April 17, 2010

This post is dedicated to Ray and Hannelore Heizer - who seem to identify with our challenges.

The weather forecast wasn't good but Ken decided we should go to Mexico anyway and we are so grateful that we went. It rained before we got to New Progreso and again after we left - but while we were there, it was pleasant and we had the whole place to ourselves. First we stopped at the duty-free shop where we purchased a new kind of Tequila to treat Chuck's palate. Then we parked our car and headed for the coffee/donut shop. The streets are filled with vendors of food, leather goods, baseball caps, DVDs, tons of jewelry, baskets, etc. Then there are the mobile vendors - mostly women and school children - trying to sell their wares. My favorite, however, was the white-coated professional greeting passersby.... "senor - a root canal today?" I have never seen such a heavy concentration of dentist offices in my life. Many Americans cross the border to receive dental care at a fraction of the cost - even though most of the dentists were trained in the states. Ken and Vera have visited this town often enough that they know some of the shop keepers. They also participate every Christmas in a special volunteer gift program at the local school. Hoards of children come from many, many miles away for the only Christmas gifts they will receive. What an admirable contribution to this poor community!

We had a wonderful lunch with $3 Margaritas and live music - then headed over to a reputable pharmacy. I purchased an antibiotic which my doctor has prescribed in the past for cheap, cheap..... but then they took it out of the bottle it was in and put it into an Omeprazole bottle. ???? That did give me pause. Once back to the RV, I immediately used a magic marker to put the correct name on.... but had forgotten what the dosage was ....hmmm. All in all, it was a great visit. Ken and Vera were heading home to Wisconsin in a couple of days and we hope to catch up with them when we're back in August.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the end of our day. When we got back to the RV, it seemed to be tilting a bit. Whereas we had been level before, it looked like we'd have to put the jacks down to straighten it out. I have to explain here that there had been an unpredented amount of rain in this area. We never expected, however, what happened next. The back left jack went down and down and down - into at least 18 inches of soggy mud. We determined that we better put down the premium wooden boards with handle (that Chuck and Karl made before we left) and after several attempts to lift the balky, muddy jack, I was able to slide two boards (criss-cross) in. Back down with the jacks - which snapped the two boards like teeny matchsticks...crack, crack, crack...all the while I'm screaming at Chuck, who can't hear a word over the engine. Now not only are we in the mud, the matchstick halves are solidly stuck and are pointed upward towards the bottom of our rig. Will they rip something out of the bottom if we move? We went to the office to enlist their help. The woman peers over her glasses and states that there wasn't a hole there before we arrived. What...we poured water under the RV to create a hole that we can't get out of? She calls the handymen. They don't have any winches but have a few helpful hand tools and after a bit of a struggle, they pull out the offending boards. Nonetheless, when we go to move the RV, it too is now stuck in the mud. We're dirty, the floor is muddy...arrgghh. We give up the struggle and have a drink. Time to call the professionals - which we did in the morning. It didn't take much to get us going but we'd had it. We had already paid through the next day but decided that it was way past time to move on. I finally understand the attraction of cement pads.