Click on a photo to enlarge it.
On Monday, Helen topped up Winnie's fluids and put a new air filter in and we drove down to a Smog test centre where we had phoned up and made an
appointment. When we got there however, it turned out they couldn't do our smog test because we are too heavy for their Dynos (rollers that will
turn the wheels whilst the vehicle is in drive).
They sent us to another test centre who couldn't accommodate us either. The guy told us to go home and look through the Yellow Pages! On the way
back to Lesley and Rods we saw another test centre with an RV parked up in front of it. So we did a U turn and asked. By now it was 4-45pm so we
knew we weren't going to get a test done today but at least he said he could do our test. We arranged to phone up the next day to see when he could
fit us in.
On Tuesday, we drove back at 2pm and finally got our smog test done. Winnie passed! Then we drove to the nearest DMV and queued up for 50 minutes.
It took only 30 seconds to get our sticker for the year so that we can drive on the roads. That evening we went out to a local restaurant with Rod
for a meal - Lesley had a department meeting and meal out.
On Wednesday, we worked on our website and sent off some emails. Then we cooked roast chicken and Helen made her potato gratin and we sat chatting.
We said we were going to head back on the road the next day but we would get up early so we could say goodbye to Lesley before she left for work at
8am. Rod said he would be up earlier at 6-30am as he needed to work (he works from home).
On Thursday we got up at 7-30 am and at 7-55am we were both standing in the kitchen wondering if our watches were wrong because there was no sign
of Rod or Lesley, who was supposed to leave in the next 5 minutes. Then Rod appeared and said they'd slept in. But at least we managed to have
breakfast with them.
Afterwards, we packed all our stuff up and set off 9-15am. We drove into San Diego and went to get our mail. Kirsten had a court juror notice
saying that she was supposed to have reported to a court at 7-45 am this morning!! Well it was a bit late now! But she's not even eligible to be a
juror as she is not an American citizen!!
We asked the staff where our mail is and they told us just to ignore it - thats what they do!!! Well, we didn't have much choice. So we just made
copies of various things we need for the border crossing into Mexico and then headed east and drove all the way into Arizona and stopped at Yuma.
We checked out a few places for tyres as we have no spare tyre at the moment - our spare is on the front and the tyre with the slow puncture is in
the spare bay. But we soon found out that getting tyres for Winnie is not as easy as we thought! Only one place out of four actually had the size
we need but a different make. So if we replace the front two tyres now, we may have a problem finding the same make in 5,000 miles time when we
need to replace the back four tyres!!
It was getting dark, so we gave up for the night, and did some shopping at Wal-mart to stock up for Mexico. We weren't allowed to park on their car
park but they sent us next door to Sams (the same chain) which had closed down and moved to a new location in town. So we had the whole car park to
ourselves and it was very peaceful!
On Friday, we found a yellow pages and found a garage that is the main dealership for Bridgestone tyres - the make we have on Winnie. 3 hours later
we had got our slow puncture repaired, even though we had been told in Canada that it could not be repaired, and had got a new set of spark plugs
fitted. It cost us a lot less than buying two new tyres and we can now keep driving for at least 5,000 miles before replacing all 6 tyres at the
same time.
That evening, we treated ourselves and went to see the new Harry Potter film which came out today. We were a bit disappointed because so much had
been cut out and the whole thing was a bit disjointed. Having said that, to do a proper job the film would have to be at least 8 hours long! So
what did we expect!!
On Saturday, we drove down to the border which took us 1.5 hours to get through and then we went hunting for money exchange. Unfortunately the rate
has gone down a lot so we didn't get too much cash in Pesos, hoping that the rate will go up. Knowing our luck it will go down even further, but
at least there's a fifty-fifty chance.
It took us a while to get used to the Mexican traffic signals and all the traffic on the dusty roads. We stopped off at a supermarket to get fresh
veg etc and then drove further east along the border and found a noisy Pemex station (petrol station) in Sonoyta where we could park up for the night.
On Sunday, we found a note on our windshield. We thought someone was complaining about us parking there, but in fact it was someone asking if we
wanted to sell Winnie and they'd left two contact numbers for us to call!!! Winnie is much sought after!!
We set off and got stuck in traffic as there was some kind of childrens parade blocking one side of the main street in the town. We managed to get
through and then continued east on highway 2 and drove to Santa Ana where we found a campground for the night.
They had a shower we could use but no hot water so we heated up some water and used our solar shower. We also managed to buy the new edition of the
Church and Church book which is the Bible for RVs in Mexico.
Later, Helen spent a couple of hours working on the computer to get up to date on the website.
