Monday, February 6, 2023

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"!

49 comments:

  1. Very cool you got to meet up with so many friends, old and new. I think our record for the border crossing was an hour and 40 minutes. We had a beautiful clear full moon rise here in Q. Hurry up with our beer will ya…getting thirsty! Safe travels and see ya soon!

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    1. It seems like Sunday is the best day to cross if you don't have any dental or eye appointments.

      We will be there soon with your delivery!

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  2. Try changing the spark plug in the generator before you do a great deal of diving! I find if mine doesn’t work hard for a while, the purring tends to ‘gum up’ the gap in the plug.
    The howling winds was interesting, I can see how some people would enjoy it! Of course the more adult beverages the better one might enjoy the festivities. The Howler with Barb and Shirley was cute.
    Stress is a daily reality and how we deal with it determines our level of happiness and you two seem to be dealing well. We don’t use our microwave in this rig but the stove works well, just like the old days. Lol. All the desert dust, maybe the air filter needs a little dusting and shaking to get the light to go off. The fixes aren’t all expensive. Mine is easy to reach and replace if necessary. Good luck with the dentist.

    Deb

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    1. I'll check out the spark plug and see if that does the trick. The person in the Howler costume was inundated with picture takers but he/she was very patient and let everyone take pictures.

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  3. You howl well Barb lol, Yes there is always stuff to fix. We just had our tilt bed installed .... moved to Lake Havasu yesterday and deployed the bed slide the second time since installation on Thursday. The whole bed frame box busted apart withe no support for bed and slide was stuck part way out and wouldn't come in either. After calling RV Tech on a Sunday he walked us through how to take part of it apart, disconnecting sleep number system, removing mattress, taking some of bed slats off to manually squish box frame back together and lift it back onto slide rollers. Then slide was able to fully deploy. We made sure support pieces were back under bedrails and put everything back together so we could sleep on the bed. We return to Yuma Wednesday for it to be fixed.

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    1. Stress level 10! Hopefully everything works out and they get it fix permanently this time.

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  4. Friends, Adult Beverages and Howling sounds like a good way to reduce the stress level!

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    1. From what I understand, we met several of your friends this past week!

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  5. Love the story about Dino's chopstick event! 😅 You are brave souls for getting dental work done in Mexico. I like Yuma and that area. Hope everything works out soon so you can get your stress level down! Happy trails!

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    1. You would not be laughing had you seen it in person. It was truly tragic and pathetic.

      Time will tell if we are brave souls or just plain stupid!

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  6. you never talk about the trials and tribulations of rv life, therefore, i never thought about it!! but just like having a "home/home" things always need fixing!! while on the road, you would be vulnerable to finding honest people, not having the people you know handy!! i guess a few beers would help that!!

    i do not like the dentist and i am now reduced to getting implants, not fun and definitely not cheap!!

    i listened to the video...i'm not sure i "get" the howling!!

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    1. What's not to get about a bunch of drunk old people howling at the moon? Although it was interesting, it is a one and done for us. No need to go back. We will move on to our next bizarre and crazy adventure!

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  7. Boy, I can tell you some stories about Public Libraries that would make your skin crawl. Like the 30+ year old guy who was sent to my office (I was the Library Director) for trying to watch naked ladies on the public computers where the monitors can be seen by anyone in the computer lab, including young kids. He tells me, "I was not looking for nude girls, I was looking for 'scantly clad girls', it is not my fault that nude girls show up on the screen too." "Sir," I said, "I don't care if you were looking for fully clothed nuns...if you bring up one more picture of a naked person, you are banned from the computers for the rest of the year...as it is, you are banned for the rest of this month!" Then the argument about freedom to this or that starts from his end, at which I hit the speaker phone and hit the speed dial for the non-emergency police number. When he hears the Police lady say "Police Department, what is your problem," he stands up and walks out and never comes back again. Yep, when you have police on speed dial, you know that was not a one time event, similar stuff happened with other patrons too. My stress level is so much lower these days...

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    1. I bet you could write a book and some things you have seen over the years. Or at least a blog!

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  8. Man, you hit the big 6-0 and you are falling apart. Not only that, your camper is following suit. Even Barb is shopping for ‘mediations’ and booze to cut the stress. 😂

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    1. That certainly seems to be the case. They told me to be carefu with the temps, l but apparently I was not careful enough.

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    2. That’s funny Jim!

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  9. Oh that’s a lit of ouchies to deal with. Hope your mouth feels better soon. In all our years down there I’ve never heard of the howling event until I read it on Colibabas(?) blog. I’d like to try it once. 11 more days and we’ll be at Q (yes I’m counting). With your new friends that brings the “Debbie Count” to 7 I think?

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    1. That's right around when we are leaving but hopefully we will still be there!

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  10. It was a fun few hours for us. But I agree...the Howling event is a one and done. I'm glad we met you, Barb and the babies. I love El Charro. I've been eating there since I was child. You know...just a few years ago. The restaurant was tiny. It faced 4th Avenue just off of 8th street. Good luck with the dentist today and safe travels.

