The drive to Nogales is a 7 hour drive so we would be crossing the US border about 3 PM. The MX roads were not much better and of course we still had those dam Tolls to pay. In MX terms, I'm sure their roads are considered as good but we Canadians don't expect to see potholes or broken pavement on our highways, hence the reason we complain.
One thing I forgot to mention was the vast acreages of corn grown in the area from Mazatlan to San Carlos. Also, the cities along the way have all the infastruction in place for handling the vast corn harvest. Sugar cane is another crop that is grown here but it seems like it is still harvested by hand as we did not see any combines in the fields.
Another point of interest is about vehicle insurance. When you enter MX you must have Mexican Insurance and you can not get your travel documents without it. Therefore your Cdn insurance ceases and in our case, 24 hours before we cross into MX we advise our insurance company to cease our insurance. By the same token, we normally advise our insurance company, by email, 24 hours before we return to the US to activate our insurance and to confirm by email, that we do now have valid Insurance. However, it slipped our minds until we were 2 hours from the border so now we were in panic mode as we had no way to phone back to Medicine Hat.
As we drove into a small town I notice a sign on a hotel that read , Free WiFi so I thought they might let me use the Wifi to contact my insurance company. However, where do you park a 40 ft MH with a car in tow in a small town. Luckily, the next Hotel we seen had enough room to get off the road, even though it was not a parking area. I ask the clerk for their Free Wifi and she graciously accepted by handing me the user name and password. I then used my iPad to send a msg to our insurance company with the hope that they would answer back while we were having lunch. Then Carroll suggested that we try to phone our insurance an sure enough we got thru and the agent ask me the preverbal question as she reviewed our policy and advised me that I would be insured within 10 minutes. What a relief because we can not enter the US without insurance.
Now we head for the border but we must stop to turn in our Temporary Import permits ( good for 6 Months ) which we got before entering MX. This tells the MX gov't that we have not left our vehicles in MX and if you do not turn them in, you will have a very hard time returning to MX. When I pulled up to the kiosk the only gate that was open said "Autos Only" so I stopped. Finally a security guard waved me thru but I debated because I did not think there was enough room. He assured be there was but he doesn't own the MH. I barely crept into the slot with meare inches to spare. I ask why he could not open the RV gate and he said the gov't did not have the money to hire more people. Anyway we got "that " paper work done quite quickly as the clerk was very efficient . Then we had to go to another office to turn in our "Visitors Visas" so they know that we have left MX. We also checked on the 400.00 deposit we had to pay for the car. Since we paid by Visa it will be credited back to our account. This ensures that we also bring the car back. I'm not sure why it can't be done when they check the MH but I assume it is a make work project.
Now for the US border. We have never crossed from MX to the US thru this border so we are not sure which line to enter. I did however, cross from the US into MX at Nogales and I do know that MHs have to use the Truck line as the Auto line has a height restriction. When we were about to enter the US border gates my choice was Truck or Auto. I chose Truck. If you own an RV ; Never never never enter the truck line at the US border. You immediately become " Americans Most Wanted ". This small mistake took 3 hours and 6 different Custom agents to clear us of this most " hernias " crime. However, the Custom Officers where very polite and I might add very busy with truck traffic. We did compound our own problem because we forgot to dispose of our meat and vegetable products before leaving MX.
Once we were cleared to enter the US "legally" we went to a Casino to park overnight as we intended to go to an RV park in Green Valley tomorrow. By the time we reached the casino I was way overdo for a drink!!!It was quite a day. cheers
Saturday, 14 February 2015
Friday, 13 February 2015
Mazatlan to San Carlos 8 Feb 2015
From Mazatlan to San Carlos is an 11 hour trip, mostly on Toll roads and believe me the tolls are extremely high. Even though most of the roads are 4 lanes they are really rough, meaning potholes and broken pavement. With the money they collected from me I would think they would improve the roads. Many Mexicans don't make enough wages to pay taxes so they have to collect the money somehow, so tolls are the answer.
We made it to the San Carlos area around 5 PM but it has been years since we traveled this route so we were looking for a sign that says "San Carlos ". The city/town of Guaymus and San Carlos are close together but you would think that there would be a sign for both town. Wrong; apparently they only had enough money for one sign and they chose to name it Guamus not San Carlos so we drove right by the turnoff . We kept thinking there must be a sign but finally we decide to check with a Pemex station and we had driven 50 KM pasted our turnoff to San Carlos. We considered staying at the Pemex but thought we would feel more comfortable in an RV park so we turned around and went to the RV park in San Carlos. Besides we were really for a restaurant meal, which would be our last Mexican style meal for this trip.
