Very short blog. We got home yesterday about 6:30. Son drove all the way. Today he sent one of his cleaning ladies to empty RV and give it a good cleaning. We are both still fatigued and can't do too much without lots of breaks. More tomorrow after good nights sleep
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Thursday, March 30, 2023
Saturday, March 25, 2023
Happier
Gad I forgot to post this yesterday. Had it all ready to go and got distracted I guess.
Another strange electrical/technical thing happened. We got our new MiFi yesterday. Got it home, set it up working fine. This morning no Internet = what the? Looked at list of connections available. Where is my Verizon 43? Not there, but there was a Verizon 44 - don't remember seeing that before. Hum...try it. Clicked on it, requested password, put it in YIPPEE it worked. Why did it change user name over night? No idea. Then I managed to get my Nook on line too. Going good. BUT when I tried to get Bill's laptop the user name WOULD NOT come up. Turned every thing on and off, still nothing. Bill suggested I call tech support. But being selfish I didn't want to as MY laptop was working.. Shame on me. Then I got to thinking (I know, wow be careful) what if I make my phone a hotspot. Have tried that before and couldn't do it. Well this time Google came through with instructions I could follow YES Bill's laptop is now connected to Internet through my phone's hotspot. Yes, yes, yes! Doesn't take much to excite me now days.
OMG our Dish satellite just made noise, it is actually searching for a signal. So I grabbed the phone and called Dish; their menu has changed and they gave me a choice of holding for 45 minutes or wait for a call back - so waiting for call back. GOT THE CALL BACK and every thing is up and running. Almost can't believe it. Things are looking up. Even the sun is shining today. And there is no wind. Looks like it will be nice for a long time.
And I actually cooked lunch today. Had orange chicken and teriyaki noodles. Don't get excited, they were both out of boxes - just cook.
I feel somewhat better today for more of the day, with just a few times of being really tired. Do have a sore throat today though. Bill is still having a rough time of it. He gets tired quickly, but isn't coughing or blowing his nose as much. He is getting better but slowly. we were in Ace Hardware the other day and found the neatest slipper socks for Bill. They are fuzzy inside and have no skid patches on the sole. Only about 12 dollars. he is always so cold these work great.
Up at five o'clock this morning. That's what happens when I go to bed too early. I feel much better today so far.
Thursday, March 23, 2023
Each day goes by slowly
Not to much to write about, unless you want to hear all of our complaints. We have WiFi again. Ordered it on line and picked it up curbside in Green Valley. The tech support at Verizon must know the tech support at Dish. Both said I would get a call back and still waiting to hear from both of them. Threw the old MiFi out and have new one. Can't do any thing about Dish TV.
We will be paying for another week here. Our son was willing to come get us this weekend but we are both still sick so don't want to infect him. So we will see how we are doing next week end. Still need to get the logistics figured out too. We are about 495 miles from Vegas. That is a long driving day - for us. I guess he will do it in one day. But he also has to get here to Amado.
Bill is being affected by the covid more than me. He is having trouble with his eyesight since he got sick. We are both coughing and sneezing up a storm. And both taking naps. Had to laugh the doctor told us to take "emergence zinc" turns out he meant Emergen-C Zinc. Oh well finally got some. Hope it helps. Part of the day I feel fine then get hot and coughing- my ribs are getting sore, Bill is more fatigued than me.
I will be glad to get home. but dread the unloading and putting away The weather has finally got nice here. No more wind or rain for a week or so.
And that is about it for us.
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.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...
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.
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.
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.
Thursday, March 16, 2023
I have calmed down and all will be fine.
And that was/is our journey home. We still have to return
to Mexico to turn in the paperwork on the Jeep so we can get our deposit back.
But we have plenty of time to do that. We still have our Mexican car insurance
and only have to go to KM 21 and give them all the correct paperwork. Still
can’t believe I was that rattled that I removed the one thing we really needed
from the three things that were stapled together. Oh, well. The Mexican part of
leaving the country was fine. And I had a very nice US border guard. Very polite
and quick. He suggested we should take a trip to Alaska some time. Told him we
already had.
On Tuesday morning we were up bright and early, way too
early – think 4:30 a.m. Both of us went to bed too early Monday night – I think
I was asleep by 9:30. So after the sun
came out and it warmed up some we headed up the road to Denny’s for breakfast.
Did you know that Denny’s charges $3.69 for a cup of coffee? My whole meal was
only $5.99 – two eggs, 2 bacon and 2 pancakes. Bill had eggs, ham, hash browns
and toast. We enjoyed every single bite of them. Then we went to Walmart in the
same shopping area. Had to get a sewer hose as the connection was broken off by
the bucket that made the mess. Thank goodness that got fixed in San Carlos.
Also I was running out of some OTC pills - vitamins etc. Just picked up a few groceries that
we needed. Enjoyed every minute of shopping. Then back to the RV.
Parked here at Mountain View RV Ranch. We are in the back row which is pull through.
Then we came home and relaxed. Well kind of. When we got to
the RV park on Monday we arrived 5 minutes after the office closed. So had to
call for someone to check us in. Their
hours are from 9 to 3! (Just as an aside
our trip Monday took 7 hours for 285 miles. It went fine until the last 25 mile
stretch. First the mess with the tow, then forgetting paperwork at KM21 then we
stopped and filled gas on both vehicles to get rid of pesos and then the US
border. It usually takes us about five hours. Even with all our mishaps it
wasn’t too bad. ) So stopped at office for the WiFi password. Got it. Then
discovered the signal doesn’t reach back to the back row where we are parked.
