TWO WEEKS IN REVIEW.
Be prepared….this is a long read.
The blog has been quiet for the last two weeks and there is
a good reason why. I’ve been too busy
and stressed to even think about it!
·
On Friday March the 13th we had a
lovely dinner with friends. Marilyn and
Dennis had invited us, Connie and Manny and their sister in law Marilyn to
their condo which is located right next to our housing complex. We had a great time with them all and a
fabulous lasagna dinner.
On Sunday the 15th we were off to the last
concert of the season at the Angela Peralta Theatre. The final concert was fabulous with the Culiacan
symphony playing. We had a late lunch at Chon’s our favorite little Mexican
restaurant and then headed home. At this
point there was starting to be a lot of concern about COVID 19 and we were
starting to talk about what we were going to do. Our plan had been to stay in the house until
mid April and then start home. Our Prime
Minister was now saying that all Canadians should return home and there was
talk about closing the US/Mexico border.
What to do, what to do? We decided at that point we should shut the
house down, load up and head for home. Not an easy task as you can’t just walk
away from a house in Mexico.
The next three
days were spent washing and storing outside furniture, packing up everything we
could and loading the truck with all the
food in the house in case there wasn’t any when we got home. In addition to that we had to head downtown to
the CFE (Hydro) and Jumapam (Water) offices to prepay our accounts for the time
we’d be away. On Wednesday evening our good friend Rafael who is the park
worker at the Las Jaibas trailer park where we stayed for almost 10 years came
to the house. He will check the house once a week while we are away to make
sure there are no plumbing or rat issues.
As well he would take out the two water pumps and the on demand water
heater after we were gone. One pump by is
by the cistern in the carport and one is on the roof by the Tonako(water
storage tank) and they are removed because they are subject to rust over the
summer when they aren’t running. There
is a huge amount of humidity and rain along with heat over the summer and we
don’t want any failures while we are away.
I loaded up two big bags of food from our fridge to give to Rafael and Eric
gave him a ride home. We paid him half
down and the rest to come when we return. We have complete confidence in him
and if he needs anything Rueben the housing complex worker can help out. The
rest of the food which included a number of frozen prepared dinners that I’d
cooked were to come with us. I also
packed enough sandwich and breakfast food so that we wouldn’t need to eat out much
along the way. This turned out to be a
godsend later in the trip.
On Thursday March 19th
we were on our way to the border. An
easy first day and a stop over night in Navojoa at the Fiesta Navojoa Hotel
where we had stayed on the way south last November. An easy drive and dinner at the Best Western
where we were the only ones eating in the restaurant.
As we were driving the next
morning my sister Joy relayed a message that they were closing the US border to
all but essential traffic as of midnight that night. We’d planned to stay in Caborca and cross at
Lukeville the next day. Change of
plans! We had time to make it to the Nogales
crossing so we changed our route so we could exit before midnight. We
turned our vehicle import stickers and tourist visas in at km 21. When we got to the US border it was quite
busy but in the end it wasn’t too bad.
Our line was a bit slow as they were training a new border guard. We arrived in Nogales, AZ around 4pm and checked
into the Quality Inn where we’d stayed on our way south in November.
Marilyn/Dennis and sister in law Marilyn had left Mazatlan the same morning
that we did but having stopped in Obregon which is a bit farther north than
Navojoa the previous night they had already arrived. We had dinner in the hotel bar and…we were the
only customers. Now at this point things
started getting interesting. The truck
was leaking power steering fluid which also involves brakes. The worker at the
hotel in Navojoa had noticed fluid on the truck wheel well. Eric picked up some Automatic transmission
fluid at a Pemex before we left Navojoa and topped it up. It was still not leaking too badly but Eric
was concerned. He decided to just
monitor the situation and see what it was like by the time we got to Yuma the
next day.
Saturday morning we were on our way to Yuma and
the Howard Johnson Hotel (again where we’d stayed in November. When we got to Yuma we made a quick stop at
the WalMart so I could stock up. It was quite busy and I didn’t notice any
social distancing or hand sanitizer at the door. It was fairly well stocked except for paper products
and meat. Eric checked the power steering fluid while I
was inside and it was leaking excessively and the problem was much worse. He called the GM dealer and managed to get an
appointment in 20 minutes. He found me
in the store as I was checking out and we were on our way to the dealer. The good news is they fixed the problem which
included replacing the power steering brake boost and hoses in an hour and a
half. The bad news is that they gouged
us $1600 US or $2300 Canadian. $550 dollars for an hour and a half of labor! We
didn’t have time to stay until Monday and try to find an auto repair shop that
could do it cheaper so we just had to suck it up! We checked in to the hotel, had a few beers
to console ourselves and walked over to the Asian Star restaurant. We’d decided if it wasn’t busy that we’d eat there but in the end
they were closed except for take out. No
problem we ate in our room and had enough left over for the next two days. I
filled the cooler full of ice to cool the left overs as all the food I’d packed
was already in the fridge.
