Howling at the Stresses of RV'ing!

I know many of you think of the RV lifestyle is all rainbows and butterflies. And many of us bloggers paint that picture, leading one to believe that is the case. But those of you who have full-timed or even part-timed know that this is not always the truth. There are stresses that go along with RV'ing. Lots of them! 

There are the daily stresses of just getting fuel, finding a place to stay, navigating parking lots, dealing with a hangry spouse or a stinky dog.... the list goes on. Although they are much reduced in a smaller rig like ours, they are still there. 

Something is always breaking or in need of repair no matter how new or old your rig is. There is always of list of things to fix. Those are the easy things. The bigger deals are accidents, fires, engine problems; things that stop you dead in your tracks with long delays for repairs. I cannot think of one person who has been on the road for more than a year or three who have not been stopped dead in their tracks with an issue. Luckily, ours happened so close to home that we were able to stay in the comfort of our home while the engine was replaced in our truck. 

For us, so far this trip, we have had several minor issues. The engine light on the truck came on the other day. (Stress level rises from a 1 to a 5). After stopping by an automotive store and reading the code my stress level dropped down to a 1 again. It is just an air sensor. Then the generator started acting up. When we use it, it generally purrs like a kitten until we turn on the microwave where it revs up to higher rev. Now, all of a sudden, it bogs way down when we turn on the microwave (stress level back up to a 5). I checked the oil and air filter, all are well. We called a few RV Techs here in Yuma, everyone is weeks out. For now, we stopped using the microwave. (Stress level goes down to a 2.5 after a day or two)

Then Barb noticed the cover of our new Fantastic fan is gone. We just got that thing at the tune of several hundred dollars and the cover is gone?!?!? I went up on the roof to find the cover is still there it is just broke. If you are keeping track, we now have a disabled generator in a truck with the engine light on and a broken bracket on our new vent. (Stress level up to over 6)

While in Yuma we got a new vent cover ($48) so at least that is fixed. We are going to limp along with no generator until I can really dive into it at Quartzsite. 

Despite these things we did manage to have fun while in town here. We spent the first night at a Harvest Host just outside of town at the Dirty South BBQ House. We did not know it at the time, but we had been there before when we stopped for some ice cream a few years ago. Their food was actually very good and a nice place to spend the night. 

Cauliflower field next to the BBQ joint

The next day we got up and headed to the Yuma Public library where I worked on the blog and Barb did some computer work for her old employer. This is where I ran into my first "You just cannot make it up" moment for the week. As I sat there watching everything around me, I thought to myself that librarians have to have a special place in heaven having to deal with people all day. The place was filled with senior citizens trying to use the workstations while the library staff ran around answering all their questions. And the questions were nonstop! "I can't get signed on", "How do you make this bigger?", "How do I print this?" 

Then some dudes phone rings and he answers it.... on speakerphone! Seriously? He goes on to tell his caller that he is at the library, and she starts whispering. But being he was a senior citizen, he cannot hear her, so he starts talking louder. This went on for several minutes until the phone call ended. Then there were the crying kids which I can tolerate because....well, they are kids. 

The last time we were here we were traumatized for life while watching Dino trying to use chopsticks. You can relive the experience here. We like to find good sushi (and donuts) (and beer) in each new area we visit. In Yuma it is Ninja Sushi. Not great, but decent. One visit satisfied our craving.

After sushi we found a park along the Colorado River to walk the dogs for an hour or so. 

By then we had worked up and thirst and headed over the Prison Hill Brewing Company for a couple of flights.   

Our main reason for coming to Yuma was to go to the dentist in Los Algodones. I broke one of my back bottom teeth a few months ago and wanted to get it fixed and as many of you know, dental down here is a fraction of what it is in the states. 

So away we went to Sani Dental. Crossing the border into Mexico was a breeze. 

Something new since the last time we crossed is that they were checking woman's purses. Not sure what that is all about. 

We arrived at Sani and each got our x-rays ($65) each. They have those stand-up machines that spins around your head. Then we waited for our consultation. I think they tell you everything you may need to get done and then you have to whittle it down from there. In my case they recommended 6 crowns and two root canals. 2 of the crowns were what they deemed as necessary (the broken one and an infected one), the other 4 were more cosmetic due to receding gum lines. Barb's was pretty much the same but none were immediately necessary.

I opted only doing the necessary ones, Barb just got a cleaning ($45). They sent me upstairs to the root canal doctor. Each one took 40 minutes. 80 minutes of pain and torture. Being somewhat claustophobic, having your mouth open and breathing through your nose while being drilled is torture enough. There was not any pain as I was pretty numbed up. I take that back. When they gave me a shot of Novocain in the roof of my mouth it hurt like hell, still sore actually.  

After those were done, they sent me downstairs to the crown doctor who drilled for 2 more hours. He drilled and ground for the crown prep. He tried doing impressions but I was too swollen from the root canals so he asked me to come back the next day. 