So will use my Verizon Mifi – but need to be careful not to use too much. Then
turned on our Dish satellite TV. Of course it didn’t want to come up. So went online
to try to activate it. Got notice that page wasn’t available…??? So called
them. Well the tech support people can’t help me anymore either. Seems they had
a cyber-attack in February and their system is all messed up. So a supervisor
would have to call me to activate my receiver. He would call in 2 to 4 hours –
well it has already been two days. Yesterday I was on hold for an hour, finally
hung up. Then next time I called message was to call back another time. So no TV and limited Internet. Did I mention I
can’t wait to be HOME
Yesterday Bill will took the Jeep and the part that broke/fell off over to a mechanic right up the street and they will put it up on a lift to see what damage might have happened to underside of Jeep and what needs to be done to weld the thing back on. I do NOT want to drive all the way to Vegas. We plan on staying here until next Monday – or longer if needed. Doesn’t the Jeep look strange without its spot lights?
Just got a call from where the Jeep is getting fixed. Thank
goodness they could do the repair and welding work. Called Luna Tire in Amado,
AZ.
Both of us have recovered from our falls. I still have a little bruise below my knee, but no ouchies anywhere. Bill’s ankle did not bruise and
swelling has gone down and he isn’t even limping. We were both lucky. Lesson
learned, don’t try to walk in the dark without a flashlight and look down when
walking.
Well it is Thursday morning. Rained last night off and on and still pretty cloudy this morning.
The Jeep is still at the mechanic, probably will be ready late afternoon. I have been trying and trying to get some attentions from Dish TV. What a mess. Now they just say hang up and call back later. Bill is cold so he just went back to bed. But on the bright side our refrigerator continued to work while we were driving. And the waste tanks are not leaking and I don't get a low voltage signal when putting the levelers up or down.
Wednesday, March 15, 2023
And so the day continued.
See the striped cone. Make sure you follow the arrow, even if it feels wrong. You will end up on the left of the barrier - that's where you should be. I know it just says AUTOS that means you too even if in an RV.
I hate this part of the road. Seems like you are going the wrong way. You're not.
Follow the signs
Tuesday, March 14, 2023
What a day Part 1 San Carlos to Amado, AZ
ARRGG - I went to bed last night at 9:00 forgot to set bedroom clock so got up when I woke up ONLY four thirty! Bill was already up! I see naps in our future.
We were up early our last day in San Carlos, all ready for a nice trip home. We left the campground about 8:00. No wind, the sun was far enough up it wasn't in our eyes. A perfect day for driving.
Oh! I almost forgot. On Sunday afternoon late we decided to walk across the street to have an early dinner at Charley's Rock. With the topes in the street in front of the RV park now crossing is so much easier. Walking towards the restaurant I noticed a hole in the sidewalk, Just as I said to Bill "Watch out for the hole" He fell down next to me. Yep, hit it just right to turn his ankle and go kerplop. First thing he said was I'm okay! Luckily there was a couple just walking by us and the guy was a BIG man. He grabbed Bill under the arms and had him on his feet before I could react. So - this year both Graces took a trip! IEEE we are getting to old to be doing this. Any way - he actually is fine. His ankle is a little bruised and swollen but not hurting. I hope our sons aren't reading this, they might think we shouldn't be let out of the house alone any more.
But back to yesterday. Leaving.
Got out to the road north and stopped at the Gastop station. They had fixed most of the potholes going into the station which was very nice. Filled the RV. When I say filled I mean REALLY filled. We have a 40 gallon (I thought) tank and we took 42 gallons of gasoline? Hum...They also washed our windows. Thank you. So actually got on road at 8:30Most of the construction is done at the junction where the road from San Carlos meets back up with the road to Hermosillo. Signs easy to read.
As we got to the road that goes to Kino there was a Federal check point - the guys in beige pants and black shirts. Just waved us through.
First indication we were nearing the Hermosillo bypass. On the lower right of the picture you can see the off ramp bridge.
Slow way down it is a sharp turn on to the bypass.
Uneventful trip on it. Toll for RV and Jeep was 298pesos, up about 9 pesos. A bridge to no where. No dirt road or sign of buildings any where.
Getting off the bypass. Good road all the way from San Carlos to here.
A couple of miles and another toll booth - 160 pesos less than when we came down??? Saw quite a few people walking along this stretch of road. Where are they from and where are they going. It is a darn long walk without any places to stop.
The road from Hermosillo to Santa Ana could use some help, in a few places a lot of help. And it seems to be getting it. A lot of new pavement and a lot of paving going on.
Just before Santa Ana there was another Federal check point, same guys and again we were just waved through. It was only 11:30 when we got to Santa Ana so of course we didn't stop there. Nice new arches on both ends of town. On to Magdalena and through the toll there - one of the cheapest ones 85 pesos, went up a couple of pesos since we went through in the fall. Roads now were good.
He got everything separated. The Blue Ox tow bar is fine. Got it folded up and out of the way. Then he disconnected all the wiring from the light bar and bracket and put the whole mess in the Jeep. We were good to go. He wanted 300 pesos we ended up giving him 750 we were so thankful for his help.