February 29th.. Time to Go Home

It's been a great three months being here in La Penita. We've enjoyed the company of old friends and meeting and making new ones.  Although not being our first time in the La Penita area, we've learned more about the area including things to see and places to go. But now its time to head back home to Texas where we'll be counting down the days until we head south again next winter season.

Last night we went out to a restaurant anniversary party where the owners had a Mariachi band, Native Dancers and Dancing Horses. A fun time before we leave.

Today we'll spend our time getting everything ready to leave and pull out of  Heaven's Gate park about 4:00pm.  At that time we'll drive to a large Pemex station just on the edge of town where we'll spend the night and leave early Thursday morning.  This is a popular departure spot where RV'ers can get an early morning start having readied their motorhomes for the trip the night before.

Because we can't travel very fast with the SunSeeker especially in the mountains, chances are we'll be traveling by ourselves.  Our first night will be at the San Jose del Tajo RVpark outside of Guadalajara. We've been there several times before.  Our second night will be outside of San Luis Potosi at the Hotel Quinta San Jorge where they have RV parking. This will be our first time there.  The third night will be at the Las Palmas Inn in Matehuala where they have a campground behind the hotel. We've been there several times.  The fourth day should get us to the border where we'll cross just north of Laredo at the Columbia bridge. We'll spend that night at the Casa Blanca Texas State Park in Laredo.

We may spend an extra night at Casa Blanca State Park as it has a nice lake where the pups can have a swim and we can relax for a day. From there its a couple of days drive to Livingston.

We may not have internet connection until crossing the border but will post when I can.

Here's a few pictures I've taken the last few days.

  Building typical Arched roof

 Street Veggy Truck

 Weekly Market

 Dorado Fish Now in our Freezer

 Shrimp for Sale on Beach

 Pelican looking for handout

 Monse our favorite waitress

Our friend Hector



Dancing Horses

Mariachi Band

Knife Dance

February 16th

Not much has been happening the last week and thus the reason for no updates to the blog.  The weather hasn't really improved that much with a couple of days of cloudy skies mixed with days of drizzle.  The forcast calls for the same for the rest of the week. I hope we get some sunny days soon.

Last night a bit of a rain and wind storm blew up about midnight when we were awakened by our awning being blown up and down.  Diane and I had to go out in the rain and get the awning rolled up to prevent it being torn off the motorhome.  We came in soaking wet but it was something that had to be done.

We did go to the weekly market here in La Penita today looking to buy last minute things before we have to head home. It's only two more weeks before that happens although we're talking about next year's trip to Mexico already.

February 12th

Woke up to more rain this morning.. this makes five straight days of rain. Hopefully it will clear up this afternoon when we go to a fundraiser for the kindergarten aide program here in La Penita.

February 11th

Walked over to get the Jeep this morning. It was parked outside the garage so I knew it was finished.
The mechanic showed me the old radiator reservoir that had the crack in it and then lifted the hood of the Jeep to show me the new one. A new fan clutch was also installed.

Total cost parts and labor..3,685 pesos. About $288.00 U.S.

5:00pm
The on-again, off-again rain we've had for the last three days continued today with a little more intensity so that it had us stuck inside either surfing the net or reading.  Hopefully the weather will get better soon. At least it's a warm rain and not cold.

February 10th

I took the Jeep over to the mechanic this morning. Hector our friend met me there to translate. He's also a mechanic back in the U.S.
It turns out the Jeep has several problems. The radiator has a leak plus there's a leak in the heater/air conditioning unit and the mechanic found that the fan clutch is slipping which can cause over heating.

The plan is to have the radiator taken out to see if it can be repaired and if not, then replaced. As the fan clutch is easy to get to when the radiator is out, have that replaced too.  The heater/airconditioning leak can wait for now. It only leaks if you have the heater turned on.

I'm supposed to return to the garage this afternoon to learn the verdict on the radiator and whether or not it needs to be replaced.

