and we were on our way for about 5 minutes when we pulled of at the rest area fora quick lunch and to give the dogs a quick run and a pee.



Continuing on again at 1:35, we just kept rolling for the next 260 miles or so when we pulled off for some grocery shopping (Exit 463). 35 minutes later we were back on the road, just a short 40 minute run to the next Flying J where we fueled up again then moved to the parking area for the night.  There was a bit of a line up at the pumps, it took longer for the pickup in front to finish fueling, buy a coffee and a burger, than it did to pump in another hundred bucks of diesel.

Monday, March 25th

This was the day of our original appointment at McKay Truck in Albany OR. We were going to be a little late.

Somewhere around 8:00 AM, getting ready to roll and the rear jacks wouldn't retract. You may remember that the front jacks wouldn't respond to their button--(it's on the TO DO list for Chris when we get home) so we had just used the rears.  Well, this morning, it was the rear jacks' turn!

Art dug out the manual to make sure he opened the correct valves, reached in and began to turn the handle and . . .  Up came the jacks and down came the rig. We were mobile by 8:30.

Again a long day, stopping at 1:00 at Weed Rest Area in Northern California for lunch, 45 minutes later we were back on the road and in another 45 minutes had crossed into Oregon. We had called McKay Truck to let them know that we would be outside their door in the morning. We were told that they had a late shift on and they would open the gates to let us set up inside.

At 5:00 we stopped yet again at a Flying J, this one at exit 148 at Rice Hill. Half an hour here for a quick stretch and fuel and we arrived at Mckay Truck in the rain at 7:00 PM.

We parked, dumped the suspension, plugged in and were done. We'd be here at least two days, probably three.  We had quite a list, the biggest job being the heat pump.

Waiting in Ajo, Arizona.

At Ajo Heights RV Park we soon got parked, leveled and connected. Art poured himself a large whisky while Gillian walked the dogs. She then walked across the highway to the IGA store to stock up a few essentials, such as the apples and oranges we had been relived of at the border.


Fortunately we were only two doors away from a Napa Auto Parts store part of  which is Kord's Automotive Center. At a few minutes before 8:00 Saturday Morning Art was out front waiting for the doors to open. His fears were realised: No mechanic on until Monday.

The park has a small but nice cactus garden with quite a few birds, including woodpeckers and the cactus wren (in the photo) which nest in holes in the cactus plants.

We passed the weekend mostly just lounging around, though the first chore was to take the Jeep to the car wash. Lots of quarters! (Why don't the Americans like the dollar coin? We came across a few in Alaska several years ago but never in the lower 48).  A bottle of degreaser and lots of work with the foam brush later, the Jeep, and Art's electric bike on the, appeared to be free of the oily diesel film. Time will tell.

Oh! And Gillian baked some oatmeal raisin and walnut cookies. (Art cracked the walnuts!)

Ajo is a small town, dependent in large part on winter snow birds; some in RVs and some who have bought house here. It seems a large part of the population escapes the cold and snow of the northern winter here then then move north to escape the desert heat in the summer.

The town has obviously seen better days, there was once a large copper mine here which was a major employer. There are many empty houses, stores, restaurants and service stations. Yet the main part of the town is quite bright. One of the bright spots was the combined  IGA grocery and Ace Hardware store. Very nicely laid out, good stock of groceries, beer, wine and Scotch Whiskys. Even one of Art's favourites, Old Pulteney!

Monday, 8:00 AM again; too busy today, (the shop and the lot were full) but we were booked in for 8:00 AM Tuesday. Art was told that when he brought the rig over to park on the dirt next door not the asphalt out front!

Next morning, 8:00 AM sharp (This doesn't sound like retirement!) The rig was parked and Art was inside at the counter.He filled out a work order and Kord came out to drive the rig into the work area. He said that by the sound of it one of the injectors wasn't getting enough fuel.

Art left the rig there and we went looking for breakfast. Gillian had seen a sign in the IGA for breakfast burritos so that is were we went. Following our recent string of luck there were no more breakfast burritos! Gillian chose a  bean and cheese burrito  while Art went for a breakfast biscuit; ham and egg on a biscuit. Not the Ritz but fresh and quite nice.

We then went for a drive through town, parking near the Plaza and visiting the Oasis for a double Americano Coffee. We expected the double Americano would be a double espresso with the hot water. What we got was a double espresso with double hot water. In other words, a very large coffee! Nice enough though.

We later went to the Desert Center, picked up some local information, watched a very interesting video about the Sonora Desert then set off in the Jeep on the 10 mile Ajo Loop. There is a very large protected area here which closed for the season last Friday! It closes for spring and summer to allow the wildlife and plants to reproduce and grow undisturbed.

The loop starts along side of huge piles of rock and rubble which we assumed to be overburden from the mine. We didn't see much of the wildlife, just a few birds that were too fast for the camera. Fortunately, the various cacti and other plants were a little slower moving.

 

 

 

Back in town we decided to return to the shop to see how the motorhome was doing, and as we drove past the RV Park we spied it parked in a site at the RV Park next door ! We pulled in and stopped at the little booth at the entrance. A lady arrived, we told her that Kord had parked our rig here so she said welcome to the park and left!