The RV park owner allows us Travelers who are just stopping overnight to park in the driveway and allows us to connect to the utilities. That way we do not need to unhook the car which is why we travelers stop here.
So parked the MH, hooked up the utilities and had our MX supper. Cheers
We made it to the San Carlos area around 5 PM but it has been years since we traveled this route so we were looking for a sign that says "San Carlos ". The city/town of Guaymus and San Carlos are close together but you would think that there would be a sign for both town. Wrong; apparently they only had enough money for one sign and they chose to name it Guamus not San Carlos so we drove right by the turnoff . We kept thinking there must be a sign but finally we decide to check with a Pemex station and we had driven 50 KM pasted our turnoff to San Carlos. We considered staying at the Pemex but thought we would feel more comfortable in an RV park so we turned around and went to the RV park in San Carlos. Besides we were really for a restaurant meal, which would be our last Mexican style meal for this trip.
The RV park owner allows us Travelers who are just stopping overnight to park in the driveway and allows us to connect to the utilities. That way we do not need to unhook the car which is why we travelers stop here.
So parked the MH, hooked up the utilities and had our MX supper. Cheers
Wednesday, 11 February 2015
A knock on the door, Saturday 7 Feb 2015
At 6 AM, while Carroll and I have just awaken, thinking of what to do when suddenly we heard a knock on the door. I darted out of bed, dressed only I my underwear, wondering what or who the hell could be at the door at this time of the morning. In a flash I assumed it must be the police.
To my surprise it was a well dressed young man about 30 years of age and he said Hello ( in Spanish ) do you have a problem. I yes , my MH won't go and needs a mechanic. He said come with me and I will find you a mechanic. I said where and he said in Tepic. Tepic is 45 miles away. So I said, let me get dressed. While getting dressed I was wondering if this was for real or was it a set up but the young man seemed sincere. So I grabbed my booklet with all the Engine Data that I had compiled and the Operation and Maintenance Manual for my Cummins engine. So we jumped in his car and took off. A few minutes later he says I have to go home first, which is in the local town of Compostella. When we got to his home he says you must come in; I said no I'll wait in the car. He says no, you must come in. Now, I'm getting apprehensive but I agree, all the time looking for an escape route if necessary. Once in the house he volunteers that his wife and two children are on vacation. Then he get grabs his iPad and say you type out the problem with your MH. I started typing and lo and behold it translated my English into Spanish so he could understand the problem. He then writes down the translation on a piece of paper and says lets go to Tepic so off we go. I'm feeling more at ease now.
On the way to Tepic we try to talk and I understand that his father is in the Tepic hospital and will be operated on for stomach cancer on Monday.
When we get to Tepic he goes to a garage and speaks with a Mechanic but they do not have the Code Reader we need. But he sends us to another garage and he assures me this guy can help us. ( I've seen this movie before and it is never good) but I am between a rock and hard spot so I'm hoping.
I should mention that Mexicans work 6 days a week so the garage is open. When we arrive at the garage he ask the Clerk to see the owner. She then makes a phone call and said the owner will be here shortly so I'm thinking "Mexican Time ". About 1/2 an hour later the Owner and his wife show up and they exchange salutations and I believe he gave them a short briefing about my problem. The wife looks at me and says is it an ISL engine, I said yes, then she replies do you have the Operating manual so I hand it to her. I'm thinking this lady knows her business. The owner then gets his Code Reader out and ask me if it was a 10 pin or 6 pin connector and I knew it was a 6 pin. I think he said good, we can do it. Then the owner went to his "garage area" and returned with a mechanic. The mechanic says to me Hello. How are you , in English. ( You can imagine how relived I felt ) he then ask some question about my problem. He say we will go to you MH and we will solve the problem. What a relief. The wife, who runs the parts department then handed me a fuel filter and says take it. Then the English speaking mechanic and one other prepared the service vehicle while the owner change into his work clothes.
The young man who brought me to Tepic says you are going with them so we shook hands. I gave him 200 P for fuel and off he went.
The owner told me to jump in the front of the truck and the two mechanics got into the back and off we go to the MH.
Once we arrived at the MH the mechanics did a lot of checking and finally connected Code Reader and said that your problem is not the Throttle that was the problem in Guayabitos. After further checks they pin point the problem as the fuel filter and they changed it and it was obvious that was the problem. They insisted that we take the MH for a drive so we did a 20 KM run and all was great.
Now for the " bill ". Just remember , there was 3 mechanic, a service vehicle and they drove about 100 KM round trip and they replaced the filter. The total bill was 200.00 USD.
