Guanajuato Oh-Oh

I had a small accident today! First some background...

Today we passed through the beautiful little town of Guanajuato ("Wana-wa toe"). The town is built on hillsides and in the bottom of a small valley. Many years ago a nearby river kept overflowing and flooding the town. They tried to solve this by digging tunnels under the town to handle these periodic floods. This did not prove to be a permanent fix so in the end, the river itself was diverted away from the town. The now empty tunnels were converted for use by cars to take traffic off the streets. Access tunnels were dug to connect the tunnels with the streets above.

As we approached Guanajuato, my intention was to bypass the town, go on to San Miguel de Allende, check into the RV Park there and then return with the Honda to visit Guanajuato and Delores Hidalgo. Such was not to be! I got slightly confused reading signs and made a disastrous wrong turn with the motorhome INTO the tunnels! Once I turned I was committed. The road is narrow, single-file and one-way and there was a lot of traffic behind me. I did not immediately panic because I read that buses actually use these tunnels. Well, they must be narrow, short buses! There was a sign over the entrance warning of a 3.5 metre height restriction and I was happy that I was only 3.3 metres high! Five inches to spare! Well, there were a couple of small factors this figure did not take into consideration!

The tunnels are at the most twenty feet wide but if one could stay in the middle there would be little problem. However, they have decided to allow parking along one side of most of the tunnels, forcing traffic over against the left wall where the sloping walls of the tunnel now come into play! I turned on my hazard lights and headlights and slowly proceeded. The car dolly is about ten or twelve inches wider than the motorhome so so I had two worries. One was having the right dolly wheel get caught on a parked car and the other was striking the sloping-in left wall of the tunnel with the motorhome roof. I sweated my way through several blocks of tunnel until I found an underground bus stop where I could pull over and think (until a bus came along). A cab passed and slowed down but I did not think fast enough to stop and hire him to lead me out of the maze of tunnels. I was going to wait for another cab when a young man walked up to us. I asked him if he was a "Guide" as most residents seem to be and he answered that "si" he was. I asked him if he could get us out of the tunnels and onto the road to Delores Hidalgo and he said "si", he could. Norma got in the back, he climbed into the passenger seat and off we went with him directing me.

We made several turns when we came to a particularly narrow section of tunnel. As I glanced in the right hand mirror to check the location of the dolly tire, WHAM, I hit the drivers side roof on the wall of the tunnel! It was hard enough to shake the rig pretty good and I felt it making contact along the full 30 foot length of the motorhome. Well, no point in worrying about it now, so I proceeded on until we were out of the maze of tunnels and on a road clearly marked for Delores Hidalgo. I found a place to pull over and asked my guide how much he wanted for his services. He told me in Spanish that he wanted me to pay whatever I thought his services were worth. He had been with us for less than a half hour so I gave him $50 Pesos and asked him if that was enough. His eyes lit up and he assured me it was more than fair. It was only about $5 CAN to me but to him it was a day's pay for a Mexican labourer and obviously much more than he expected. We shook hands and both went away happy.

I pulled over as soon as I could to inspect the roof damage. It was not as bad as I originally feared. There is some very slight fiberglass damage to the leading edge of the roof and some minor damage down the full length of the roof edge. The waterproof Eternabond tape that I applied five years ago to solve a pesky roof leak problem is badly torn and pulled off in many places and the metal trim piece that grips the rubber membrane of the roof and holds it to the sidewall is bent and distorted in a few places. I have not seen the top of the roof yet but I do not expect any problems there. I think I can repair it myself with a rubber mallet to pound the metal trim back into shape and a roll of wider Eternabond tape to cover everything up.

Eternabond is magical stuff! It is extremely sticky, UV proof, waterproof, resistant to extreme temperatures, has a 15 year life expectancy and is very easy to apply. It is available in the USA and Canada but most likely not in Mexico. I am thinking of trying to use Duct Tape as a temporary (two month) repair to get me home. I have put the question to my panel of experts on Escapees.com, an Internet RV Forum that I use extensively. The opinions are gathering as we speak...

