Another wrap of Mexico…

Digital picture issues…I use Linux with Ubuntu as the OS and Mate desktop for my GUI. There have been a couple updates to the OS and one to the GUI App and that screwed up and hid many of the shortcuts I’m familiar with using when uploading pictures from my camera to the computer. This all happened between the last post and this post. I have tried working on it several times, trying to upload the pictures from the SD memory card but the card just wouldn’t show up in the normal File Apps I use. Eventually, I found them, got things working, pictures uploaded. Took two hours of concentrated effort trying to find and bypass the problem.

I had several other projects to complete and when I got back to figuring out all the new glitches with Mate, and by then it had become today, April 17th, 2025. But, I do want to keep consistent with my blog posts so instead of jumping over all that time between March 31st which was the date of my last post and today, I’ll again backtrack to the time between March 3rd and March 17th when I left San Felipe and headed north. And than add the between time up until today. Sorry if that bores you guys but my brain makes it happen this way.

Anyway, a few more days in San Felipe.

After that pizza party I wrote about last time, I just hung around the RV for the next couple weeks and occasionally went downtown and the malecon area to hang out. One night the moon was spectacular so took a shot. Walked down to the beach area in front of my RV to get it.

One of my readers sent me some pictures back in Feb about the weather he was having while I was enjoying the 70’s in San Felipe. Thought you might enjoy them for memories sake as it’ll soon be summer. They were from UpRiverDavid. Thanks for reminding me why I’m a snowbird!

Well, that is refreshing. Anyway, here’s some more pictures of downtown and the parade on March 1st, and a shot of Rita:

These are the banos (bathrooms) on the malecon. I was trying to get a good shot of the artwork. I noticed that the charge has gone from 10 pesos to 20 but that increase might have just been for the holiday.

Town is getting ready for the week long celebration and the parade.

Kinda fun just wandering around. Lots of food available. Rita and I stopped at a nice restaurant for a meal. Excellent as always. I’ve been in Mexican towns where the food was generally of low quality everywhere in town, but here in SF, it’s great practically anywhere you eat. From upscale to sidewalk, all good.

And then we went one block over to watch the parade.

My RV park is up this street 2 blocks from here…we’re right across the street from Fat Boy’s.

By this time my knees were not happy about standing and walking for those previous couple of hours so I excused myself and walked the rest of the way to my RV, rubbed some medicinal goo on my knees and relaxed in my recliner. Took an hour to bring them back to a low pain condition.

And that was the end of my explorations around SF…other than Rita and me going for pizza I mentioned last time. Pretty much just stayed home and started preparing for the trip north.

———————————————————————————————————————-

March 15th rolled around and it was time to check my tires and get ready to travel…and the inner dual tire on the passenger’s side was empty. Dammit. It was a Saturday but the tire shop I called was open, they sent a guy with a big truck over within 15 minutes. I raised that rear set of tires off the ground and he removed the tires. Found a leaking in-the-tire brass fill valve assembly, tightened it, tested for leaks and filled all my RVs big tires. Cost all of $25. Crisis avoided.

Than on Sunday the 16th of March, I headed north towards the border. Usually there is a military roadblock at the junction of highways Mx-5 and Mx-3 which heads west to Ensenada but this trip there wasn’t anyone manning the site. They’re the ones that usually check my refer and freezer and the entire RV for stowaways. I often offer them a cold drink since they don’t have much there but this time, no one around.

Some kind of giant mine off in the distance.

After a two hour drive I tried to stop at the Mexicali Costco to do some minor shopping and circled the place without finding a parking space for my 70 foot long RV + car. Even the back where the trucks go was fenced off. The parking lot for cars, which is huge, was completely packed. No way could I get my RV into one of the very few empties I could spot from the side streets. Gah! So I gave up that idea and headed straight for the border crossing. I usually take Mexicali east as it’s bigger and generally not crowded but on this day, Sunday March 16th, it was packed. I got in line around 2 miles before the turn into the crossing, and inched along. And than after the turn, had to inch my way north until I reached the US crossing.