The English speaking mechanic ask me many questions about Canada , mostly about Mexicans who work in Canada and about their wages. I told him that a MacDonald's worker would get about 120 P and hour and he say that he only made 150 P per day (15.00 ) ; yes per day.
Finally Carroll and I took off and arrived at Mazatlan about 6 PM. While driving down a street in Mazatlan a dam tree branch jumped out an bite us but luckily it hit the Air horn first then bounced off the awning and did not due any damage. Our friends Otto and Edna where waiting for us, at the RV park with a beer and supper. What an unbelievable day. Yes there is an angel. cheers
To my surprise it was a well dressed young man about 30 years of age and he said Hello ( in Spanish ) do you have a problem. I yes , my MH won't go and needs a mechanic. He said come with me and I will find you a mechanic. I said where and he said in Tepic. Tepic is 45 miles away. So I said, let me get dressed. While getting dressed I was wondering if this was for real or was it a set up but the young man seemed sincere. So I grabbed my booklet with all the Engine Data that I had compiled and the Operation and Maintenance Manual for my Cummins engine. So we jumped in his car and took off. A few minutes later he says I have to go home first, which is in the local town of Compostella. When we got to his home he says you must come in; I said no I'll wait in the car. He says no, you must come in. Now, I'm getting apprehensive but I agree, all the time looking for an escape route if necessary. Once in the house he volunteers that his wife and two children are on vacation. Then he get grabs his iPad and say you type out the problem with your MH. I started typing and lo and behold it translated my English into Spanish so he could understand the problem. He then writes down the translation on a piece of paper and says lets go to Tepic so off we go. I'm feeling more at ease now.
On the way to Tepic we try to talk and I understand that his father is in the Tepic hospital and will be operated on for stomach cancer on Monday.
When we get to Tepic he goes to a garage and speaks with a Mechanic but they do not have the Code Reader we need. But he sends us to another garage and he assures me this guy can help us. ( I've seen this movie before and it is never good) but I am between a rock and hard spot so I'm hoping.
I should mention that Mexicans work 6 days a week so the garage is open. When we arrive at the garage he ask the Clerk to see the owner. She then makes a phone call and said the owner will be here shortly so I'm thinking "Mexican Time ". About 1/2 an hour later the Owner and his wife show up and they exchange salutations and I believe he gave them a short briefing about my problem. The wife looks at me and says is it an ISL engine, I said yes, then she replies do you have the Operating manual so I hand it to her. I'm thinking this lady knows her business. The owner then gets his Code Reader out and ask me if it was a 10 pin or 6 pin connector and I knew it was a 6 pin. I think he said good, we can do it. Then the owner went to his "garage area" and returned with a mechanic. The mechanic says to me Hello. How are you , in English. ( You can imagine how relived I felt ) he then ask some question about my problem. He say we will go to you MH and we will solve the problem. What a relief. The wife, who runs the parts department then handed me a fuel filter and says take it. Then the English speaking mechanic and one other prepared the service vehicle while the owner change into his work clothes.
The young man who brought me to Tepic says you are going with them so we shook hands. I gave him 200 P for fuel and off he went.
The owner told me to jump in the front of the truck and the two mechanics got into the back and off we go to the MH.
Once we arrived at the MH the mechanics did a lot of checking and finally connected Code Reader and said that your problem is not the Throttle that was the problem in Guayabitos. After further checks they pin point the problem as the fuel filter and they changed it and it was obvious that was the problem. They insisted that we take the MH for a drive so we did a 20 KM run and all was great.
Now for the " bill ". Just remember , there was 3 mechanic, a service vehicle and they drove about 100 KM round trip and they replaced the filter. The total bill was 200.00 USD.
The English speaking mechanic ask me many questions about Canada , mostly about Mexicans who work in Canada and about their wages. I told him that a MacDonald's worker would get about 120 P and hour and he say that he only made 150 P per day (15.00 ) ; yes per day.
Finally Carroll and I took off and arrived at Mazatlan about 6 PM. While driving down a street in Mazatlan a dam tree branch jumped out an bite us but luckily it hit the Air horn first then bounced off the awning and did not due any damage. Our friends Otto and Edna where waiting for us, at the RV park with a beer and supper. What an unbelievable day. Yes there is an angel. cheers
Leaving Guayabitos Friday, 6 Feb 2015
By 7:30 AM we were guided out of the RV park as it is not an easy exit and we headed for Via Corona which is a an RV park with 9 Hot swimming pools and it is a theme park. The beauty of it is that, with our RV entrance fee we are allow entrance to all the pools. Incidentally they drain every pool each night except that they leave one pool for us campers until 10 PM so we can sit around pontificating about our travels and having an after dinner drink.