Roof Vents

Our house had none. Well, it has one on each end of the roof, under the overhang but that is not enough. To determine how much venting you need you take the total square feet of the roof and divide by 300. That gives you the number of square feet of vents you need. In our case that comes out to 6 vents. The side vents made up for two so we were four short. It was the soffit installer who pointed out the problem when he said we had no roof vents for all the new air the soffits were introducing into the attic to exit.

I studied YouTube videos and was quite confident I could do the job myself but Norma asked her new lawn guy who used to be a roofer and he offered to do them for the same rate she was paying him to do the lawn. He did all four in an hour and a half so we were quite pleased and it saved me more than that in the chiropractor bills that I would be paying if I did it myself. The vents themselves are cheap, $10 each plus tax.

I went up on the roof and I could feel the hot air pouring out the newly installed vents proving they are working well!

It was a very hot day to be working on the roof but here he is. Yes, there is moss on the roof but I have something to kill it. That is the next job.

This n' That, and More of That

I haven't been doing much but have been kept busy doing it. The other day I climbed up on the roof of the motorhome to clean the solar panel. I used the brand new ladder we had installed in Phoenix after I ripped the old one off with a tree branch. I put my hand on the top bar that is screwed to the roof and the screws pulled out and I was left dangling by one hand! It looks like the "professional" installer cut the top piece of the ladder about two inches too long and must have had to sit on it to get it down to the roof so he could screw it down. This left it with 40 or 50 pounds of pressure constantly trying to pull the two (only two) screws out of the roof!

I riveted each top bracket to a piece of aluminum stock and drilled four mounting holes in each one. I then cut two inches off each vertical bar so the new mount sat on the roof and screwed everything down solid. I followed up with a generous helping of Dicor to waterproof things and called it done. I should write to the repair facility that did the repair to tell them they owe me a couple of hours pay and a tube of Dicor. Pretty shoddy work which could have led to an injury.
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We will be using the motorhome as an extra a bedroom this summer so I installed one of our extra StarChoice receivers in the RV bedroom as the PVR that was there is now in our bedroom in the house. That should keep complaints from guests to a minimum.

The Canadian flag we have on the roof of the house was ripped off in a winter storm so I climbed up and hung a new one on the flag pole. I buy these Canadian flags on eBay from somewhere in Asia for $5 each, shipping included. Canadian made Canadian flags cost five or six times as much and are of no better quality so we have an Asian made Canadian flag proudly flying.

I got an email from my nephew Don in Ontario saying he and his wife were going to bring my sister Gloria out for a visit. That will be great as I have not seen my sister since.. (checking back in the Blog)... oh my gosh! June, 2011. There is no excuse for that! We have been close without ever having lived close. She is 18 years older than me and was actually married  and moved to Ontario shortly after I was born. It will be great to see her and I promise it will not be as long next time.

So that is what has been happening in our lives.

Stormy Weather

It has rained off and on since New Years Eve. Last night at about 4 AM we woke up from the sound of rain on the roof and rocking of the rig caused by wind gusts. It is now clearing a little and Chris just knocked on the door to say the solar panel job was going to continue as the forecast was for clearing skies this afternoon. They really want to get the panel mounted and out of their bedroom before they leave on the 7th so that is the goal for today, to at least mount the panel on the roof. If it is too wet to open up the caulking beside the plumbing vent where the cable will be going down, we can coil and tape the cable safely on the roof and they can complete the job another day. They still need a controller which might be available in Guadalajara, their next stop. There is actually a solar store there and the guy says he can have a controller for them two days after they order it. They need a special controller as the panel is a residential type with a 29 volt nominal output, too high for a regular controller.

That is one big solar panel! Humm.... blue side up or blue side down?

Good plan. Send the two biggest guys up on the roof! No harm done despite Norma yelling, "Croft, get away from the edge!".