While I was doing all that, Barb went shopping for mediations and booze. You can bring one liter of booze back per person and OTC medications. Then we headed for the line to get back in the states. It was longer than we have ever seen before. 2 hours and 20 minutes long. Ugh! When it was all said and done the dogs were in the camper a little over 8 hours and boy, were they happy to see us!

We spent the night in the Quechan Casino parking lot. It used to be free but now it is $10/night or 3 for $25. The next day, it was back across the border where they prepped the crowns and took impressions for 2 more hours. They set up an appointment for me to come back the next day to test fit the crowns. Barb hit the liquor store again and got us each a bottle to take over. The wait this day was only 40 minutes. As I was going through Customs, the agent asked me what I had to declare. "Just one bottle of booze". Then he asked me if I brought any booze back yesterday to which I replied "Yes". That is when he informed me that I was only allowed to bring one bottle every 31 days. Opps! He let me keep it and sent me on my way.

That night we headed over to meet in person some blogger friends that we have been following for quite a while on the Ogilby Rd LTVA. There were three of them camped together so we got a 3 for 1! Deb and Riley are Ontarioians who live on "The Rock" an island on Lake Huron. We had been following their blog the longest and were really looking forward to meeting them. Doug and his side kick Yuma were also camped there along with Tom and Deb another couple whose blog we follow. Doug is from Illinois while Tom and Deb are from the U.P. of Michigan. 

Doug in the back, then Tom, Deb, Deb and Riley

Tom, Deb, Deb, Riley and Barb

We had a blast chatting and laughing. Yuma and Zoey did not get along the best, so Yuma went back to his camper while Zoey hung out on Riley's lap. Dakota true to her skittish self, got scared and knocked over Barb's drink onto Riley's legs and shoes. Then our dogs were banished to the campers and Yuma joined us again. We hung out until just after dark and went our separate ways.

We reconvened in the morning for an hour or so for coffee before we said our goodbyes and left. Our destination that morning was RV World to pick up the new vent top that we ordered. Then off to the border. We decided to not go across until 11:30 for my noon appointment. When we pulled onto the road that led to Mexico, it was backed up for miles, all the way to the Casino. We sat in the line inching along watching the time tick closer and closer to noon. Finally, at 11:20 and still a long way to wait, I told Barb I was going to walk, jumped out and started hoofing it. I made it to my appointment with a few minutes to spare. This appointment only took about 20 minutes, and they sent me on my way asking me to come back in two weeks to make sure the infection was gone before they put the permanent crowns on. On my way back to the border I had three different guys stop and ask me if I was looking for a massage or a "lady" perhaps. Do they stop all single guys walking around or do I look particularly desperate? Wait, don't answer that! There was no line at all on the way back and I was back to the truck in no time at all where Barb and the girls were in the camper waiting for me. 

As Barb was putting the slide in and I was walking the dogs, a Border Patrol truck whips through the parking lot doing 90 and screeches to a stop near me, gets out and starts looking through the fence. It was then I saw that someone had cut a hole through the fence. Barb came out and said she saw two guys walking from that area that headed deeper into the parking lot. The Border Agent said they caught them but was looking for their guide. He was long gone by the time he arrived. 

From there we went to lunch at El Charro Cafe. As I was biting into my shrimp taco I felt something hard in my mouth. I then proceeded to spit out one of my temps. Son of a #*#@! (Stress level now at an 8). It was too late to go back that day and since it was Saturday, I would need to wait until Monday. 

So, we wrapped the tooth into a napkin, made an appointment for Monday and went to find a place to spend the night. We ended up on some property managed by the Luke AFB. You had to go online, watch a video about not picking up any ordinances that might still be laying around and get a permit. After a beautiful sunset and moon rise, we went to bed to get ready for our next big adventure!

The next day after a lazy morning we headed over to The Howling Grounds. What is that you ask? Well, apparently, when there is a full moon a bunch of old people get together in the desert and howl at the moon! Elva, who reads our blog and lives in the area told us about the event. How could we pass up something like that?!?!

So, we headed over to The Howling Grounds and set up for the day. This is where we met more virtual friends. Ken and Shirley had driven down from Nevada to attend this illustrious ceremony. A little while later we were joined by Elva and her husband Jerry. 

Barb, Shirley, Elva, Jerry and Ken

As we were sitting there getting to know each other, as if drawn by a magical force, more and more people started pulling in. Cars, trucks, RV's, side by sides.  All forms of transportation, they just kept coming! There was a live band, food trucks, T-shirt vendors, the people watching was pretty interesting.

Barb and Shirley with the Howler!

We waited with bated breath for the moon to appear over the horizon and then it happened. As you can see in this somewhat out of focus and shaky video, it was not the spectacular moonrise we hoped for as it was shrouded with clouds, but the moon did crest the mountains just over the bandstand, nonetheless and the howling began!

After 20 minutes or so of howling and being it was sooooo late (7pm), we headed back to our rigs where we sat by the fire for another hour or so where I started to feel the stress shed off my shoulders. Nothing like new friends, a few cocktails and howling at the moon to bring the stress level down to an "I don't give a damn level"!