Winter in Mexico

This past winter in Mexico was one of the best winters we have had there. And to think that when we left last year we said,"Never going to Mexico again!" But then we decided we didn't want last years dust, dirt, noise, and surgery to be our memories of Mexico. So we went back. No one got sick, not even a cold. Except for a few hammer bangs no construction noise or dirt. The weather was mostly perfect - cool nights and days around high 70 low 80's. Except for the one rain storm where I thought we'd float away. 

The water is risin' Mama and it got deeper then this!

Alien being turning off electricity.

And that's when we discovered one of our leak proof windows let in more water than the shower put out. That got fixed and no longer leaks.
We had both the RV and Jeep repainted. So they are really spiffy looking now. A matched pair. 

Both with their bankies covering the hood murals. So handsome now. 

Also some much needed repair work on the Jeep. We now have AC and no more clunks when driving. 

Pablo mechanic and his helper working on AC.

We had great friends to spend time with. Great places to visit and found several new restaurants and an amazing bakery. 

The reason I gained 10 pounds over the winter.

The bakery where the rolls are made in Centro

Met some new wonderful people. And spent time with several of our Mazatlan friends. 

Friend Roberto and his family checking out the Jeep as he had just bought on himself. 

For the most part our Dish Anywhere TV system worked. Got our Internet set up the first week we were there and it worked great until the last day we were there when it started acting up. Good timing.
As always there were amazing sunrises 

and sunsets. 

We were in Huatabampito when the Virus was taking hold and people north of the border were going crazy. So we bought paper goods and sanitizer there. Good thing, haven't found any yet in  the US.
The roads down and back for the most part were good. Just a couple of places still need work. The two new bypasses are great. And even spent less on tolls due to booths not collecting money. 
Got our deposit on the Jeep back within four days after leaving Mexico. 
We were gone 139 days door to door. Put 2522 miles on the RV and another 2300 on the Jeep. Yep, we do a lot of running around.  Our biggest expense - not counting work on vehicles, was eating out. 

Fat Fish Ribs the first night in Mazatlan 

Delicious Puntas de Res

We love to eat out. Groceries next biggest. I take that back campgrounds were the biggest expense. Las Jaibas was about USD 15 a day. And we were there 105 days. Bill went to the dentist there and got some teeth fixed for the price of just a visit to a dentist here in the US. 
Fuel for both vehicles totaled USD 1776. All in all with everything except work on vehicles included we averaged $78 a day.
We were out and about almost every day. Love the Carnaval Puppets this year - found all but one of them. 

Doesn't take much to make me happy

Found a whole new can of Lysol Spray under the kitchen sink and our Hello Fresh meals will come today. - woowoo!  
Have refrig full of groceries. 
Working on a jigsaw puzzle that is going to take a while to do. The problem is it is a 500 piece puzzle and 400 of the pieces are the same color and seem to be interchangeable with the shapes. 

Someday it will look like this. 

Weather here is very cool - snowing in the mountains. High of maybe 60 today. But a week from now it is supposed to be 80 or above. Bills kind of weather. 

I am really missing NASCAR - now I have to figure out something else to do on Saturdays and Sundays. My growing collection of M & M stuff. The #18 car is sponsored by M&M's - until I was looking at the picture I didn't realize my Furby was sitting up there. 

Aren't they cute.

Also have a full season of the TV show "The Cowboy Way" on the DVR. 

This morning about 11:00 we made a trip to our bank, had lots of pesos to convert into dollars. Could not go in the bank so knew we'd have to go to the drive up window. I figured the line of cars would be around the block. Was surprised to find only four cars in front of us. And two employees who were going to each car to ask what we needed then took our paper work to the window. In about five minutes we had our receipt and were on our way home. Interaction with only one employee who kept his distance and wore gloves. Sanitized our hands before getting back on road. So one more thing off our list. 

Our Hello Fresh meals came - so for the next three nights we will eat good. 

The wind is supposed to quit blowing sometime tonight so tomorrow maybe we'll be able to take a walk with out rocks in our pockets to hold us down. 

Sure if different staying home because you want to and staying home because you have to. Makes the days seem A W F U L long.

And I've been walking up before dawn - so I think it is 4:00 in the afternoon and it isn't even noon yet!

Changes, changes, changes

Spent half of the morning on the phone changing doctor's appointments. No way we want to sit in a waiting room with a bunch of sick people. They had already as much as cancelled them any way. So now go end of July. Maybe. So got that done. 
Called the bank to see if we could exchange our Pesos for dollars. No problem but has to be done through the drive up window. I am guessing there will be a long line for that. 
Also will hopefully be picking up our groceries at Walmart this afternoon between 4 and 5 o'clock. Wonder if we'll get everything we ordered and if there will be weird substitutions. 
Also finally got a hold of someone in the office of the community we live in to see if we had any problems with the last inspection. Yep we do. Need to replace a trim board and paint the skirting under it, and have to replace a vent cover - see picture below! Replace it? Just bend it up and glue it - replace it for one little slat...

The skirting is about 4 inches wide. Needs to be fixed and painted. 

The manager said not to worry about it they have suspended inspection repairs until later in the year. 
About our Walmart grocery pick up. Our pick up hours were between 4 -5. At about 15 to 4 I got an email telling me my order was ready. So we jumped in the car and headed over. On the way there I was downloading their app to the phone so I could tell them we were on our way. Followed the orange signs to the big orange covered parking area. In less than 5 minutes the groceries were being loaded in the trunk. Got here a little after 4 - like 4:05

 Trunk up waiting. 

 Another persons order heading towards their car. 

 Parking area.

By 4:12 we were pulling out of parking lot. Home by 4:25. I ordered 25 items. 3 items were out of stock and no substitutions - nothing important. 4 items I got substitutes - I could accept them or refuse. Three were just about the same, different brand. One was an upgrade for same price. Accepted all four. 
Produce was in good shape. Frozen food all still frozen. All in all a great experience. Will do it again next week. Now that I've figured out what to do and what to expect. 
I remembered I had bought two multi packs of jigsaw puzzles before we left for Mexico - so I am set for a while 

 Should keep me busy. 

In the near future [when I have nothing else to write about] I am going to write a probably two piece blog on Tico the potter from La Noria. Got lots of pictures and a couple of videos.