Sunday the 22nd
was a decent day and drive to Alamo, Nevada where we stayed in the Alamo
Inn. A bit of a hole but it would do for
the night and there isn’t much to choose from there. Marilyn/Dennis and Marilyn were there as well
so we had happy hour outside. A good
evening and dinner in our room. The
local grocery store didn’t have their deli open so the Marilyn/Dennis and
Marilyn had sandwiches.
Monday the 23d
and we were off to Buhl, Nevada while the rest of the crew would turn east at
Twin Falls, ID and we would turn west we said good goodbye in Alamao. Rain for the first part of the journey and
when we got up to Ely, NV at 7000 ft. it was sunny. Onward towards Wells, NV where we had lunch
and got fuel. It was freezing cold and
as usual for Wells the wind was blowing like hell! As we headed up the hill out of town after lunch
it started to snow and at the same time Eric noticed black smoke pouring out of
the exhaust and a slight loss of power.
He figured we’d blown an injector.
Great! Now he was seeing a $5000 dollar bill in his future after being
robbed in Yuma. A few minutes down the road and the truck bucked, thumped,
farted and burped and the smoke was gone and power returned. What the hell! Eric figures an injector was
either stuck open of something got caught in it. Funny that we’d just picked up fuel. From there
on Eric added diesel clean conditioner to the fuel as he had some with him
in. At the end of a 480 mile day we
arrived in Buhl,ID and stayed in the Oregon Trail Inn. An older motel but nicely redone and very
clean. An enjoyable night and we’d stay
there again.
Tuesday March
23rd and we were off to Moses Lake, WA with 480 miles to go. For the most part the weather behaved itself
and we took our usual route along the Colombia River from Stanfield to Pasco,WA
instead of going right through the Tri cities. We arrived in Moses Lake around
4pm and checked in to the SureStay Inn.
A nice enough motel except we were in the room right next to the
entrance door (no outside doors to the rooms) and all the smokers were hanging
around outside. There were a bunch of
workers from Mississippi there and we couldn’t understand a word they
said! Their accents sounded like a
foreign language. Dinner in our room and
in the morning I went to the continental breakfast room to pick up coffee, muffins
and yogurt. As we travelled north all
continental breakfasts were take out only.
We packed up
and Eric went out to start the truck.
Guess what happened next? The
truck wouldn’t start. Cranked over but
wouldn’t start. At this point I think we
were both in shock. Eric located a GM
dealer just down the road, unhooked the Jeep and went off to get help. A short time later Eric showed up with a tow
truck and the truck was hauled away.
$100 for the tow truck and when Eric returned 1 ½ hours later he was
towing the Jeep. The mechanic had primed
the fuel filter in the dealer parking lot and started the truck so it is obviously
a common failure. Turns out that we had a vacuum leak around the fuel filter which allowed air
into the fuel. They recommended that we
get the fuel filter housing changed. Only $150. this time. On the road by 10am and heading for the Canadian
border.
As we were travelling
the Quarantine Act was being invoked in Canada.
It was supposed to take place at 12 midnight. The new regulations would not allow us to
travel home and stop in a motel along the way even if we showed no signs of
COVID 19 so we wanted to cross as soon as possible.
At noon we
stopped for lunch at the Tribal Trails gas station and were then on our
way. When we arrived at the border around
1:30 pm there were quite a lot of vehicles in line and lots of them were RV’s. When it was our turn we were asked where we
lived, where we had been other than Canada or the USA and we said Mexico. We
were also asked if we had a fever or cough or were sick in any way. We answered no to all questions. They asked
for our email, phone number, and Eric’s driver’s license along with our
passports and where we were going to stay that night. We said we didn’t know as we had gotten a
late start. We also explained that we
lived too far north to make it all in one day and we were informed that
wherever we stopped that night is where we would have to self isolate for 14
days. What! They were quite rude and aggressive about it all and said that if
we violated this order we were subject to a one million dollar fine and
imprisonment and…that they would phone to see where we were. Now we understand this whole crisis and
totally understand the severity of it all.
We’d eaten in our room or the truck all the way from Mexico to the
Canadian border and had taken every precaution to avoid unnecessary contact
with people and we had no signs of Covid 19.
As we left the border and started driving we decided to just keep going
and figure it out along the way. Beyond
the expense of staying and eating in a motel for two weeks we decided it just
wasn’t safe. How would we know that the
food that we were being brought was safe to eat and that someone with COVID 19
hadn’t prepared it. No thank you! Plus in two weeks we’d be faced with staying
in a motel and eating out and the situation might be much worse at that time.
So we were on our way. We drove as far
as 100 mile house BC and checked in, in the dark at 9pm which wasn’t safe as
Eric had been driving since 10am that morning.
