Nov 15, 2017
Woohoo!! We are officially back in Mexico….
…but first I have to finish telling you about our last day in the US. Monday morning we drove to Lake Havasu City to see a very dear friend of mine.
From Las Vegas we crossed into California, our 5th state.
Talk about a ribbon of highway.
The last US state this trip.
As we drove I got a call from Canon Canada telling me that through the photos we had sent of the blown up battery that they decided that our battery was a fake!!!! So it appears that we have purchased according Canon, fake batteries even though they say Canon on them and look the same. Therefore they are not responsible for the damage and expenses occurred. We just could not deal with this as were we less than a day from crossing into Mexico. How would I know that I was buying a phony battery? We just put it all aside until we reach the Isla. Then we will check with a lawyer or possibly just Kevin/Ruth as he knows all the ins and out outs of things. It took a while to shake that horrid call off but I did.
We were staying at the Lake Havasu State Park where we had a a great view ( site 4 ). Sadly we were not there more than a few hours total.
Great view from the Safeway parking lot.
The view from my friends front door, can you see the lake with the sunset reflection?
Libby and I have been friends from when we started nursing school together back in 1971. Yes that means that we have been friends for over 46 years. We have been through thick and thin together and everything in between. If Libby called me tomorrow and said she needed my help I would be on the first plane out of Mexico. We managed to have a wonderful visit in the short amount of time we had together.
We had to drive about 1388 miles from home to visit Libby 🙂 Good thing she happens to live on our route to Mexico.
Since we left Lake Havasu on Tuesday morning ( yesterday ) we have driven 635 miles. I posted yesterday about the drive to Lake Havasu. We also had a fellow come at 8AM yesterday ( Tuesday ) to fill a rock ship in the windshield just before we left for Amado, AZ. Sorry we missed you R & M. Stay well.
About 7:25AM this morning we were welcomed into Mexico.
I know that I might have confused some of you with my back and forth catch up but we are in real time now. However the internet here at Totonaka RV Park in San Carlos is beyond slow and it has taken me two hours to get this far in the post and I already had my photos edited. Plus the power is out of whack and we have a heater running outside the RV to try and draw the voltage down. So many tricks one needs to know to function in Mexico.
As we left Lake Havasu City Colin decided to stop using our brake device on the Jeep. It just was not functioning as it should and Colin felt safer not using it. He was worried about damaging the tow car brakes. The current plan is to call a Blue Ox Patriot Assist Device tech guy once we get to the Isla and then make a decision if we need to ship it back to the US for repairs or ??? I suspect that this may be an ongoing saga this winter.
I has some sad moments today as I realized that all of my road logs and maps had notations about stopping here and there for the girls, a good spot with grass, etc. We did spend time talking about memories along the way of things that had happened here and there. We did make excellent time today which was mostly due to no pee stops for the girls. Overall it was a lovely travel day and the temps certainly warmed up. We had to turn the A/C on about 11:45AM 😉
I want to give a brief rundown of the roads as there are others who are coming behind us and I know they check my posts to help plan their travels.
For the most part the roads were good, at least to San Carlos. Because of the ongoing construction we ended up doing a great deal of one way single lane driving and alternating from one side of the highway to the other.
The important thing to note is that if you are entering Mexico via Nogales they are now ( for the second year ) doing a very thorough entry search just a few miles after you cross into Mexico. This stop is not far from the very first toll after crossing the border. They asked for the paperwork for the RV and the Jeep, the 10 year RV permit and our passports. First of all we had to wait 10 minutes for an official to come and speak with us once we had arrived. He showed up in a vehicle with lights flashing. After checking all of our papers he came into the RV and verified the VIN which is in a closet in the bedroom. As we went through this last year and got questioned rather strongly on the desktop we placed it so that it was out of sight. We also did the same with most of the wine we had with us. Has we been asked if we had wine I would have said yes and shown what we had in the fridge as well as in a cupboard. Today this fellow simply said ‘wine’ and before Colin would answer, said ‘beer’! Colin said that we don’t drink beer but preferred margaritas, the guy was bored and moved on. He never asked if we had any alcohol or what we had. Next he went to search the Jeep and that was it. In all, it took about 15 minutes.
