My stay at the Salton Sea was great, I liked having the cement parking spot for my RV at Oasis Palms RV Resort. Allowed for crawling around under the RV and spraying the entire undercarriage with Jasco Rust Preventer, using my wheeled creeper. Much better to work under there on a cement slab and easier too using the creeper as I could just quickly roll around checking things. Most RV parks have a slab next to the RV as a patio and usually add a picnic table for visitors use but this park has the opposite. Park the rig on cement, enjoy your grass patio. Worked out well for me as I needed to treat the rust on the undercarriage, needed to get familiar with what’s under there for future reference, and finally, I used the opportunity to plug the drain for the fresh water tank. It has a drip-drip-drip leak that slowly drains the fresh water tank. It’s used when winterizing the RV. Since the drain is right in the middle of the undercarriage, the cement pad made it much easier to get to, and more comfortable to do the work of plugging it (I used a commercial 1 & 1/2″ expanding rubber plug).
With basically everything done that needed to be done, it was time to head to Mexico. I’d stayed here at Oasis Palms for 2 weeks. Used my PPA card so I only paid $160/week, $80/week less than their normal rate. The manager groused a bit about the 2nd week, saying they normally only do the PPA for six days per year, but I’d already made out the check (I anticipated his objection) and the park was less than half full so he allowed it.
All ready to go the next morning.
Got the car connected up the afternoon before departure.
Last look at the mini-lake and the orange trees.
Next morning, I am ready to travel after just a hour of lazy prep. Try to retract the slides….and…nothing. Gah! I have had this problem 3 times now since I bought the RV when the slides won’t retract on the day I’m leaving a RV park. It’s like they don’t want to leave or something. I always use the BR slide the afternoon before when I dump the tanks and that one works so it’s curious that they stop working during the last night of staying somewhere.
So I spend a half hour messing around with wiring and nothing seems to help. Finally, go outside and under the large LR slide at the rear is the hydraulic manifold that controls the four jacks and both slides, with its associated motor, solenoids, tank, etc.. I wiggled the wires to no avail. Then I grabbed my rubber mallet and whacked stuff under there for a bit. And BINGO! The slides start working again. Yea!
Here’s a shot of the Jacks & Slides control assembly.
Now that the slides are working again, I retract them, and off I go due south into Mexico. From here in Thermal, it’s only a 75 mile drive to the border and what with stopping for diesel at the Red Earth Casino, plus a shopping stop in Calexico, it takes two hours before I’m inside Mexico. Crossing at Calexico into Mexicali, the 6 or so lanes are narrow and when a border guard sees me, he runs out and directs me into the far right hand covered lane. He has to move a cone to open the lane. There is sporadic traffic while I was there at 11 AM on a Tuesday morning, but mine was the only RV that passed through while I was there. Takes around 20 minutes depending on tourists numbers getting their Visas. The guys ask permission for everything but they come aboard and open nearly all the cupboards, noticed the satchel that has all the RV books and checked that thoroughly, etc.. And then they had me unlock and open all the cars doors. Along with the trunk. I always drive with the doors locked so I had to remember to lock them back up when he finished inspecting. They also check under both vehicles with a mirror. I’ve seen dogs here but today they were not working. After that was all done, I locked up the RV and walked over the six lanes of lightly used entrance lanes to the Visa office. Carried copies of the RV and car titles, along with copies of the registrations. And my passport. The guy filled out the Visa while I waited and asked for some pesos, or dollars. Either was fine. Only takes cash, no cards. Wasn’t very much, I’ve forgotten how much. Less than $100p I believe. I had plenty of pesos from my last trip with me so I was covered. You can buy pesos on the US side easily, there are several of those little exchange places on the main road to the border.
I asked the guy if I needed a TIP (Temporary Import Permit) for my car, but no, Baja doesn’t need that. So I didn’t need to use my VISA for that $400 deposit they ask for if you’re traveling somewhere else in Mexico. I also asked if I could buy that 10 year RV sticker but no, they don’t sell them here at Mexicali.