We stayed in a very clean, ultra sanitized room and ate in our
room. Eric’s comment about the whole
situation was ( well I won’t tell you what he said!) and they could just take
him to jail. What a way to treat your
senior population. Plus, friends who
crossed at the Alberta border at approximately the same time were not told
anything about not stopping. The Osoyoos
crossing jumped the gun.
Thursday March
26th and the eighth day on the road.
We were up at six am and on the road by 6:30 and…we ate in our
room. It was minus 9C and the roads were
dry. We had 520 miles to go. Good roads
to Williams Lake and then as we got farther north heading towards Quesnel the
situation deteriorated. We rounded a
corner and the chip truck (wood chips) ahead of us started to slow down and put
his flashers on going down the hill.
There were signs at the edge of the road and then we saw black smoke in
the distance. What now? The traffic was stopped around the corner and
we couldn’t see what the problem was.
One of the truck drivers behind us walked up to see and when he returned
he said there was a big truck on fire and they couldn’t put it out as it was in
danger of exploding. Great…just what we
needed. We sat there in the cold for 1 ½
hours and while we waited it started to snow.
I had to pee and in the end I got out and peed in front of our truck
behind the chip truck. By the time we
got going the snow was starting to pile up but there was a salt/sand truck up
ahead of us so it wasn’t too bad. As we
got into the area where there are huge hills up and down the salt/sand disappeared
and we were now driving on solid ice with about six inches of snow. Eric went
into 4 wheel drive, we had new tires on the truck that are actually winter
tires and he just kept going. I was paralyzed
with fear but he is an experienced winter driver and he just carried on. The big trucks were stuck and jack knifed going
down and up the hills The cops were out and no sign of a sand truck. Eric kept gearing down and not touching the
brakes. When we got into Quesnel it wasn’t
any better and the big hill down into town was unplowed and the traffic was
creeping along. Leaving Quesnel and
heading up out of town the trucks were stopped putting on chains. All it would have taken is a salt/sand truck
and everything would have been okay. A disgrace
and shame on the road maintenance department.
The roads remained horrible all the way to Prince George where we
arrived at noon. We should have arrived
at 9:30 am. We did 60km per hour half
the way to Prince George.
As we continued on towards
Vanderhoof, Burns Lake, Smithers and home the roads were clear and all we faced
was a little rain here and there. We ate
the lunch that I’d premade in the morning as we drove. When we stopped for fuel the gas station in
Burns Lake the washroom was closed. We’d
faced that once in the US and also now in BC.
I would guess they just don’t want to provide the necessary cleaning to
make it safe so in the end we stopped at a rest stop. The rest of the drive home was uneventful and
we pulled in at 7:30 pm. A 13 hour day
and over 5000 km’s total in 8 days and seven nights. I’d never imagined that we could even do
that. Eric was just amazing and he did
an unbelievable job of all the driving and handling all the repairs. My job was to keep us fed.
When we returned home our son in
law Wade had spent 2 days with a bobcat clearing the ¼ mile driveway to our
house. The neighbors had piled snow in
front of our gate and it was 2 feet deep up by the house. A huge job and we are so greatfull. Our daughter Erika had stocked the house with
food (we texted back and forth as we were driving) and our grand daughters Abby
(muffins) and Holly and boyfriend Chris had roasted a chicken and made chili
for our dinner. The house was warm and
Erika had even lit a fire and there were cases of beer as well. We could not
have done it without them.
In a usual year we would stay a couple
of days in Kelowna at Ian and Linda’s (Eric’s brother and wife) and then
overnight in Quesnel. We would then bunk
in with our daughter and family to shower, do laundry, shop, eat and
visit. As we shut the house down when we
leave in October and drain the water there is no water when we get home. While
we stay at Erika’s Eric comes out to the house to clear the road and get the
water going. Not this year! Erika also brought us a 5 gallon jug of water
so we were okay until the next day.
So…we are home. Fed, warm, showered and rested and in
quarantine for 14 days. Our family here
is self isolating for the most part.
Erika is working at an office where there is only her and one boss as
everyone else is working from home. She
shops for the family every night after work.
Wade is the only one working in the office at the power line company and
the children Abby, Holly and boyfriend Chris are staying home. Both Holly and Chris have lost their jobs and
Abby is not going to college as it’s closed.
In Terrace which is a small town
25,000 with outlying areas there is no problem with Covid 19 at this
point. There is no one in hospital and
the ones who have been exposed are self isolating. We are happy we don’t live in a big
city. The town is pretty well stocked
for food as well. What will the future
bring for all of us….only time will tell. We are just happy to be home even if
everything is covered in snow. By the
way when Eric tried to start the truck in the driveway two days after we
arrived home it wouldn’t start. He
primed the fuel filter and it started.
He will have to rebuild the fuel filter housing.
There are no pictures as I don’t
have enough cell data to load them and here we don’t have wifi as it’s not
available.
I did do some short posts
facebook as we traveled and there are some pictures on it.