Installation done! We finished caulking just as the wind picked up to the point it would have blown Kevin and I off the roof! Results? No leaks and an un-terminated reading of 35 volts under a heavily overcast sky! Cables sticking out of a hole in the inside wall all ready for the controller to be purchased and installed. Chris and Juan will have boondocking power to spare!

Motorhome Repair Confusion

When the Insurance Adjuster in San Miguel de Allende looked at the damage to the roof of the motorhome he told us that they would cover the repairs (less $500 USA deductible) but the work had to be done in Mexico near the USA border. Fair enough, it is their money. He asked where we were crossing into the USA and we told him Ciudad Juarez. He then gave us the name and number of their agent in Texas and told us to call him when we got near Ciudad Juarez and he would find a place to make the repairs and set up an appointment. All well and good but as luck would have it we arrived in Chihuahua, the closest city to Juarez with an RV Park, on Good Friday! Not a good day to find Insurance Agents working. We stuck around Chihuahua and on Monday called our contact. All we got was his answering machine and no call back. He must have taken a four day weekend. Good for him.

Tuesday morning we finally contacted him. He looked up our file and told us to call him back when we got to the USA because nobody in Mexico was approved to do RV repairs! It is now Tuesday night and we are parked near a Pemex gas station outside Ciudad Juarez for the night after paying the Security Guard a fifty peso tip to watch over us. As I don’t believe in God praying would be fairly pointless, but I sure hope it doesn’t rain! With the duct tape covered gash in the roof I am sure we would be flooded out. Next stop, El Paso, Texas and hopefully a repaired roof. Report to follow.

Thoughts On Leaving Mexico

We are very sad to be leaving Mexico. It is like leaving family. We had a fantastic winter here, saw so many great sights and met hundreds of interesting, friendly people. As we thank and say goodbye to perfect strangers, they all want to know how we liked Mexico. They are very proud of their Country and like to hear our impressions and we love to share our feelings. In our five months here we never felt threatened even once or had one unhappy experience. Well, maybe when I ripped the roof open in Guanajuato…. But that was my own stupidity. I never thought my Mexican RV Insurance would cover stupidity but apparently it does!

No Bimmer But Some Work Done

I did not buy the Bimmer (1988 BMW 325i). We went down to Brooks and LindaLee's for the weekend in hopes of at least seeing the car but the owner had been called away on business again and had taken the car. I did find out a little more though. There has been some (maybe considerable) rust repairs and there is more rust showing. The problem last week requiring the tow home was a broken fuel line so when the mechanic repaired that, he inspected both fuel pumps and both were good. He now thinks the long cranking might be injector related. He put some injector cleaner in the gas and the owner says the starting is "better" but not cured.

The bottom line is I would be no better off (probably worse off) with the BMW than I am with the Honda which is running great. It is a year newer and has lower mileage. There is no rust. She has been good to me and I will keep her a bit longer. Thanks for the useful comments here and also to the people on the Bimmerfest Forum in helping me reach my decision.

I also realized that because the BMW is rear wheel drive and automatic, I would not be able to tow it behind the motorhome without a lot of trouble so I could not be that "Cool Old Dude With The BMW" in the RV park.

My granddaughter now wants the BMW. Well, more accurately, she wants a car she can afford to buy and all she has is $1,000. The car will not be leaving Victoria so it might be a candidate for a "first car" for her. Brooks says as long as it lasts her six months to a year, she will have gotten her money out of it. He likes it because of it's safety features and construction which should survive a crash better than an older American car. Her ultimate goal is a six to eight year old Honda but she will have to save some money. She is a hard worker just like her dad but also, just like her dad, has a hard time saving her money. The goal of a good car may help her focus.

New Roof

Brooks has been promising LindaLee a roof over their deck for a long time and he finally got a chance to do it. He had a couple of the guys he works with in Alberta and who live near him, come by to help on Sunday. This "West Coast" roof is really well built with 8X8 rough cut timbers and full dimension fir lumber and would survive an earthquake! I was there to help with the lifting and the basic framing was up in no time. Just in time actually as the rain started pouring down and put an end to his plans of putting the roof on. It is just too dangerous up there in the wet so that part will probably wait until next time he is back in town.

