Keys

Tuesday January 1...10:15pm

Whiskey let us sleep in a bit this morning...didn't get up until almost 8:00am. We had drinks last night with Jack and Margaret from New Mexico. They're the people with the satellite internet, and they had said we could log into their network to check emails and stuff at 9:00am this morning, so that was very nice of them. We've found that RV'ers are so very friendly...everyone willing to help and share.


After we checked the internet, we had pretty much packed up and were ready to head a bit further south. Our destination wasn't far...just another beach about 20 km's south of where we were. El Requeson beach, I think it's called. But before we left, we had to dump the holding tanks.

Steve pulled their motorhome up to the entrance to the dump station. I had previously checked around the pull-through when taking Whiskey for a walk the day before, so I was familiar with the dump station already. It's always wise to walk through the area first, so that you're familiar with how far away from the side of the road the actual sewer grate is, see if it's actually a useable dump site, check the roadway in and make sure you can turn around...that kind of stuff. Also, there was another pull up beside a building that had a sign saying it was a dump station as well, but it looked more like just a hole in the ground. Some of the dump sites that we've used here really are just a hole in the ground...but this first one in the pull through was an actual proper sloping concrete pad so that any spillage properly goes down the drain. Actually one of the better ones, so we decided to wait for Steve to finish doing theirs and then we'd use it for Sherman.

Soon Steve had finished up, and we pulled into the site. While I was getting the motorhome guided up beside the drain hole, Ruth had gone to get a bucket of fresh water to rinse through the toilet system after we had drained the tank. I put Sherman in park, and shut him off. Hopped out the driver's door, and was making my way back to unlock the lower compartment door where the sewage hoses and drain fittings were located. As I was pulling the keys out of my pocket, just before getting to the door which was located right beside the drain...the keys slipped out of my hand. Ruth had come around the back of the motorhome and was watching this happen. The keys slipped out of my hand...and fell directly onto the concrete pad. And because it was a properly sloping pad, the keys proceeded to slide right down the sewage grate...and into whatever may be down that hole. None of which can be nice.

All of this of course happened in a split second...but it seemed like it was in slow motion. Watching the keys slide down the concrete and into that hole, Ruth and I looked at each other and said "Oh....my....God!".

This incredulous look of "how could that have just happened...?" came across both our faces.

Ruth ran down to get Steve who was still slowly driving away. At the time, she thought the ignition key had been on that ring. I knew it wasn't THAT bad, because I had long ago separated the ignition key and the drivers door key and had put them both on a different ring so that we could effectively never be locked out of the vehicle. I went in and got a coat hanger in a desperate attempt to try and fish the keys out of the muck. For those of you who have never emptied an RV at a dump station, it doesn't take much to envision that this would not be a pleasant thing to have to do. Steve showed up with a hook that's used for his awning...it was a little longer than the stretched out coat hanger, but I quickly learned that it was all a wasted effort. Those keys were gone for good.

So on that key ring was the key for all the bottom compartments. That same key also locks the side door handle lock. Also gone was the deadbolt key for the side door. And the key for both bicycle locks which were securing the bikes to the bike rack. And the key for the front hood lock.

I was all set to break the lock for the holding tank door. It was going to have to be emptied anyhow, and would have been an easy fix later on. Steve suggested we try other motorhomes at the beach to see if there were any older units that might have a similar key. On the off chance, we tried Steve's key for his holding compartments, and couldn't believe that it fit perfectly. This was a huge relief, but makes us now wonder about the security of locking things down there when obviously the locks and keys for those compartments are very generic.

So the loss of the keys was not a disaster, and already we are laughing about the whole situation. Still, we'll have to get a new deadbolt for the side door. We think we have spares for the bike locks, so that's not really an issue. In the meantime, we have to lock things up on the inside, and use the drivers door to lock and unlock from the outside. The key for the front hood was a kind of an oddball, so not sure what we'll do for that. Fortunately, there's no real need to have to get into that area for anything.

But the picture of those keys sliding down that drain hole will not leave my mind for quite a while!

So we're parked at El Requeson beach...it's a windy night, and we think we're going to get up early and go to the town of Loreto. There hasn't been anybody around to collect the $6 they wanted for camping here, so perhaps we'll get a free night tonight.

El Requeson Beach

View of a neat looking mountain from El Requeson beach

Kevin with the skeleton of a stingray

Total Nights Sleeping in the RV... 80...

January Fuel $ 0

January Grocery $ 0

January Overnight Costs $0