Art walked over to Napa to see what the results were. Sure enough, a broken fuel line to one of the injectors. Not just any one, but the most inaccessible one. It would require the removal of the others. Art elected to go with all new lines, since the labour would be the same in either case. The failure was probably due to years of vibration (and not directly caused by his ill advised manoeuver of the other day!) so who knows how far behind the rest of them would be?

He made a small deposit for the parts and was told that they should arrive Thursday, the work done Friday, pretty much a full day's work. Art asked Kord about checking in to the RV Park and was told "I'll take care of it, it's my park."

Friday morning, YEP! 8:00 AM again, the motorhome was dropped of next door and we went looking for breakfast.  A couple of people suggested a place called Marcella's, a mile or so back down the highway. There were several vehicles parked out front so we though we'd give it a try.

The waitress was a Mexicana, we automatically spoke Spanish too her! She was often singing along with the background music with a lovely voice.

We decided to go with the Mexican choices, Gillian with huevos a la mexicana, and Art the huevos machaca, scrambled eggs with shredded dried beef. Both were delicious. Art thought the machaca the best ever! Nice surprise.

We spent the rest of the day at the the plaza, going for lunch at the golf club (enough sandwiches left over for tomorrow's lunch), checked in with the shop, back to the plaza via a stop at a junk/antiques shop were we spent one dollar on four paper back novels, then back to the plaza.

At 4:00PM we returned to the shop to find it parked out side. Gillian dropped Art off then returned to the RV Park to take the dogs for a walk. Art went in, paid the bill, discovering that they had washed the rear cap as well as the engine and radiator.

Now we had to put everything back under the bed. Gillian decided to take the opportunity to get out the cold weather (we refuse to say winter) clothes for the trip home.

The rest of the evening was spent catching up on this blog, watching some TV and nibbling on cheese and biscuits and a glass or two of wine. Art of course uncorked the Old Pulteneys as well!

Time to post this now, we'll be off tomorrow to Yuma to look for a new GPS unit then hopefully to Desert Hot Springs for a night before hitting the I 5 northbound for home.

In the words of Samuel Pepys, "And so to bed."


 

San Carlos and the trip to North Of the Border

Thursday, San Carlos

We called Joe and Christine and left a message letting them know that we had arrived. Gillian took the dogs out for a good walk up the hill to the viewpoint and then down again to the beach for Trekker to be treated to a swim.

While out she did a little shopping, including a couple of kilos of the best tortillas anywhere--thin, light and very tasty!

 Art realised that the windshield needed a proper wash, the quick wipe down last evening hadn't really done the job. Midway through he noted that a nut was missing from the dual arm wiper mechanism which meant that the passenger side wiper wouldn't work. Not that we had needed them for a while, but likely would in a week or so! A check at a couple of hardware stores found one that would do. The Oregon coast on the way home should be the proof!

Christine called us back and confirmed the plans for tonight; dinner at their place with several other Canadian couples. On the the way out we remembered to put 100 pesos on each of our Mexican phones which would ensure that we would have the same number when we returned in the fall.

Diner with Christine and Joe was as always a very enjoyable evening. We had met one of the couples before but not the others. As always, an interesting and stimulating evening of conversation.

Fortunately the evening had started at 5:00 PM so ended at a reasonable hour. Perhaps we would wake in the morning for a reasonably early departure.



 Friday, March15th

We woke in time and were on the road by 8:00 AM, half an hour earlier than last year according to the log book. This too would be a long day. We wanted an early start since we thought we might have a bit of a delay at Aduana (Customs) arranging the return of the deposit on Jeep, paid when we entered Mexico. We had had our credit card compromised and had been issued new ones, with, of course, new numbers.

A lot would depend on the state of the roads. Fortnately, they were generally in reasonable shape, even excellent shape with new concrete highways for fairly long sections, and of course, a few bits of not so great.

For the most part we were able to travel at the posted speed and made good time. It would appear that plans are in place, and being carried out, to double-lane the entire route between San Carlos and Santa Ana where we left the 15 for the 2, so of course we don't know the condition of the 15 north to Nogles.

Approaching Hermesillo we were surprised to find that the intersection which last year had directed Traffico Pesado (heavy traffic) to the right and a 30 Km detour around the city, was no longer so signed, it just indicated the route to a different town. So we carried on straight. We weren't too concerned as there were a lot of semis and other big rigs with us.

A couple of kilometers later on we discovered why we had been diverted last year: At the very busy intersection where we had to turn right there was now a very new overpass taking Centro traffic up and over the cross street and we kept to the lateral and had two lanes available for the right hand turn. For others taking this route, it is signed for Nogales, Periferico Sur, the same intersection as in previous years, turning right at the San Sebastian Hotel . There are signs for this hotel 2 kilometers before you get there as you approach Hermesillo.

It's a big city but we were through in 30 minutes, the streets being in excellent condition. Remember though the mostly 60 Km/H speed limit for many many kilometers! We arrived at the tool booth to the north of Hermesillo at 10:05.

