5C's Que Pasa

I previously mention that the generator was complete, except for the radiator cap.  The muffler has been repositioned.  So the being things are done but there were several some small things still remaining and we got those completed this last Tuesday and Wednesday.

Replacing the broken skylight over the bathroom. A very kind RVer brought it down for us mid February.

There was a problem with one of our ceiling lights. All it needed was the be taken apart and to have the corroded contacts cleaned.

Above my head when we are driving is a cupboard that I call my book cupboard.  A few years ago we noticed that it was sagging and Erik fortified it.  The current problem is a very unpleasant noise.  Colin traced it down to the end of a screw hitting the window.  But how to fix it.

First I had to empty the contents. Way way too many books. So I looked at them all and chose the ones that I was least interested in reading. I gave 36 of them away.  I still have over 30 books up there.

How empty and stripped cupboard.  Erik located the screw, cut it off and added four others to reinforce the area.

So much stuff up there behind those panels.

Next up was our non electric fan vent.

I knew this side was splitting.

But the other side was worse.  The plastic was so brittle that it likely would not have made it back to the US where we planned to get a new one.  Erik just happened to have the part.  Wonderful.

For many many years I have been putting my feet up against the dash in front of me and it has started to wear very badly. It did not look nice.  Colin had purchased the right color material to create a cover but had no idea how to proceed.  The amazing Erik came up with an easy solution that involved two anchor straps, placing the vents within the fabric and adding a few buttons to hold it into place.  The left side was simply tucked between the two sections of the dash.

Isn’t that simply brilliant?

Some roof caulking and around the newly painted mirrors.

I even got my broken shoe drawer glide fixed.

Putting in our new slide curtains. Two of the four has fallen apart so we had all four redone but with a snap on system.

The old ones used to roll in with the slide but this looks just fine.

I did not catch all the little repairs done but we are so happy that this is all over with.  Well for this season at least.  It started with our roof AC units being replaced which you can read about here.  Certainly lots of repairs this year.  Hopefully we will get a break next season.

This past summer Colin noticed that the edges of the roof and the cap were peeling.

Sort of like a sunburn.  Gosh those solar panels look dusty.

This is the roof cap.  The fellows did an excellent prep job.

Except for when they dropped the sander onto the bathroom skylight.  You can read about that by clicking here.

They sanded, they filled, sanded again and then washed everything just before painting.

They were very detailed in the masking.

As well as protecting the RV next to us.

They took a piece of vent in so they could match the two colors they needed to paint. The colors were an exact match and the paint quality was excellent.

They did two coats of paint and two coats of clear.

We had some paint bubble around the mirrors and Colin had those areas sanded and painted.

Using a hair blower, attached to stick so they don’t step on the paint, to dry the cap area.  It was late in the afternoon and the dew was starting to fall.

Very meticulous.

I’m sure you know that it wasn’t me on that roof taking this photo.  I believe that this is the clear going on.

We were impressed with their masking.

After the four coats were dry and the paper was removed you could not tell what areas had been newly painted.  It blended in that well.

This all happened around January 24 – 25th but I had so many in the moment things to post about first 🙄   We plan to use them again next season to do a few other touch ups around the windows.

..about an e-reader 😉   After much thought and the reading of all your many many comments ( thank you again ) as well as surveying the RVers here at Tres Amigos RV Park, I made a decision.

When we were in Italy, France and Barcelona for four weeks last spring, Colin complained about having nothing to do while I was on the laptop writing the blog.  It certainly wasn’t fair of me to take over the computer for 3 – 5 hours per day.  So because all of your ideas and suggestions I came up with a solution.  Instead of carting 4 -5 books with me I would take an iPad with me.  Still less weight than the books.  We will travel with both our MacBook Air and and the new iPad.  So if I am on the laptop doing a blog post, then he will have the iPad to use for internet and emails.  If I choose to read a book on the iPad, Colin will have the use of the laptop, brilliant idea if I say so myself 💡  That way we both have access to the internet as needed and I do not need to take any books with me.  However I likely will continue to read a real book both at home and here in Mexico but then that may just change 😎

Our next trip starts on May 14th and we will be gone for 6 weeks, so time was of the essence.  The wonderful people bringing down the new RV skylight will also be bringing me an iPad.  I had to make a quick decision as to what I was going to do and the iPad seemed to be the perfect solution.  If I had unlimited funds, I would have purchased a Kindle as well as the iPad.

So this is what I ended up ordering.  I could have purchased a 5th generation for $40.00 less but this will keep us both online for a very long time whether reading or just browsing the internet.

So between my computer guru ( who just may be flying in for  a visit in a month ) and others here on the Isla, I will have this up and running in a few weeks.  Anticipated delivery by very special RVers, is February 15th.  That gives me time to figure out how to use this as an e-reader before we head north.  Now I just have to figure out the best place to find books online and how to download them, etc.

I really could not have made this decision without you, my loyal blog readers.  You truly are the best.  Your comments and especially your advice are always welcome.