However about 40 KM down the road from Guayabitos the Check Engine light started to flicker and I was losing power. We limp into the town of Compostaella at which point we entered the Toll booth heading for Guadalajara. All Toll booth have a large parking area for travelers and truckers to stop for a washroom break and most have a Macs Milk type store. We obviously had no choice except to stop and try to get help.
Luckily there was a Green Angel sitting at the toll booth.
I know your asking , what is a Green Angel so I will tell you. Green Angels are a federal sponsored service vehicle that patrols the toll roads to help ( free of charge ) anyone who has a breakdown. They will help to change a tire, replace a fan belt or call for a tow truck and in fact some Green Angels have a tow vehicle.
So I ask the Green Angel to call a mechanic to help so he "apparently" called one but after an hour he was a no show. So he ask me to jump in his truck and we will find a mechanic. We checked with 5 truck shops in the town but nobody had a Code Reader that could check the reason for the check light coming on. So he dropped me off at the MH and he made another phone call to another mechanic. A mechanic , who spoke a little English, showed up about 20 minutes later with a Code Reader but it was for small diesel truck. However he in turn made several phone calls and said a mechanic with a code reader would show up between one and 3 hours. He never showed up and it is now 5 PM so the best I could do was have a beer. We would therefore spend the night in the MH we will worry about tomorrow when it gets here .
You will not believe tomorrows story . cheers
However about 40 KM down the road from Guayabitos the Check Engine light started to flicker and I was losing power. We limp into the town of Compostaella at which point we entered the Toll booth heading for Guadalajara. All Toll booth have a large parking area for travelers and truckers to stop for a washroom break and most have a Macs Milk type store. We obviously had no choice except to stop and try to get help.
Luckily there was a Green Angel sitting at the toll booth.
I know your asking , what is a Green Angel so I will tell you. Green Angels are a federal sponsored service vehicle that patrols the toll roads to help ( free of charge ) anyone who has a breakdown. They will help to change a tire, replace a fan belt or call for a tow truck and in fact some Green Angels have a tow vehicle.
So I ask the Green Angel to call a mechanic to help so he "apparently" called one but after an hour he was a no show. So he ask me to jump in his truck and we will find a mechanic. We checked with 5 truck shops in the town but nobody had a Code Reader that could check the reason for the check light coming on. So he dropped me off at the MH and he made another phone call to another mechanic. A mechanic , who spoke a little English, showed up about 20 minutes later with a Code Reader but it was for small diesel truck. However he in turn made several phone calls and said a mechanic with a code reader would show up between one and 3 hours. He never showed up and it is now 5 PM so the best I could do was have a beer. We would therefore spend the night in the MH we will worry about tomorrow when it gets here .
You will not believe tomorrows story . cheers
Monday, 9 February 2015
MH; Check Eng light 5 Feb 2015
The last word yesterday , from the Cummins dealer in Guadalajara was that the Tech would be in Rincon in the morning. We forgot to ask if that was Mexican time!! All the MH owners, along with me were just waiting the Mexican "Super Tech " to fix my MH and he arrived at 8:30. He probably wondered what all the fuss was about as he does this diagnostic check every day. By the way he did not speak a word of English and Chris was in PV for the day.
First he checked to see which indicator light was on; then he got his code reader out which incidentally is about twice the size of a Visa card reader and his Lap Top computer. There are two connection points; one in the dash but not the easiest to access and one in the Engine compartment, real easy to access . He plugged it in and I started the Engine to start his diagnostic test and several of the MH owners were trying to see what was happening. After about 5 minutes he pointed to the front of the MH meaning it was a throttle problem. We shut the Engine down and he got under the dash area to check the throttle connection and I believe he disconnected the components; then got out his iPhone and I believe he reset the fault because the light went off. He then ask me to take the MH for a test run so I drove it forward and backward several time and it was good to go. Problem solved.
The mechanic then called Chris in PV to explain what he did and he then handed me the phone and Chris said he want to advise me to replace the Throttle component once I get to the US because , although it is working , it might resurface again.
Before he left I "tried " to explain that I needed a copy of the work order and an invoice. He said yes to the work order but the invoiced had to come from the office so they are " suppose " to email me a copy. I got distracted by all the fuss for about 2 minutesand before I knew it he was gone and I did not have the work order copy. GoodSam Insurance will pay for the service call, if I provide an invoice. I hope.