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    1. You missed some excitement after you left. Not sure what happened but fire trucks and an ambulance showed up Great meeting you!

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  11. Sorry. I'm back. I just read on the Howling Facebook page that yesterday was the largest group they have ever had attend.

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  12. Sorry to hear about your toothie issues. I feel your pain!
    We lived full-time in a fifth-wheeler and I remember a few stress-raising issues: Waking up to hear a dripping and knowing another water line had split. Wondering why the lights are dim and realising the battery charger has stopped working. A sudden gust of wind catching the open skylight and ripping it back off its hinges. And, more than once, oops, who forgot to empty the toilet? (not my job!).
    Oh yes, so many little “adventures” when out on the road. But all fun :)

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    1. Oh, so you know fully well what I speak of. I wouldn't trade it, it is all just part of the adventures!

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  13. The howling video didn't open for me but I can continue to imagine it--lol! What a dental adventure. And it is not finished yet--at least in the telling. Goodness!

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    1. It was pretty humorous to see and hear everyone howling like that!

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  14. The howling is quite something. Therapeutic I bet!

    That is quite the adventure with the dentists. Hope all is fixed today, Jim.

    May the rest of the week bring better dental conditions!

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    1. Went back today and I am all set. Just need to return on the 16th for my permanent crowns.

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  15. It's like OMG! I don't even know you anymore. Smuggling alcohol across the border. Looking for ho's while Barb isn't around. Believing Mexican dentists are better than American dentists. Meeting so many new folks. Next you will be telling me you've become friends with carnival folks, also known as carnies. I feel sorry for that poor fellow you call Dino. Being chopstick challenged like he is must be extremely difficult to get through life. Love the blog.

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    1. Don't feel bad for Dino, he deserves every bit of grief he gets.

      We have not come across a carnival yet but if we do, we are pulling in!

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  16. Gee ... my stress level always runs at about 95. As for the dentist ... oh HELL no!!! Just drink that whole bottle of booze you were lucky they let you keep, and you'll be fine!! Maybe .....

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    1. Are you sure about the dentist? You seem to be waivering just a little bit! I did not think about drink that bottle, that may have solved all my problems!

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  17. Adults congregating in the desert howling at the moon? Only in America! Hope you got everything else under control and I'm sure you will. As a side, after using the gen set Benno lets it run at high revs before shutting it down, claiming it cleans the spark plugs.

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    1. Good to know about the spark plugs. If Benno says it does, then I will take it for gospel!

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  18. Whew!! It is always something for sure - glad you managed to include lots of fun and friends to wrap around the stressors. Good to know Tessa isn't the only one who doesn't play well with others :-) Cell phones on speaker in public.......special place in hell! I suppose it's the time of year, but that's the most people I've seen going in and out of Mexico in quite awhile. Maybe with your stress level roller coaster you could have used one of those 'massages' :-)))

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    1. I never even considered one of those massages. There is something sketchy about going into a building or backroom in a foreign country that I will pass on!

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  19. Yes, RVing is stressful. We were quite lucky for eight years and were able to handle issues fairly easily and always seemed to be in a place where we could hang. But being a normally stressful person, each move caused me great stress. I always needed to know exactly how we were getting into the campground and how John was getting out when we would be leaving. Sure hope all goes well with your final dental procedures. Thanks for dog photo!!

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    1. Being prepared can eliminate stresses. Barb is the same way, double checking things a make things go smoothly as possible.

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  20. You are totally right - RVing brings on its own type of stress, and it can be significant. There's the day to day stress and the "what was THAT???" stress. And getting problems resolved is that much harder when on the road. I feel for you guys dealing with all that at once. Hopefully you're through the worst of it and things will settle down now.

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    1. Our stresses this week are minor bumps in the road compared to what you went through the last six months. But as you know, things eventually work out and get back to normal.

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  21. Ha! Sushi, Mexican hooch, and Howling with others sounds like a combination to manage your stress levels!

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    1. Don't forget the Mexican street food, life is good afterall!

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  22. My stress level went to a 10+ just reading all of this. Sorry about the root canal stuff but you certainly were in the right place. As to the moon howling well what can one say........ Contessa

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    1. Root canals just downright suck. I am glad to have them behind me and moving on to better things!

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  23. Howling at the moon is dang fun. So is visiting with old and new friends, long walks along the river, and boon docking amongst those gorgeous red rocks! Not so much fun are RV issues and for me, the dentist is the worst! Barb’s expression in the dentist chair says it all. Hope all is well and you are beyond all the not so fun stuff.

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    1. The fun definitely outweighs the stresses! We made it to Quartzsite, the weather is decent but could use a little less wind.

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  24. Hope all is going well for you now. We seem to be all fixed. Won't feel certain until we have pulled the bedroom slides in a few times after traveling.

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    1. I am sure they double and triple fortified it not wanting to piss you off!

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