In a nutshell, there is road construction from the border to Santa Ana but it moves long. From Santa Ana to Hermosillo the road is pretty good with a few rough areas. Hermosillo itself never gets better, just deeper pot holes and more of them. Once you get thru the craters of Hermosillo the road to San Carlos is amazing. You are on new roads 98% of the time even though it is for the most part single lane alternating sides of the road. We were thrown off a bit as we approached the exit to San Carlos, the road is all torn up. However a sign said to head to either CD Obregon or Guaymas. We did not want Guaymas but it eventually lead to the original road to San Carlos, thank goodness.
We got here the earliest ever, again because we no longer had the girls to deal with as we traveled. Very warm here at 85F. Sadly as we are parked hooked up along side the main road, we only have 15 Amps with very high voltage. At the moment we have a heater plugged in outside to deflect some of the voltage so that our inverter does not shut off my computer.
We wanted to break from our usual routine with the girls and chose to head out to Charly’s Rock to view the sunset and have dinner.
An excellent margarita for 50 pesos and the best coconut shrimp since long ago Acapulco.
Sorry but I can’t proof this, it has been close to 4 hours since I started this post and due to slow internet or ??? I just can’t keep going. Time to shower and ago to bed where Colin already is. Tomorrow will be a new adventure.
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One Canon Park, Melville, New York, USA is the regional headquarters for Canon handling products for North Amerca, Cental America, and South America. Headquarters, of course, is in Tokyo, Japan.
That really sucks to be treated like you were scamming them! Canon’s representative is trying to distance the company from this battery incident because such incidents have drawn a lot of publicity. If you remember the representative’s name, title, and physical location, keep the info in your notes along with dates.
Relax and enjoy beautiful Mexico.
Thanks for your support and great advice Dee. I have her info as well as her email address.
Now you finally win Mexico and almost home for the winter. Love Charlie’s Rock the views and the food.
The food was really good, perhaps we will check it out again in April.
When we crossed at Nogales this year we never saw a soul. Had all our paperwork done in San Luis out of Yuma. We just kept driving. Last year no one checked us either. Strange!
You were lucky Kathy as another RVing couple that live in your park were searched thoroughly and paid high fines. Last year they wanted to fine me for having a desktop computer.
Beautiful sunset, great way to start your trip. Glad your border crossing went well. One day we hope to be doing the same trip for the winter.
I know that you will be there sooner than you expect. You run a very successful business and when the time is right you will be able to take more time off.
Welcome back to Mexico! This battery thing is bizarre! I have always liked Canon cameras but this kind of thing would make me switch brands.
I appreciate your support re Canon. Meanwhile we are happy to be back in the country of our second home.
Great that you have arrived safely in Mexico, now for a lot of work I am sure and then ‘live the good life’ – enjoy. Always love your blog. We have another two weeks before our trip south to Texas.
You know us well, yes lots of work but we did talk about just taking it easy at first but I doubt that that will happen. We like to have it all done and organized and then we can truly relax.
I don’t doubt the power issues at the rv park. But just for those that are not rvers in Mexico, the power problem is not with the CFE electric company. Mexico has a fairly new and upgraded electric grid. The problem lies with rv parks, residences, and businesses that use inadequate wiring, steal electricity, and do not report their full intent of usage when building homes, offices, rv parks, etc. Mexico delivers electricity at 127 volts instead of 110 like the U.S.
Thanks for the clarification Chris. When we RVed in Acapulco the voltage was consistently in the 130’s, we have had up to 145 in Guasave years back and as I mentioned in my last post it was spiking to 145 yesterday.
U have ‘crossed over” , cried when u mentioned “girls” suppose I always will. Sorry problems keep popping up! Disappointed Canon would take that stance!!!
Yea!!! Mexico!!! Safe travels!
Thanks for your support Dolores.
Welcome back to Mexico. Can’t wait until we cross in January, we sure do miss it there.
Not sure that Kevin would be much help with your battery issue. Did you buy it separately from from the camera or did it come with the camera? All I could suggest is take a photo of the receipt from whatever store you bought it from and then send that to them.
Ruth
I meant more in terms of suing them or something. We could have died and they don’t appear to care other than getting out of being responsible. I have no idea when we got the battery or where we got it. I have four so it is difficult to remember.