"Make sure it's square!"

"A little to the left!"

Brooks cutting the next piece and Norma going through the burn pile for useful pieces for her garden.

Further on the Insurance Claim

Well, the Mexican Insurance Company has decided in their wisdom that they will not pay to replace the air conditioning unit. They claim that I have no proof that the unit itself was damaged because I did not pick the pieces up off the highway. They say that 1) the unit may have been repairable and 2) I have no real proof that there ever was an air conditioner on the roof.

When I climbed up on the roof after the accident, the air conditioner was laying on top of the smashed solar panels. After being ripped out of the roof by the contact with the overpass, it was rolled halfway down the length of the RV, squashed between the roof and the overpass. It was obviously not repairable and when I threw it to the sidewalk, the two policemen carried it over to the side and told us to leave it there, that someone would get rid of it. Sure enough, by the time I realized that I should have at least taken a photo of it and went back, it was gone. The insurance company says I should have somehow saved it as evidence.

I have asked my insurance agent for help in negotiating with Mexico City but have not heard back from her. I told her that if she was not successful in having them include the A/C unit in the claim, to have them at least pay for the installation of a new unit that I will pay for. Even if the old unit was repaired, they would still have to reinstall it. This seems reasonable to me but I am not the insurance company. We shall see what happens…….

Roof Repairs!

Our insurance claim for the "tunnel" damage to the motorhome roof was approved! We have moved to a small RV Park attached to the repair facility here in El Paso, the roof has been measured and parts ordered. We will be getting a complete new rubber roof! It will take three days to get the parts and five days to make repairs. I will keep you informed.

Up On The Roof

Norma has been noticing that some of the Starchoice channels we used to get are not coming in on the bedroom TV since we got home. We have two dishes on the roof because each has only four outputs and we have four TV's in the house, two of which are PVR's and require two cables each. I had a spare dish and put it up rather than buy an expensive switch to provide the extra outputs. Anyway, one of the dishes must have blown slightly out of line during one of the winter storms.

Today I hauled a TV, receiver, table, cables and tools up onto the flat roof of the TV room and re-aligned the dishes. The bigger dish (the one I installed myself) gave a reading of about 42 which was a little low. I loosened the bolts and gave it a little tweak to give me a reading of 90. This is about as good as it gets and not worth fighting with it for the extra four or five I might be able to squeeze out of it. The other dish seemed to be good and after seeing the condition the mount was in, I decided to leave well enough alone. There was a ton of rust on the mounting bracket and hardware. I will have to buy a can of rust paint and go up with my wire brush one day to do some maintenance on it. In the meantime I am getting a signal of 81 out of it and considering it is the smaller dish, I am happy.

Another day's work done! This photo BTW, shows our Eagle Tree in the background which sadly is still unoccupied.

New Roof Scheduled

When Brooks and his roofer friend CJ were up to build the new porch CJ reported that we needed a new roof. This is not the first time we had been told this as Mike, Norma' s grass cutter is a former roofer and told us the same thing when he went up there to install the roof vents. It is not an emergency but both said we would be lucky to get another year out of it.

Deciding to replace it when we had some control rather than in an emergency, we let Brooks and CJ schedule the job. CJ is bringing his worker up with him and Brooks and I will be here to help out where required. CJ is sure he can do it in two days which is good because he has a regular job to get back to.

CJ is driving up from Shawnigan Lake on Saturday to measure everything. He will order the material at his reduced rate and will arrange for rooftop delivery. They will be up on the weekend of Sept 23 to do the job. We are anxiously watching weather reports as there is rain forecast off and on for the next couple of weeks. So far it looks "OK" with light showers showing for the Saturday morning. We will hope for the best and hopefully the guys will have a "Plan B"

Roof Leak?

The morning after the rain storm two days ago we noticed a ten inch by a half inch wet stain on the living rood ceiling plus a bit of dampness where the ceiling meets the wall. After panicking I took a closer look and discovered it was underneath where we had a roof vent installed earlier in the summer. It has rained many time since then and has not leaked.