Two uneventful hours later, at noon we turned right in Santa Ana onto Highway 2 towards the border at Sonoyta. We were hungry by this time and the log mentioned us taking our lunch break along here. As we passed a large Pemex we saw the two motorhomes that had left San Carlos just ahead of us, where they appeared to be doing the same.

We remembered there being many rest areas on this highway (a rarity in Mexico) and soon saw a sign at Km 9. However there was no way a motorhome could get in so we simply parked at the end of the merge lane at the exit. 

Here we realised that we still had some frozen chicken thighs in the freezer. Not allowed into the USA. Since the sun was shining brightly we decided to use the inverter to power our small slow cooker and filled it with the chicken, tomatoes, carrot, onion, wine and herbs, put it in the small sink to secure it, and turned on the inverter. Dinner for tonight already dealt with.

While we ate and rested the two motorhomes went past. Fed, dogs watered and walked, we moved on again, a few minutes to one o'clock.

When we first came this way the road was just being improved and there were many gravel detours. Today we find it is being improved again, this time, to a divided 4 lane highway. There were no detours, progress is being made, in fact nearing completion.

Half an hour later we decided that "discretion being the better part..." etc. we stopped in the town of Altar for fuel. The outside temperature was around 35 to 36 and it was getting a little uncomfortable inside, the dash air keeping us cool but not helping the dogs much so we had decided to start the generator and run the heatpump. The Onan runs from the main fuel tank, its pickup at the 1/4 tank level and we were past 1/3 already. We had filled up in Los Mochis, some 760 kilometers ago and with another 190 kilometers to go to Sonoyta where we planned to fuel was cutting things a little too closely.

Half an hour later arrived at the Mexican Customs point at the small town of Pitiquito, near Caborca, where we had to stop in order to turn in the temporary import permit for the Jeep. (The motorhome's permit is for 10 years and has another 5 to go). The problem here is there is no provision for parking on the north bound lane and no provision to turn around to enter the new complex!

We had checked via RV.NET with others. The advice given had been to enter via an unused exit and walk to the office and have an official come to the rig. We couldn't see where they recommeded to turn in, we think this unused exit may have been temporarily blocked off, or we simply missed it, so we went past and turned around at a nearby side road and entered from the north on a nice wide road.

As we entered there were signs directing traffic for customs straight ahead and car permits to the right. We took a look and it the permit area was obviously made for cars, but since there were very few cars there it looked like we could get in and turn around. First mistake: We didn't park in that nice wide area and walk down to check things out.

Down we went, then it began to look tight. We rounded the first corner OK but 2 and 3 looked really tough. Second mistake: We didn't stop and unhook. With a little toing and frowing we could have turned the rig around with ut the Jeep attached.

We rounded corner 2 with the Jeep riding up and over the high curb—no problem, it's a Jeep after all. Rounding the second corner the right front wheel of the motorhome also went up and over the curb. This was a triangular part so we were up and over very quickly. Then the rear wheels. Up and over, down with a bang sooner than Art had expected and it came down hard. But we made it. The Jeep followed without difficulty and we parked beside the little kiosk.

The VIN number was photographed, the decal removed, scanned and we were almost done. Normally the import deposit would be automatically refunded to the credit card it had been charged to. Since we had had a problem with our credit card and had a replacement DW had to go up to the main office to sort our the refund to a different card number. She had the folded old card and the new one, the official typed out an explanation as to what had happened which she signed, and hopefully the refund will show up. Only took 15 minutes.

I moved the rig back to the top where we should have stayed, parked against the right hand curb (heading east) just before the lanes to customs. One of the staff told Art that to leave he could just make a U turn and head out the entrance lane (which is very wide at that point) and enter the highway through a gap in the cones. Worked fine. Eventually.

In the Aduana office Gillian produced her old card, broken in half, and the new one, and the explanation. The official typed it all out, had her sign it and hopefully all will be well and the money will show up as a credit in a few days.



Some time later Art noted that the fuel gauge was reading lower than expected. He chalked it up the the extra power required by the dash air and the generator, which drew from the main fuel tank.

As time and distance went on the fuel gauge continued to fall. Then Art noted that the image in the rear view camera was becoming quite blurred, as it becomes in the rain. It didn't take too long for the light to come on: it wasn't rain, it was diesel oil! We were losing fuel! Probably due to the incident with the curbs at Mexican customs.

At the US border we were delayed about 15 minutes waiting for Agriculture, who relieved us of the few apples and oranges we had left.  We had 40 miles to go the Ajo, the fuel gauge reading about 1/3.

We had one more delay, US Border service. We noted that the vehicles ahead of us were subject to quite detailed questioning and inspection. Except for one car with BC plates.  When our turn came there were just a few questions, where had we come from, where were we going, where in BC did we leave etc and we were on our way in a minute or so.

We arrived at Ajo Heights RV Park well after their closing time but the owner came down and said that he was in a good mood tonight so we could come in! He has been known to become annoyed with later comers. Art said that he had a fuel leak and should get off his nice asphalt and was directed to a pull through space while Gillian stayed to pay the rent. We'll hope to find a mechanic that works on Saturday!