Anyway, crossing the border didn’t take long and by 11:30AM, I’m in Mexicali following my GPS as I head to San Felipe. The road is fairly obvious except in a couple places where you could take a wrong turn, but the GPS helped at those difficult areas. As I recall, it’s 4 lane through the entire city and well out into the countryside. And sometimes, 6 lane.
This shot is a bit fuzzy but does show where I move my front license plate the afternoon before I’m in Mexico. If the rear plate is stolen (happens quite a bit in Mexico) than I still have this one. Do the same thing on the car. Tape them to the front windows. My old Bounder had a rear window so on that RV, both were inside the RV.
And we’re outside of Mexicali. 
Doesn’t really come through in this photo but that bump over there is dark black. Gotta be volcanic.
After passing through that last set of mountains, you are heading for these. 
Off in the distance is the ocean.
Arrived in San Felipe around 3:30 pm and after traveling through most of the town, stopped next to the baseball park in order to disconnect the car. I’m heading to Kiki’s RV park just 100 yards away from where I’ve parked and Kiki’s doesn’t really have room for both the RV and car when connected together. One thing I didn’t see during the entire 200 mile trip was a single RV. This is both good and bad. Good because there’s a good chance the RV park I’m headed for will have open spots (though this town has many RV parks so really not worried about finding a place), and bad because it might mean there’s something going on down here I’m not aware of that people with RVs are avoiding.
The last time I stayed at Kiki’s, back in December-January, I had found a RV online up in Mesa, Arizona that looked like something I might want to buy. I was soooo tired of the Bounder that I headed up there with 12 days left on my prepaid monthly rental to check it out. Kiki was nice enough to give me a note that if I came back in a reasonable time, he’d let me use up those days. So, that, along with the weather and the nice area, is why I’m back and staying at Kiki’s. This time of year, it’s not very crowded either.
I’d arrived shortly before sundown so spent the time getting parked in this alley with Kiki’s help. It was dark by the time we finished parking and I finished hooking up. Next morning, took these pictures of my space #23 and of Kiki’s. I’m parked between the cement fence and my assigned space…in order to have room to extend my slides. The spaces here aren’t really wide enough for todays RV styles, except for some right on the beach. And those were filled when I got here.
This is taken from the upstairs patio of my palapa. Downstairs is similar, only lower.
A view of Kiki’s and the mountains in the west. Ocean beach is behind me to the east, just 50 feet or so.
Our beach. Tide’s out this morning. It is 6:30 am so not much foot traffic.
Shot from the boat ramp.
And now I’m all settled in. A few weeks ago I had read a posting on a RV forum from a guy who has DirecTv (DTV) and he was saying he could only get DTV around 50 miles inside Mexico. Some sort of purposeful blackout by DTV he thought. No one on the forum contradicted him so I was pleasantly surprised when I found that my satellite was picking up all three satellites and I got all the channels I was signed up for plus I was still getting the local stations from Thermal. And I’m around 200 miles inside Mexico here. The satellite took twice as long to lock onto the sats though. Once it was done, I haven’t had any drops yet. I did hear from a friend on a FB travel page that I should be able to get DTV all the way down to Cabo. Excellent. As I plan on visiting down there this trip.
So I’m all settled here for a couple three weeks. Want to see what the Seahawks do this season. If they end up in the SuperBowl again, I might stay on here because I know I can get satellite AND there are two local bars here I’m familiar with that have a pretty good crowd for the games…which makes them more fun.
Anyway, thanks for visiting my humble blog!
Hi my friend. Enjoy following your travels, especially since you originate from my neck of the woods.
Not to criticize, but more of a suggestion… clean your windshield more often if you’re going to be taking pix through it; I know you like to snap photos that way, and they are part of what we like to see. After watching the daily routine of a couple of California RVers traveling together, pulling in and parking across from me in a Bend park, I took the hint. While mama makes dinner and I spend <10 minutes out hooking up utilities, rather than flop in a chair on the "patio" with a beer or bourbon, I pull out the folding ladder, squirt bottles and scrubber, and microcloths, and attack the windshield. If you make it a habit at the end of the hook-up routine, it's not that bad. More importantly, it's done, forgotten, and you don't have to think about it when you're anxious to hit the road. And bugs are a lot easier to get off when they haven't taken a week's set.