The difference was the last rainstorm was accompanied by a northeast wind instead of our normal southeasters. This wind from the northeast forced the rain into the roof vent. I thought at the time that it was a mistake to have one of the vents placed on the front of the house at all and I should have followed my instincts.

I will have the guy who installed them have a look and see what he thinks. We may cover the hole up with plywood and repair it with some spare shingles or we may just leave it, trusting Mother Nature to keep the wind coming from the southeast.

The New Roof!

We snuck into the shop while the roof was being installed and noticed a couple of problems. There were several bubbles along one side that I did not like as well as one spot over the passenger seat where it looked like the rubber had been “bunched” up and folded. We pointed these out to J.D.. the service manager and he agreed with us that it was not acceptable. The workers spent a little more time and fixed these problems. When we got back in and started testing things we found a blown fuse and that got fixed as well.

The replacement solar panel is a 123 watt panel which they wired into my old controller. I noticed the controller was rated for only seven amps and under direct sunlight this new panel is capable of putting out ten amps. This is not a good situation so I went to the Camping World store looking for a new controller. They had a ten amp unit which would work well for $69 but their thirty amp unit was on sale for only $79 so I bought the larger one. If I ever want to add another panel this unit will easily handle it. It comes with a flush mounted panel that I can use to monitor performance and also to cover a small nick I put in the wall during the installation of the original panels last summer. I thought I got away with this as Norma did not notice the damage right away. I should have known better… she discovered it not long after we left for Mexico.

The roof was finished Friday afternoon and they moved the motorhome into their free parking area so we could sleep in it. They wanted us to wait until Saturday afternoon to drive it as the Dicor was still quite tacky and could have been moved by the wind. This was no problem as we had electric and the rooftop batwing TV antenna picked up several local channels.

We got a copy of the bill and it was just under $8000 USA, a little higher than the estimate but reflected a couple of things that we asked them to add. The insurance should pay about $7400 after the deductible and I am happy with this. Because of Camping world’s error in quoting for a solar panel they did not have in stock we ended up with more than double the solar capacity we had before at no charge. This was a nice little bonus.

Easy Fix. It's Only Money!

We spent the night in a Walmart near the repair place and were in front of the service bay when they opened at 8:00 AM. They had a "universal" ladder in stock and it went on fairly easily and looks good. I could have bought a hacksaw and done it myself but they did a good job. There was a tear in the rubber roof where the ladder was ripped out but I carry a roll of Eternabond for just such occasions and the roof was soon waterproof again. The new ladder uses different attachment points on the roof so it screwed into new plywood (or whatever it is). He used the same standoffs for the vertical part so no new holes on the back of the RV. The fridge vent cover was an easy fix as well and I would have gotten out of there fairly cheaply considering BUT... Norma had her own list of things she wanted adjusted so that added a couple of parts and a bit of labour onto the bill.

The total was $541, parts, labour and taxes included. It could have been worse. If anyone is looking for an honest RV repair place in Mesa, AZ, give Worldwide RV 480 832 5600 a call. They did good work.

We got out at 12;00, right when they said we would. We drove to Wikieup. AZ and checked into Dazzo's RV Park, Their Passport America rate is $10 per night with 50 amp power and great WIFI. Norma has some things we wanted to PVR tonight so I quickly set up the StarChoice. I remembered from last time that the path to the bird was precisely parallel  to the side of the RV when it was in a pull through so with only a slight altitude adjustment, I had it. Two minutes, tops.

Last time we were here their office, store and restaurant had burned down so there was nothing here. Everything is now rebuilt and they have chicken takeout which Norma is going to get for herself later. It is 96 outside and 85 inside with the A/C running. We are fairly high here so it will cool down later.

Another Solar Panel

We have one solar panel on the roof of the RV, a 125 watt unit I bought a few years ago from Camping World. It has generally been enough but when I saw a deal from Canadian Tire I had to jump on it. They had a 100 watt Coleman panel on sale for $199, marked down from $525! I called to discover they only had one left so I asked them to hold it for me and I headed downtown to pick it up.