3:00 pm
Walked over to the garage and was told that the new fan clutch was installed and the coolant leak was from a crack in the small reservoir tank at the base of the radiator. A new reservoir tank had to be ordered and was coming from Puerto Vallarta. It should be here by about 5:00pm and the Jeep ready to go about 5:30.  but in case the part doesn't show up until later, I think I'll wait until tomorrow morning to pick up the car.

For three days now we've had rain here in La Penita and cloudy much of the day. Not a lot but still rain.


Garage in La Penita (Mechanic and family live above garage)

Jeep in the garage getting radiator fixed

February 7th

The Jeep has started to leak coolant lately and although looking, I'm not sure where it's coming from. Maybe a hose or water pump or ??  So today I decided to have it checked out by a local mechanic.  He crawled under the Jeep and found that the radiator was the problem.  Unfortunately his English was about the same level as my Spanish and although I had some questions, like.. how bad is the leak, can you fix/replace the radiator, how long would it take and how much to do whatever is needed, I realized I needed someone who spoke both Spanish and English to help me.

So I thought of Hector, the nice fellow who helped us a couple of months ago when the Jeep quit because of a starter problem. I knew where Hector worked as a waiter but was told he wasn't working today. Hopefully he'll be there tomorrow and can let me know when he'd be able to help me.  Regardless of what the problem is, I know its going to be a lot cheaper to have the work done here compared to what it would cost in Livingston.

                If the Jeep quits

February 6th

Heavy waves left a bit of trash on the beach last night so this morning I got out a rake and trash can and did a little clean up.  Its one of those things that needs to be taken care of. Of course it could be all back tomorrow.

We walked over to town for a late lunch as I had a dentist appointment to get my teeth cleaned at 5:00 pm.  I think this the latest I've ever had a dentist appointment. 

Dr. Abraham http://www.clinicabrahams.com.mx/  is a young dentist who has just recently set up his practice in La Penita. His office is clean and professional looking and his two exam rooms appear to have everything needed in the way of dental equipment.  The doctor used a water pic type of equipment to clean my teeth and the cleaning and exam was completed in about half an hour.  The cost: just 400 pesos, about $31.50 U.S. .. not a bad price.

The sunset tonight was another one of those super ones that are common down here.

February 4th

Today I saw one of those "only in Mexico" things.  A welder  had some work to do on the gate across the street from us.  His electric welder needed to connect to a 220 volt electrical plug however none was available.  So his solution was to take the plug off the welder cable and bend a little "U" in the end of the two wires.  He then used a long pole to reach up and hook the two wires from the welder to the street's electrical cables.  After he was finished his work, he reached up with the pole and lifted his welder's wires off the street's electrical cables. 

Electric Welder Hooked to Streets Electrical Cables

Welder Wires Hooked on Street Electrical Cables

February 1st

The first of each month is when the pups get their monthly flea&tick medication. It's a topical med in liquid form that is put between their shoulders.  It doesn't hurt in any way so they don't mind it. What they do mind is having to stay out of the water two days prior to application and two days following.

Leo got an unexpected treat today. He has always carried around an old pillow. Kind of like the security blanket Linus has in the Peanuts cartoon.  However after awhile the pillow gets holes in it and the stuffing falls out. His latest one had as much duct tape holding it together than material.  This morning there was a young man walking down our street selling pillows. He sold them in pairs but seeing how badly Leo needed his replaced I bought a couple.  After giving him his new one, the duct taped old one had a one way trip to the trash can.

When ever we drive to Guayabitos we pass a BBQ Rib place on the highway and so today we decided to stop and buy dinner. We got orders to go and because we hadn't been there before, I made the mistake of asking for two orders. When we opened the bags of food when we got home we found two platters of ribs, a big bag of French Fries, two large salads, big bag of Torta chips with two ziplock size bags of salsa and two ziplock size bags of coleslaw.  We barely got through one of the platters of ribs and French Fries.  Guess whats for supper tomorrow.
                            
                                     Roadside BBQ Ribs