I’m in the far right lane…the only lane for RVs. There are two relief crossings from the other lanes in case you take the wrong approach, and all of which were marked as using those cards, Sentri card or a Ready Lane-eligible card…but they don’t issue those speed crossing cards for RVs. Here you can see the heavy barriers that prevent RVs from using those card lanes. Only 9’0″ of head space. And you can also see that the RV lane I’m in was choked with cars. See that RV way in the distance? There weren’t any behind me for half a mile either.

It took two hours in line to finally reach the border…the guy asked for my passport card, came inside the RV and zipped through inspecting, didn’t even open the refer or freezer, and sent me on my way. So there is a benefit to crossing on a Mexican holiday or maybe on a Sunday even, when going north. Cursory inspection. I could have brought lots of banned food in but I always eat it all and boil any eggs before crossing anyway. Takes some planning and foresight but not really a big problem. The border guards often just let me through with the stuff in my refer as I don’t often have much.

After crossing I headed straight towards Yuma on the I-8 pulling off at the Quechan Casino exit around 8 miles prior to Yuma. I stay at the Sleepy Hollow RV park which is just a couple miles from Los Algodones. Crossed the border a couple times for a pina colada, lunch, and a haircut then a mani-pedi. Everything is inexpensive. Didn’t do much there though except try to find some meds. Not one of the many pharmacies there carried what I needed in the dosage I need. When I grocery shop I drive to Yuma. Went to the Casino a couple times for dinner or b-fast. Gambled a little. Stayed there for just a week and then headed north again. Traveling the ‘short cut’ puts me in Pahrump in less than a day. Check out this map…to Pahrump.

And that was a big mistake. Soon after getting on the freeway west, noticed I didn’t have enough fuel to make it. Doubled back to a California station (Yuma is very close to the CA border) where the diesel was $5.99/gallon. Got just 10 gallons. Which wasn’t enough because I thought I’d find better along the route. First the several miles north after leaving I-8 the road was in bad shape (still…it’s looked like this for years now). Look at this. Nasty driving for 20 odd miles. Much bigger potholes than this along the way, I just avoided taking my hands off the steering wheel to take any pictures of those sections.

This is Needles, California and I knew from the highway signs there wasn’t any cheap diesel here, so pushed on hoping to make the Nevada border where I knew of a station located next to the freeway and just after crossing.

And even then I had to stop at Vidal junction, still in California for more fuel as I’d misjudged…and there it was $6.99/gallon. I had promised myself a couple years ago to never take this route again because of the lack of low cost fuel, but I’d forgotten. What I should have done is head into Yuma to fill up, than north to Quartzsite than Parker than up to Pahrump. Only a few miles different over all but with huge fuel cost savings. Next time I’ll remember I hope. Running on fumes I limped into Cal-Nev-Ari station eventually, and since that’s in Nevada, the fuel prices were relatively good. It was a bitch leapfrogging from fuel stop to fuel stop while repeatedly trying to find economical fuel along the route. Usually I wouldn’t bother but really, $6/gallon!? When it was below $4 in Arizona and Nevada?

Anyway, I made it up to Pahrump the same day, filled up the tank at a reasonable cost of $3.299/gallon, got to the Preferred RV resort (where I’m a time share owner), paid for a month and here I sit. I’ll probably extend my stay another week or two letting the weather get better up north. Today’s a bit cloudy here in Pahrump but that’s helpful because I needed to do some outside maintenance work on the RV and accessories.

It’s usually in the 70’s here during the day (instead of the 80’s in the Yuma area) but the nights are coolish being this is a desert area. I’ve not done much here but I have gone to the local VFW several times since I arrived. Their meals are 1/3 the cost of what you’d find elsewhere but of high quality.

Anyway, so far I’ve fixed or done maintenance on several things on/in the RV but mostly just been relaxing and binge watching Netflix. So that’s all for now…

THANKS for READING!  I know this is a long one but I claim hardware/computer issues prevented earlier posting.