I got it into the car OK but the box was very slippery and awkward and when Norma and I were carrying it from the car to the workshop I tripped and dropped my end as I fell backward. Norma then dropped her end so she could help me. I was fine and way more concerned about the panel! Anyway all was well and there was no damage. I manufactured some mounting brackets from some aluminium stock I had laying around (never throw anything out!), drilled four holes in the frame of the panel and pre-drilled the brackets. I then cut some #10 wire to length from a couple of rolls that my previous employer had kindly donated when I retired.

Tomorrow is the day! I will go up on the roof and run the wires down the fridge vent and into the solar controller. Later in the day Norma's new lawn guys will be here so I will have one of them pass the panel up to me. I have some Dicor self leveling sealant as well as some Butyl rubber to go between the brackets and the roof. It will look very professional.

I made the brackets because the hardware store did not have exactly what I needed and ordering them from eBay would have taken two weeks. So... I made them.

Saved By The Wasps!

I am in the middle of installing a new Shaw Direct (StarChoice) dish on the roof. The antenna has four outputs and we are allowed six receivers so it does not work out. They are happy to sell you a magic box that has four inputs and eight outputs but they cost $135 and require power which would be very difficult to run to the attic where the box would have to mount.

It just happens that I was seriously thinking about replacing the dish that got blown over in Texas on the way home. It was slightly damaged in the fall and I had to epoxy the LNB at the end of the feed horn back together but everything seems to be working fine. I just hesitate to take it with me this winter in case it does fail in which case Shaw will not ship replacement parts out of the country. I decided to add this dish to the rooftop to give me my extra outputs and to order a new $50 dish for the motorhome.

Anyway, I was taking parts and tools up onto the roof when I bumped the gutter and a bunch of wasps came flying out of a gap in the roof line looking for the intruder! I did not get stung but I broke the existing speed record for climbing down a ladder! I have to go and buy a "bomb" so the project is put off until tomorrow when I have to go downtown anyway. I love retirement. It lets me put jobs like this off without a guilty conscience.

A Simple Job, Right?

We are going away for the weekend to visit some old friends (some from the early 70's) in Caycuse, an old logging camp on Lake Cowichan which is now cooperative housing. Norma suddenly realized she would miss a TV awards show this weekend so asked me to tape it for her. Well, we have been having problems with the VCR for some time and I have not been able to get it to play nicely with StarChoice.

I looked on line for a solution and discovered London Drugs had a StarChoice (Shaw Direct) Digital Video Recorder / receiver on sale for $269. This would solve the recording problem and also let me move the old receiver into the motorhome. Two birds with one stone.

I rushed downtown to buy the last receiver they had in stock and started setting it up. I quickly realized that it required two lines from the antenna as it was actually two receivers in one (one for watching and one for the recorder). The problem is, I only had one line run in to that spot and all four outputs from the antenna were used up! I found some cable, climbed up on the roof and unhooked the cable that went to the receiver that serves my office. I used that output, ran the cable down the wall and drilled a hole through the wall. I fished the cable through only to find it to be two feet short. I found another ten foot cable and connected it to the end and into the receiver. Then I found some caulking and sealed up the hole in the wall where the cable came in. It was now 9:00pm and I had started at about 5:00. I got a signal on the TV and called StarChoice to authorize the receiver. That took an hour and by the time everything was cleaned up and working it was almost 11:00. Now I just have to come up with a way to get TV back into my office. I have a spare antenna that I could install on the roof. or I can buy a "splitter" for $100. There is no end to it!

And some people wonder what retired folks do with all our time!

This is where we are going this weekend in the motorhome. Caycuse is actually just across the lake from the pushpin. We have to travel about 20 miles of gravel to get there.

