CV Joints and Update

Danny the mechanic came around late yesterday afternoon and asked for the Honda. He would take it to his shop and start on the CV joint replacement. This morning at about 8:30 he knocked on the door and showed me the old CV joints he had removed. He said they were worn out and had to be replaced. Well, I knew that already and told him to go ahead. He then asked if I wanted him to go to town and find the parts or if I wanted to find them myself. Huh? I have no car even if I wanted to, which I didn't. When I said I wanted him to do it he said it might take a couple of days (today is Saturday) and that he would need some money up front for the parts. He suggested $2000 pesos ($160), which I gave him. He said if the parts were less he would take the difference off the final bill.

I hope I am not getting an uneasy feeling about Danny. Contessa says he is honest and has done a lot of work for them over the years. But then like Chris commented on the car painting post, I am probably paying the "Gringo Price".

UPDATE:

Danny just returned the car all fixed! The parts were 1990 pesos (he gave me the bill), labour was 700 and transportation to town and back, including a cab between auto supply stores was 200. With a 100 peso tip the total was 3000 pesos or $231. I took a test drive and no more click, click, click! I am sorry for feeling a little nervous about Danny, he is a good mechanico! Life is good.

Solar

The large square in the photo represents the area that, if completely covered in concentrated solar collectors, would provide all the power the entire earth uses. The other squares are for Europe and Germany only. Makes you think. Why are we fighting wars over oil and still burning coal?

Photos

Here we are at Tres Amigos. Nice beach, good people, cheap (?) blankets “Only $300 pesos, just for you Norma” and Colin entertaining us. Life is Very Good!

No Painting Deal Here

Danny, the local car repair guy came over to see us shortly after we arrived on Isla. He said the CV joints would be no problem and that he would send his painter over to look at the car. Yesterday the painter arrived, looked at the car and wrote "12,000" on the dusty window and left without talking to me. $12,000 pesos is about $945 and is more than I am prepared to pay to paint a 1989 Honda. I have not heard back from Danny on the CV joints but it is no problem, They have been "clicking" for two years now and can wait until the next stop.

Tres Amigos RV Park, Mazatlan

It was a long drive (for us) yesterday of about 400 KM. Roads were good to excellent most of the way and with a gas and ATM stop, we were on the road about seven hours. The last 45 minutes was used up by the 8.4 miles of dirt / gravel road into the RV park here on Stone Island, or "Isla" as it is called. Our friend Contessa says the road is in the best condition it has been in years and in fact one time when they traversed it, that 8.4 miles took them three hours!

It is a nice little park, right on the beach surrounded with beach restaurants. I promise to take the camera out and post some photos.

We arrived at about 3:00 PM and Contessa and Colin were waiting for us to start Happy Hour with them which lasted much more than an hour!

I hooked onto our neighbor's Starchoice dish last night but it is a small dish and he warned me that the signal was not very good. The signal was a low 38 and we could not get HD channels or some of the Canadian networks on it so this morning I set our larger dish up beside his. I had a signal of 94 (excellent) within seconds so now he can hook onto my dish. Life is Good!

BC Election

There will be an election in British Columbia in May, a few days after we return home. Our party, the New Democrats, are leading in the current polls with 45%. The currently governing "Liberals" follow with 25%, the "Conservatives" with 19% and the Greens with 8%.

All through our working lives we helped the NDP during elections with both of us working full time on their campaigns for over twenty years, Norma as a paid campaign manager and I as a volunteer, usually the Official Agent, or "Money Man". We are out of it now except to vote every time but it is nice to see the younger workers doing so well at keeping our progressive party at the top of the polls.

Los Mochis

We are safe and sound behind the Pemex five or six kilometers south of Los Moches. There is a huge fenced, gated lot with a security guard. We drove in, parked away from the trucks and gave the guard a 50 peso tip to watch over us. It was a six or seven hour drive today and we are settled down watching recorded programs on the inverter powered DVR.

