Fixin' Friday!

(Third blog post of the day! If you missed the previous two, you might want to read them first.)

Yesterday was "fix it" day!

Once again, we didn't get up until almost 8:00am. This is unprecedented for us. We're almost always up between 6:30am and 7:00am. I know, we had a one hour time change that we're maybe still getting used to. And, it was another chilly night.

I got up and put the furnace on, but crawled back into bed for another 15 minutes while things warmed up a little.

New Year's Day. Parque Ecologico El Tecuan.

We slept in this morning. Possibly something to do with the one hour time change, but more likely to do with the fact that it was a little chilly and we really didn't want to get out of bed!

We figured that we would make a quick hot drink and get on the road right away, letting the engine warm up the interior. So we got things ready and fired up the motor. When it was a little warmed up, I switched on the heater fan.

Nothing.

December Expenses

Definitely a more expensive month than we had planned. We had a string of bad luck with things going wrong, and then Ruth's tooth problems towards the end of the month to top it all off!

I know...many people will think that $1,860 CDN is not a bad month considering where we were and what we did. But still, we're about $500 higher than we should have been.

Let's take a look at the breakdown...

Back in the mountains!

What a day we had! We drove the old Espinazo del Diablo (Devil's Backbone) highway that runs from Mazatlan to Durango. There is a new toll highway that opened a year ago, but it's very expensive and apparently the road surface isn't in very good condition, so we decided to take the old twisty windy free road instead.

And we're glad that we did...what fantastic scenery!

Fridge back on line, but dental work not finished yet...

First, the good news. Our fridge is cooling once again!

What a job it was to figure out the problem though. It was driving me crazy because it didn't make any sense. I would actually wake up at night thinking about it because I felt like I was missing something. It took a lot of work today, but eventually I fixed the problem.

Bad refrigerator. But a good dentist!

Yes, we have a bad refrigerator. But it is certainly more important to have a good dentist!

The gas burner on the fridge has been giving us problems for the past week. It was getting worse, and yesterday I took it apart yet again when it got to the point that it wouldn't effectively keep the contents cold.

Off to the dentist...

We were due for a lazy day yesterday, so that's exactly what we had.

Got up fairly early, around 6:30am and Ruth started by baking some chocolate chip cookies while I was writing the blog post. Nothing like the smell of fresh baked goodies first thing in the morning!

Into Mazatlan...yet again!

We woke up yesterday morning to a bad inverter and a bad power supply for Ruth's little laptop. So that's the reason yesterday's blog post was late! You can read it here if you missed it.

So the number one project yesterday morning was to get our power and our laptop working again...

I guess we're here for a few more days!

We had planned on being here at Isla de la Piedra for three nights. That turned into four, and now it's going to be a full week!

Ruth has a molar that's been bothering her and getting worse. Yes, it's the same tooth that we tried to have fixed in Toluca, although our dentist friend there had said the tooth was cracked and a temporary repair might or might not work. Turns out that it didn't work, so it was off to the dentist yesterday!

Great views of Mazatlan, and a dead inverter!

Christmas day yesterday, and what did we do? We went for a hike! And of course we had a delicious Christmas dinner get together with a few of the folks at the RV park here.

Chris and Juan came over to where we're parked at around 10:00am, and we walked over to the panga (water taxi) to get over to the other side of the port.

Christmas on the Road

Merry Christmas!

Just a little different post today as we take a look back at the places we've spent Christmas day since leaving Ottawa in the fall of 2007.

Arrived at Isla de la Piedra, Mazatlan

We've been to Mazatlan a couple of times before, and we've been to Isla de la Piedra once before, but without the motorhome. This time, we're staying at Isla de la Piedra with the motorhome, but we have no interest in going into the city of Mazatlan itself.

A bit of an interesting drive to get here, and not one that we'll ever make again!

Yesterday was a perfect example.

Yesterday was a perfect example of how we travel with the motorhome. We like to depart early, travel no more than 200 kms (120 miles) in a day, and be parked up at our overnight spot before 2:00pm.

And that's pretty much exactly what happened.

Bugs and beach

That's about how our day went yesterday. The sand fleas and/or noseeums are so bad, that you can't really sit outside your RV and enjoy the fresh air. And if you sit inside, you had better close up all the windows because those little buggers will come right through your screens and attack you.

And they're so tiny that you won't even see it coming.

A short distance...but a long drive!

When you're driving an RV in Mexico, you have to be patient. You have to realize that you won't get anywhere fast. Even on the toll highways, it makes sense to take your time. And when you're taking secondary roads, you have no choice but to take your time!

Yesterday, we did 95 kms (59 miles) and driving non-stop it took us almost two and a half hours.