I know, you’re right, I am getting lazy. I had a couple opportunities to clean the windshields and I never got around too it. I was in Thermal for 2 weeks and could have easily done it there…but never got to it. I’ll try to do better. Sorry.
Often the weather dictates things, though. If it's going to be inclement, there's no point in doing it until the rain (or snow) stops or there'll be spots and run trails (like I see on yours) when breaking camp regardless. Ditto if there's always a lot of fog or morning dew, or ocean salt air exposure. On the other hand, if you've already scrubbed off the bugs upon arrival, a quick once-over is all you need at take-off. I really disdain having the big, one-piece windshield on our Beaver, and then having to look through its grand vista coming off a mountain pass or around a high Southern Oregon Hwy 101 curve, and try to enjoy it through a maze of crap. Yours isn't all that bad, don't get me wrong, but does show up a little in the pix.
I’ll try your advice and get the windows washed as soon as I park. A good habit is what’s necessary and I need to develop one here.
Enjoying your blog. I read all of them, but don’t reply. Kiki’s looks like a nice place to stay and the roads are good getting there too. What is the rate at Kiki’s? Anyway, enjoy your stay and the weather. It’s 14 and icy where I’m at. Merry Christmas.
Really appreciate hearing from readers, Renee!
Kiki’s is the nicest RV park in the area, not because of the facilities or sizes of the spaces or anything but rather because of the owner’s business practices. As an example, he allowed me to leave to go try to find a newer RV then return 11 months later and use the unused portion of my previously paid rental. Nice. So I’m getting to use 12 days I previously paid a monthly rate of $367 USD for. That’s around $13 USD per day. I haven’t asked what the current rate is yet. I’ll do that soon and come back and edit this with that info. My plan is to stay another week, then head south towards Cabo where it’s warmer. This winter is much cooler than last so I have to wear a long sleeved shirt while last year it was summer type clothes all the time.
Happy Holidays!
Thanks! Back at ya, and May you and yours have a great New Years too.
What do you think of the Jasco?
The Jasco works great. Not that expensive either. Much, much less expensive than Rustoleum. And works much better too. It is a corrosive acid though and the overspray drifted back into my face and ruined my plastic wrap around safety glasses. Worth the loss though as I can count on the Jasco to have turned that rust back into metal. And at the same time, made it resistant to further rusting.
Having a pad is nice but it looked like you had to contort to get on the creeper with the pad not reaching past the sides of the rv.
Hah! You have a good eye. Yes, I did have trouble getting under the RV. I would climb onto the creeper and often the outside wheels would get stuck in the dirt on the edge of the cement. I had to lay down on the creeper with it positioned half way under the rear of the LR slide out to avoid doing that. More room there. Though once I was under the RV, easy to roll around.
This may be a taboo subject here, but I feel visitors need to be informed. Was that the regular routine at the border or were they paying you more attention because it was slow with rvs? Do you know, do they honor Medical Cannabis patients from the states or harass them. Either side? Mexico just legalized medical cannabis/hemp.
No, not a taboo subject at all. I’m a big fan. The routine I described is the same thing that has happened every time I’ve crossed the border in the last 12 years. I’m aware that Mexico still is not allowing pot to cross the border, but I believe if you have small quantities they’ll only confiscate it. If you have massive amounts, they’ll probably turn you back into the US, where you’ll have more problems with US customs. So, it’s not yet time to bring your own.
The registration plate tip was helpful. Years ago (1973) I’d drive a woman into Tijuana without a visa and no passport.
For years I’ve been pulling at least my front plate and putting it in the window when I cross into Mexico. I’ve also kept my old plates over the years and sometimes put them on shortly after I’ve crossed. They have expired tags so the thieves aren’t interested and the cops down here don’t care. I’ve always changed back to my regular plates just before crossing back into the US, but even there, the border guards don’t care if your tags are expired. But you darn well better pull over right at the border and put on your regular plates right after they wave you through. Lots of US cops just over the border. Hah!