It appears that we missed a very special visit yesterday.  I am not certain, but I don’t believe that they are my blog readers but they are of George, who writes Our Awesome Travels.  When he found out they were coming to Mazatlan, George suggested that they come say hello to us.  Yesterday was that day but we had just left on a 3.4 mile walk when they arrived, so we missed them.  Johanna and Rolf Heimlicher from Alberta wanted to show George that they had made an attempt to meet us.

They took a few photos.

George, please send them this blog post.  We are happy to meet up with them in Mazatlan if they so chose.  Sorry we missed meeting up with you, Johanna and Rolf.  Perhaps another year.  Thanks for making the effort.

Today passed in a blur, another long 3.4 mile walk, a tour of the Isla with Laura and Alan, an RV repair project for Colin.  As for me, I only got snippets of things started.  I am beginning to plan our spring vacation and I have to say it is all Greek to me.  Yes, that is a clue.

We knew that the painters would be late ( as usual ) so went for our morning walk.  So glad that we had the camera with us.

We and this bunch of the horses were the only things we saw on the beach this morning.  That is a  foal on the right.

For the first time ever in all the years we have seen this fellow he stopped the wagon and the horses.  He was asking Colin where our dogs where.  I guess that he has been wondering the past year but today the conditions were right for him to stop.   Very sweet of him.  He wanted to know if we were going to get more.

These two took advantage of the stop to chow down.

And off they went.  Yes they are thin.

We did just over three miles round trip and on the way back we kept finding peanuts and twigs along the beach.  All off the horse cart.  I can only assume that he gets some of his feed from the peanut farm here on the Isla.

So the painters eventually did arrive.  We were shut out of the RV for a bit as they did their thing as the door was taped off.  Actually today it was only the main fellow and his very young son who came.  I think today was a school holiday as we saw many young ones on the beach.  Colin gave the kid a guitar to play with for a bit which kept him happily occupied.  They will be back yet again tomorrow 🙄

In answer to a comment left on my last post, yes we we do need our generator heading North.  The first night we are dry camping ( and it is so very hot that we need to run the generator to run the AC to cool us off ) and the second night even thought we are in an RV park here in Mexico we do not plug in due to faulty electricity.  Then once we cross into the US we do not stay in an RV park until Lake Havasu.  Plus it will be at least 70% cheaper to get the generator radiator rebuilt here in Mazatlan.  North of the border parts will have to ordered and that will take weeks if not longer and so on.

There was some great news today.  A couple have been found who are ‘honored’ to bring down our skylight.  They actually had to have someone fly down with a part they needed years ago so they get it.  So I ordered the part and it will get to them in about a week with enough time to arrive before they head South out of California 😀

It almost looked like this was going to be the best shot of the sunset.

But it turned out to be a very special end to the day.

So how was my day?  Well I am over 12,000 steps, that should tell you something 😯

The best part of the last 24 hours is that for our very late dinner last night, we cut and ate our first meal of kale.  It was very good.

We had a good beach walk early this morning just beating the incoming tide.  We met some folks from RV2 who had seen some newly hatched tiny turtles cross over the sand towards the water.  They did not touch them but made sure than none of the birds in the area got the babies before they reached the water.  Sadly when we reached that area we did not see any turtles but we still had a good walk.

The painters were two hours late this morning.  They arrived while I was out collecting money from others who were signing up for the fireworks cruise.  We still have four open spots.  While I was gone Colin cleaned the inside of the RV.  He is so very special.  He was outside playing his guitar and I was inside here on the computer ( where I spend way too much time ) when I heard a thump.  I had a feeling and sure enough as I raced to the bathroom I could see that the skylight over the shower area was broken.

Apparently one of the guys had dropped his sander on top of our skylight and broke through the top layer.

My heart sank.  Of course you can’t get these in Mexico.  I spent three hours on line and on the phone trying to find something in stock in Tuscon..  We have friends there for another day before heading here but no one had anything in stock.  I did try to call your Telus number A & L but it shut down after three rings.  No worries as we can’t get the part we need.  I did find the part being  sold in Missouri, however shipping that skylight here will cost more that the cost of the part.  Regardless that skylight does need to be replaced.  Yes the painters will have to pay for it but I do feel badly as that will be all of their profit.

Eric was at RV2 today and did come to check out the damage.  Hard to tell by the photo but he was able to duck tape the pieces together for now.

Eric verified that the part I had found online was the correct one.  He told us that he had taken our muffler in this morning and that there were no mufflers like this in Mexico.  So hopefully the shop will be able to repair the one we have.

The sun still set.

We can only hope that tomorrow will be a better day.

Colin managed to drive out and pick up our clean laundry and drop off the soiled laundry.  Not sure how we will we have time to get into the mercardo in Mazatlan this week to replenish our veggies and fish.  The painters say they will be here by 10AM tomorrow 🙄   We shall just have to see what the day brings.