Banda Ancha works great here. Life is good!

Telcel Day

Yesterday we headed into Guaymas to renew our Banda Ancha Internet account and to buy some time for our pay as you go phone. The phone part went well. We had to buy a new SIM card as it had been more than three months since we had used the phone and the account had expired. It was $140 pesos for the SIM and $100 for more time. We now have a new number and are ready to go.

My old Banda Ancha stick was incompatible with my Cradlepoint WIFI device and the larger laptop has Virgin Broadband installed on it which means the Banda Ancha stick conflicts with the Virgin program and prevents me from using Banda Ancha on that computer. I am sure I could solve the problem by uninstalling the Virgin program while we are in Mexico and then reinstalling it when we go back to the USA. The Banda Ancha works fine on the ASUS Netbook and that is what I have been using it on.

Telcel now has a new Banda Ancha device and I thought (hoped) that new device would work in the Cradlepoint. It happens there is a sale on right now that offers the new device and 1GB of data for $199 pesos ($249 after taxes). This is not much more than a new SIM for the old device so I thought, "what the heck", I would try it.

I bought the device, added another 3GB of data to the account and took it home. Well, it did not work in the Cradlepoint! I am no further ahead but the experiment cost me less than ten dollars so it was not that bad. I now have a backup Internet stick stick.

Today we are heading out for Los Moches and the gated Pemex parking lot for the night. Google Maps says it is a 4 1/2 hour drive.

Springs, Shocks or ?

Maybe someone a little more mechanically inclined could help here. I am looking for a way to help out the suspension on our 2005 Ford E450 V-10 motorhome chassis.

Like most motorhomes, we constantly run overweight. I have been thinking about the best way to beef up the suspension and have been advised to install everything from heavier shocks to adding a leaf to the springs to installing air bags. Every suggestion seems to make sense to me when it is made but I do not want to do all of the above if I don't have to.

A better ride with less swaying when being passed by a bus and a little smoother ride over bumps would be my goal(s).

Any opinions would be appreciated.

One Day More

I have stolen my Blogging friend Bill's Blog name for my title today. Thanks Bill. Bill is a former Vietnam War protester and activist still fighting the good fight for social change from his Nebraska farm. He is worth a read!

We have added one more day to our stay here in San Carlos. Norma is not feeling up to par so we did not get into Guaymas yesterday to renew or replace our Telcel Banda Ancha Internet device. That will have to wait until Monday. Our neighbors here in the park went yesterday and found they had a sale on where you get a new device and a month of time for $250 pesos or about $19 CAN. This is a terrific deal because the device is normally $400 pesos and a months time is $500 pesos. I have been wanting to try a new device because my old one is not compatible with my Cradlepoint WIFI unit. You plug your Internet stick into this device and it gives you a 50 foot radius WIFI zone around the RV. This is great for using multiple devices and sharing your connection.

Our Blogging friend Contessa has been trying to talk us into trying out their RV park on Stone Island off Mazatlan so this year we will give it a try for a week. It is not really an island but is reached by way of a long dirt road from the airport. The road has been graded for the arrival of winter visitors and according to Contessa, is in the best shape it has ever been in. There are beach restaurants on the island and downtown Mazatlan is only a seven peso panga (boat) ride away. It will be fun.

There is also a painter on the island who is going to look at the Honda. It desperately needs a small rust repair and a full paint job. It is an old car so we do not want to spend a fortune on it but labor is cheap here in Mexico so we just might be able to strike up a deal. Our neighbors here in the park had their car painted in Mexico a couple of years ago for $3000 pesos. We expect prices have gone up a little from then but this may be a guide as to what we can expect. There is also a mechanic who will replace the CV joints which are clicking loudly every time I turn a corner. The A/C repair we had done in Parker, AZ is still holding so after the paint job and CV joints, the old 89 Honda will be as good as new,

Speaking of good as new, the fridge door repair is holding as well. Fingers crossed!