Tuesday, March 21, 2023

The trip that just keeps giving and giving.

 So any way, to catch up. We were going to leave Amado on Sunday, a day early, to miss the coming weather of wind and rain. Well we are still in Amado paid until next Monday. The wind today is fierce and it is supposed to rain tomorrow. Glad we are not going anywhere.

The picture today is the new header. The picnic table at our site in Mountain View RV Ranch. I would love to have it and put a protective coat on it and leave it just the way it is holes and pealing paint and all. It just calls to me. 

The Jeep has its tow bracket fixed. Took a couple of days as whole skid plate under Jeep had to be replaced. The spot lights are gone...to be replaced? Who knows. It looks funny now. And needs some cleaning up. 

So we have managed a couple of trips to Denny's and WalMart and one to Safeway. Why is that important? Well 'cause...Bill now has Covid. Just got back from urgent care. He got what we thought was an uptick in his allergies Saturday evening. But planned on leaving Sunday. Sunday morning he decided he didn't want to drive and that he had a cold. Coughing and sneezing and nose running. No problem. Monday not any better, so I went to office and extended our stay for a week. Figuring when he felt better we'd just leave. Yesterday he started running a fever and was trying to cough his toenails up. Got in car to drive a couple of miles to the  Green Valley hospital to emergency. Neighbor told us hospital was now closed! What? it is only about six years old. Sure enough closed. Closest hospital is in Tucson. He was really feeling horrid so called 911. Took them a while to figured out who could service the RV park in Amado. Finally did. Told us to stay where we were. We were already in car so parked in front of the office and waited. Ambulance came from Tubac not too long of a wait. They checked him out. (Oh yeah - we'd already done a Covid home test - said negative.) Medics checked heart, breathing, sugar, blood pressure etc. He wasn't having problems breathing. Everything was fine, he was just feeling sh***y. They asked if he really wanted to go to hospital. Consensus was no need to. So they told us there was an urgent care in Green Valley if he felt he was worse. Back to the RV and he went back to bed. Fever went up and down, coughing and nose running remained the same and he slept most of day. And up half of the night. This morning still feeling rotten. Took another COVID test...oh, oh, positive!  So thinking about the pill we went to urgent care in Green Valley. It is no longer an urgent care. Had to go to next exit north to a little hospital with an emergency room. Got right in. Yep Covid. Go home rest, eat, drink. Get some Zinc and stay hydrated. Doctor looked at me and said, "You'll probably test positive too."  Gee thanks. Bill drove to both those places. But by then he wasn't feeling too good. Lucky me I got to drive. Less than a mile he was car sick. And the wind was almost moving the car to the next lane. Hate that. 
So now we are in RV. Both of us ate and drank and took Zinc. He is napping I am writing this. So far I have no symptoms. Unless the fact that I've been sneezing and had running nose for 5 or 6 days means I already have it and not bad. Wouldn't that be nice.  Oh, he nor I can take the Paxlovid because of medical history.
So that is our story of trip from Mazatlan to Amado, AZ. I just want to go home and stay there. Him too. 

Saturday, March 18, 2023

Friday back to KM21 (now KM256)

Friday was a beautiful day weather wise. So nice to see blue sky and sunshine after a couple of days of gray clouds and rain. So we grabbed our paperwork (toll money, passports and banjercito copy) and headed to KM21. About 45 miles from RV park to KM21. Uneventful crossing into Mexico. Just the rough road from border to after airport turnoff. Even in the Jeep Bill couldn't miss all the potholes. Got to 21 and turned in the Banjercito copy and got our receipt. Then we stopped at a gas station (17.99 a liter for gasoline) to use up Pesos. We got back to about a mile before the US border - took 1 1/2 hours  from RV park to there - we weren't in a hurry. And 111pesos in tolls. 

I guess a Friday morning is not a good time to cross from Mexico into the US at the Mariposa border station.  Just poked along here. Car length by car length. Also I was very surprised to see a number vendors walking along the stopped cars selling all kinds of stuff. Got rid of the rest of our pesos. No didn't buy any thing, just gave them away.  While in line we saw a very interesting thing. A new looking black Jeep Cherokee came flying down the wrong side of the road. Slammed on his brakes, made a U turn and stopped. Two young guys got out of the back seat. They headed towards the border, then turned back to the car. Driver got out and yelled something at them and pointed to a gully on that side of the road. He got back in his car and took off back up the road the right way. They climbed over the fence into the gully. What do you suppose that was? lol. It took one hour to finally get back on the road in Arizona. Had a neat border guard, he really liked the paint job on the Jeep. 
Then we stopped at IHop to have lunch. Bill said it was the best hamburger he's ever had! Lots of wild flowers blooming along the highway. 
Boy that mountain must have had a rough time some where way in the past. 
Just so pretty out I had to take a picture. 
Lots of puffy white clouds. 
Tried calling Dish TV again - wait time of 173 minutes. Nope, just hung up. And I guess the supervisor who was supposed to call us back for our job ticket number in 2 to 4 hours must have quit. Its been 4 days now. By the time they get to us the RV will be parked in storage and I won't care. Wonder if I can get a discount on my bill? Hummm...
Later we went to Green Valley to the Safeway. I like that store. Had to laugh though, some of the single older ladies were eyeing Bill's new head of white curly hair. (He is letting it grow out for awhile.) Went to breakfast this morning and got a new water hose for the RV. Blue sky but kind of cool out. 
 

Friday, March 17, 2023

Our last visit to La Martina and La Noria.

I forgot that I had not posted any thing from our last visit to La Noria a few days before we left Mazatlan. So today is a colorful post from our great winter in Mazatlan. So for a change of pace here it is. 

We of course stopped at the beautiful La Martina restaurant. Just one of the many flowering plants there.

It is such a beautiful place. So many things to see there and great food. We will miss going there. 
In the ladies' restroom is this oil painting of Maria Sabina A very interesting lady. Click here to read about her. The mushroom lady. 
More colors at the front of the restaurant. 
Beautiful red plant. I've never been able to keep one of these alive.
On up the road to La Noria. They have finished painting the arch. Notice the saddle The town is known for its leather goods and beautiful hand  made saddles. 
Last time we were here a lot of the buildings were being repainted. Government supplied the paint, the town the labor. This one looks amazing. 
So do these.
Every building on the entire main street has been repainted. 

The registry office. It used to be turquoise. All marriages and births are registered here. 
These town signs are really neat. 
The whole plaza area has been refurbished. The gazebo looks really nice. 
All the benches have been repainted and lots of new plants around. 
The restaurant and hotel behind the water feature. 
Went upstairs of the restaurant looking down.

Back downstairs. The restrooms. 
Just like all the different textures
A mama hen and her tiny chicks. They were really, really tiny. 
Even the church got spruced up. 
Bill buying some of his favorite tortillas. He says they are the best tasting ones he has ever had. 
And then on back to the RV. Nice memories. 
We got the Jeep back yesterday afternoon so as soon as it warms up some we will be on our way back into Mexico to KM21 to turn in the TIP papers for the Jeep so we can get the deposit back. If you take a vehicle into Mexico you have to get a Temporary Import Permit good for 180 days. Also have to put down a deposit - $300 to $400. When you leave with that vehicle you turn in the paper work and the deposit is refunded. It is to discourage people from taking cars there and selling them. Looks like today will be sunny. It was ugly and cold yesterday with rain off and on all day.