To the frustration of many of our RVing friends, we do not make set plans. People ask us, when will you be in such and such city. The fact is, we never know, even when the date gets close we may decide to stay another day or week where we are or we may decide to take a different route entirely at the last minute. This is the way we travel. We have friends who know down to the day and hour when they will be arriving somewhere and this fine tuning of plans allows them to make reservations, something else we have never done.
This year we will enter the US via the Victoria - Port Angeles ferry and make our way to Yuma, AZ. I have a dental appointment on November 16 in Algodones, Mexico where the part 2 (of three) of my implant - bridge work will be done. I called and confirmed this as I was under the impression they were going to complete all the work in November but no, I have to go back one more time as early as June 1 but I will probably wait until November 2016 and do it on the way south again. The cost will therefore be split over three winters which is a financial bonus. The cost in US dollars will be, $2,450 plus $3,780 plus $1,950. Again this is in US and the total is $8,180 US. I paid the first payment when the Canadian dollar was higher but this years payment will be with 77 cent dollars and will translate to over $5,000 Canadian. Ouch! Still a bargain when compared to what the same work would cost done in Canada or the US.
We will park the motorhome either in the casino parking lot at the Algodones turnoff on I-8 or at the Sleepy Hollow RV Park near the US - MX border crossing. We will be staying at the clinic owned hotel in Algodones during the three or four days of my treatment to avoid waiting at the border every day. We will also buy our Mexico Tourist Visas at the immigration office in Algodones. This will save time and inconvenience later.
After the dental work we will head west on I-8 to Tecate where we will cross into Mexico. This will probably be done early on the morning of November 21st or, if we decide to wait until after the weekend, the 23rd. This will be a late start into Mexico but the plan is to stay on Baja so it will give us lots of time.
As usual, this is all subject to last minute change! Stay tuned.
It's a good thing Igor broke down!
16 minutes ago
Maybe we'll catch you on the way home this season. We won't make it to Ariz. until the first week of December.
ReplyDeleteWe just might. Depends on timing, weather and where we decide to enter the US. It would be fun though!
DeleteI would like traveling that way too. No itinerary, just go with the flow...
ReplyDeleteI find it very relaxing. Wake up to bad weather? Roll over and go back to sleep. See something in the guide book you would like to see? Stay an extra day and see it. Getting tired on your way to the next stop even if it is only 2:00? Find a Walmart and park for the night.
DeleteOnce we bot caught in the I-5 "parking lot" in a Seattle rush hour. I found a wide shoulder, put on my flashers pretending to have engine trouble, found a book, made a pot of coffee and relaxed for a few hours. Relax! Tomorrow's another day and we don't have to be anywhere until May!
We have travelled a lot over Europe, some days many miles, some days not at all. You just have to go with what moves you. We like to have plans that are very fluid. Nothing etched in stone. It leaves us free to do things in the moment, usually our best time.
ReplyDeleteIn the movie, one of our faves, Under The Tuscan Sun it talks about the street traffic lights. Red being just a suggestion.... Travelling should be just like that.
That movie is on my list. Red lights have a similar meaning in Mexico as well unless you are a gringo and then you pay a fine.
DeleteSo what is your path through SoCal Croft?
ReplyDeleteProbably I-5 to Bakersfield and then inland and south at Barstow to Palm Springs. We really hate the LA traffic. Coming back may be a different story though, we may not be able to avoid it and may end up on the coast route.
Deleteyour travel style mimics ours exactly... can't tell you how many times we have even changed where we were heading the morning we were leaving one site for another...
ReplyDeleteIt is the result of years of trial and error. :)
DeleteWe travel most of that way as well. People ask us where we will be at such a time and do get annoyed when we say maybe this time or this time or maybe not at all.
ReplyDeleteThe way we like to travel, stress free.
Sometimes I get the impression that folks think we are avoiding them but this is not the case, it is just how we travel.
DeleteWould love to be free to travel that way. Sadly with our business we have to time our departure and our arrival. The Mexico part is a choice to be on the Isla but we have varied our arrival and departure times. I would love to have a month in each direction to just do what we feel like doing. Maybe next year.
ReplyDeleteThe getting there and coming back is just as much fun as the being there part!
DeleteWe do enjoy our 2 weeks of travel but would love a full month :)
DeleteAn email from Ray:
ReplyDeleteHi Croft. I may be teaching my granny how to suck eggs, however here goes.
We stayed overnight at Potrero County Park the night before we crossed at Tecate. (GPS 32.61278N 116.59472W). Lovely park, very quiet and scenic. It's in Church's Baja book.
I got quite frustrated at the bank trying to pay for our tourist visas which I was given at border control so I proceeded to Ensenada and did it there. Unfortunately my problems worsened and I was at risk of being sent back to Tecate but in the end it was sorted but I had to pay some fines.
We travel exactly the same as you guys with no reservations and just tootle along, especially since retiring.
There were a few places we pulled into off Mex 1 on our own that filled after others saw us in there. Mex 1 is a little hairy but nothing you can't handle. It's narrow in places but actually not that busy. My biggest fear was the lack of places to pull off and the blacktop drop off. I told my wife to take lots of pictures cos I was concentrating on the road. We only went down as far as the Bay of Conception but did enjoy it.
Safe travels.
Sent from my iPad
Ray
Thanks Ray, you can never have enough information. I had been led to believe Tecate was a simple place to cross with Migration being right next door to the bank but your experience seems to challenge that. We have decided to get our visas at Algodones as we will be there for several days getting my dental work done. Thanks for sharing your experience.
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