This looks like the campground where the biker neighbor started a fire.
Yes, this is the park where that dummy caught the propane bottle on fire and it blew up. That was last January.
You’re by the ocean. Will you go boating or fishing? I wish you an enjoyable time there.
It’s Christmas Day here. No snow. We were invited tonight to a big dinner at my woman’s daughter’s. Younguns on up to us oldsters. Again, Happy Holidays!
No, no fishing this year, or at this location. It’s been too cold out on the ocean. Hardly any sports fishing boats out. Also, this area was badly overfished so the fishing is tightly controlled here.
Thanks! And Happy Holidays to you too. Enjoy your xmas dinner!
Sorry I’m late getting to this… I reread this part of your blog, and caught more of my eye on your slideout issue. I haven’t got to your most recent rendition, so for all I know you may have fixed things by now; regardless here are my comments about your slideout issues.
You are likely going to be mallet-whacking that conglomeration of hydraulics every time you go to leave somewhere. Since its obviously so open in that “bay”, road debris and water must attack that pump center all the time. Our pump, solenoids, and tank are smaller, if I have the correct perspective on your photo, and tucked up curbside in front of the front wheel, behind the entry step – out of harms way mostly.
Surprisingly, the manifold and associated solenoids are relatively clean. They ride tucked up under the slide far enough back and inside the driver’s side wheel that the entire assembly isn’t bad at all. No caked on dirt or road grime like you might expect. What did happen though, is the PO drove the RV on salted roads occasionally. By the looks of things, not very often, but often enough that you can tell. Still, the HWH manifold is mostly aluminum and the casings of the solenoids are sheltered so I only see road salt corrosion on some hydraulic hose connectors.
I’d take some time, shut off your 12v Main switches, and start removing and cleaning and reconnecting all those size 10 and smaller pump motor solenoid wires, as well as the individual slide hydraulics control solenoid wires, and painting them with battery wire corrosion treatment. It looks like access is quite easy.
Good idea. I’ll do that.
Your individual slide solenoids (not the pump motor’s solenoid) look a little different than mine, but probably operate similarly. They can act up, and it’s more likely one or more of them than it is electrical. I can’t tell for sure from your photo, but it may be configured like ours with two solenoids per slideout – one controls slide in and the other controls slide out. On ours, you can remove the fill plug on top of the tank, and there is a nut wrench on one end that fits the nuts in the center of each solenoid. You can adjust each one that way. But it doesn’t take much of a turn, so I’d check with HWH for adjustment instructions specific to your model solenoids so you don’t make things worse. An adjustment may be all that’s needed here if the “in” solenoid’s nut has backed off a tad over time or something.
The O rings inside each solenoid can get fouled with miniscule dirt particles in the hydraulic fluid, or they can get dry from non-use and crack. Either way it compromises the flow of fluid through that solenoid, so it doesn’t fully pressurize to the slide’s cylinder(s). Sounds like it’s the “in” solenoid here, but you’ll have to ferret out which cylinder that is – on ours the same slide’s solenoids are directly opposite one another on the solenoid manifold, so once you know which pair controls which slide, you have some orientation. Get someone to operate the slide switches while you use a stethoscope, or put a large screwdriver to each solenoid with your ear on the other end, and listen for which solenoid is trying to run. Then mark each as to which slide it controls, or make a chart on paper to keep handy.
Some people have disassembled the solenoids, cleaned with kerosene or something, and inserted new O rings. You may find some direction on YouTube for such an endeavor. Or just get new solenoids from HWH or a less expensive source online. They ain’t cheap I don’t think. A couple of our in and out ones were replaced in 2006 under warranty when the curbside living/galley slide eased out on the freeway – HWH at the time recommended replacing both sides at once, but the last I heard that is no longer necessary; replacing only one of a pair/set is okay I guess.
I’m a DIY RV’er with a degree in electronics so of course first thing I’ll do is try to refurbish the solenoids myself.
If you can glean a model no. off your solenoids, you may get some help by contacting HWH; they are known to be a good company with helpful customer service.
Excellent advice. And it’s good to hear that HWH is helpful, in case.