Tropical Storm #2

The weather has not been all that nice in Cancun. It is either cloudy or it is raining. The very odd time the sun peeks through but never for very long. It is also very humid. Maybe not that humid for people who live in the tropics, but very humid for people who live in Canada! It is warm though, days in the low to mid 80's.

We were planning a trip downtown today to a square where there is food and tons of people. As we were getting ready, it started to pour rain! Soon we lost the TV signal due to rain fade. So much for socializing today. The TV signal came back in an hour or so.

It continued raining for a long time and eventually Norma noticed rain coming through the roof around the TV antenna crank. We dried the area and put a pot under it. That is the first time that has happened and it may be the screws loosened on the rough roads on the way down here. When it is dry, I will venture up on the roof for a look. In the meantime, it is not that bad. Life is wet, but Good!

EDIT: Wow! It started up again Saturday night and poured for about four hours. The TV was off for most of this time. There was thunder and lightening overheat and torrential rain. A look out the window showed we were in the middle of a lake.

Savannah To Macon

It was a short drive of 160 miles yesterday. We were going to go as far as Atlanta but after looking at RV parks, we decided on a Passport America park in Macon. We needed an RV park as we needed to dump, refill the water and give the batteries a good soak charge.

We found a pull through and then Norma saw a sign in front of one of the parked RV's advertising cleaning and detailing. Well, there was no putting her off, she went over and asked him about hand waxing the rig. He wanted $10 per foot to wash the roof, sides and hand wax the whole thing. She said that $310 was way too much so he agreed to do it for $200. Still too much in my opinion but she agreed. He was an energetic worker and put in a full four hours with his wife helping, getting the roof and three sides done. The hot sun was on the forth side so he put that off till morning. It is 9:00 AM now and no sign of him yet. I hope he gets here in time to finish before checkout time or we will be stuck here for another night. Maybe there is something to see in downtown Macon. We are a little behind schedule compared to the last time we were through this part of The South but we will not be spending as much time in the places we have already seen.

OK, he just finished and it is only 10:15. Off to Birmingham, AL. Talk to ya'all later.

Well, That Was Easy!

The drainage guy showed up this morning with some flexible drain pipe and sand bags. He exposed the clean-out for the underground pipe to the ocean, dammed the stream with sandbags and used the pipe to divert the stream into the clean-out. The stream down the bank and into the gravel immediately ceased.

We are expecting a week of continuous rain, with the remains of the Japan typhoon hitting us by the weekend, It is going to be very wet! He will be back next week, probably during a lull in the storms to install the basin. That will be a dirty, wet job.

On the other front, our roof guy was here yesterday to look at the suspected roof vent. He could not see any way the rain could blow in but he did add some sealant around it. We will monitor the stain on the ceiling and hope for the best.

This is the hole Norma and I dug in the middle of the night last week. It is about six feet long and a foot and a half wide. It doesn't look like it but 90% of the water flowing into it is being handled and is making it's way into the drain pipe.

This is the sandbag dammed stream and the drain pipe that was installed this morning. Hopefully it will handle the heavy rain scheduled for the next week or so. The concrete slabs you see was my "sort of" successful attempt to add a soothing waterfall sound to the stream. Now I just want the water GONE!

It Rained Sunday Night!

It rained so hard for a short while on Sunday night that the StarChoice signal actually faded out. I only mention this because it has only rained twice in all the months we have been in Mexico over the past two years. I love the sound of rain on the roof of the motorhome but unfortunately it was drowned out by Norma yelling about not being able to watch some awards show or other…

On Edit: It poured off and on all night and the pleasant sound of rain on the roof turned into a racket that kept waking us up. In the morning the power was off in the whole area so we put off the trip to the hotel in San Cristobal for one day so we could catch up on sleep and make sure the electric was back on before we leave. We paid for an additional four days and they gave us a nice discount. We are now paying $200 Pesos a night instead of $240.

Finding Internet in Villahermosa has not been easy but we are managing. Today we are in an El Porton restaurant beside the WalMart that works well.

Les, we will look for the Lady With The Umbrella in San Cristobal and take her tour. Thanks for the reminder.