We parked the MH so we could get out early tomorrow as we are heading for Via Corona.
It is interesting in this day of age that a problem can be fixed without taking a wrench out of the tool box. A mechanic's tool box now contains a computer. Cheers
First he checked to see which indicator light was on; then he got his code reader out which incidentally is about twice the size of a Visa card reader and his Lap Top computer. There are two connection points; one in the dash but not the easiest to access and one in the Engine compartment, real easy to access . He plugged it in and I started the Engine to start his diagnostic test and several of the MH owners were trying to see what was happening. After about 5 minutes he pointed to the front of the MH meaning it was a throttle problem. We shut the Engine down and he got under the dash area to check the throttle connection and I believe he disconnected the components; then got out his iPhone and I believe he reset the fault because the light went off. He then ask me to take the MH for a test run so I drove it forward and backward several time and it was good to go. Problem solved.
The mechanic then called Chris in PV to explain what he did and he then handed me the phone and Chris said he want to advise me to replace the Throttle component once I get to the US because , although it is working , it might resurface again.
Before he left I "tried " to explain that I needed a copy of the work order and an invoice. He said yes to the work order but the invoiced had to come from the office so they are " suppose " to email me a copy. I got distracted by all the fuss for about 2 minutesand before I knew it he was gone and I did not have the work order copy. GoodSam Insurance will pay for the service call, if I provide an invoice. I hope.
We parked the MH so we could get out early tomorrow as we are heading for Via Corona.
It is interesting in this day of age that a problem can be fixed without taking a wrench out of the tool box. A mechanic's tool box now contains a computer. Cheers
Sunday, 8 February 2015
Motor Home Problem solved 2015
4 Feb: Chris , the park manager, called Cummins in Guadalajara at 9 AM with me in his office to answer a realm of question about the MH and the Engine. I'm sure they figured if they were going to drive 3 hours one way they better have all the information necessary to solve the problem. Finally , they agreed to send a man tomorrow morning if and when I deposited 5520 P ( 500.00 Cdn ) in their bank account . I immediately went to the bank and deposited the money. They called back a few minutes later and said the Mechanic with the Code Reader would be there in the morning. Finally a ray of sunshine.
I took deep breath , grabbed a beer and went to the pool. The beach is dirty from the 3 days of rain.
It was kind of funny as several other MH owners started their engine just in case they needed this Mechanic while he was here. Nobody had a Check Engine light so all was OK. cheers
I took deep breath , grabbed a beer and went to the pool. The beach is dirty from the 3 days of rain.
It was kind of funny as several other MH owners started their engine just in case they needed this Mechanic while he was here. Nobody had a Check Engine light so all was OK. cheers
Motor home Delima Feb 2015
2 Feb: The rain stopped or should I say tried to stop. I think the rain Gods just stopped long enough so that we would go outside and then come with another downpour.
Anyway, my friend Dave says , lets go and find a Mechanic in this area so off we go. I won't bore you with the details but suffice to said it was a fruitless few hours.
So Carroll and I went to Lo de Marcos to see our friend Ron and he takes me to see his friend Art who has a Code Reader. Art agrees to come tomorrow as he is tied up elsewhere today. Eureka, we might have a solution. So after a couple drinks at Ron's abode we return home with better " hopes" for tomorrow. The rain is still off and on but it stayed off for Happy Hour. I said to hell with it, tomorrows another day. cheers
3 Feb: Ron and Art show at 9 AM with the Code Reader and everyone in the park wanted to see what this mystical Code Reader looks like and how does it solve this engine problem by merely spitting out the info on a computer. Our anxiety was short lived as Art's Reader was for small diesel truck ( ie F350 ) only.
We spent the rest of the day trying to find a Cummins Tech somewhere in MX and it seems that nobody could tells where to find this Code Reader. With all the frigging Cummins Diesels in MX it was unbelievable that nobody could help us.
Dave Killey just kept asking all his connections if they knew of a dealer and finally he came up with a phone number in Compostella ( 1 hour away ) and they in turn gave us a number in Guadalajara ( 3 hours away ).
Since it is now 5 PM , Chris the park manager / owner will call the Guadalajara number in the morning and of course hopes are high that they will solve the problem.
I know everyone wants to help and or feel sorry for us but I was wearing thin on all the question. No one else every had this problem so they never had a better solution than mine. Tomorrow looks like a better day. cheers
Anyway, my friend Dave says , lets go and find a Mechanic in this area so off we go. I won't bore you with the details but suffice to said it was a fruitless few hours.
So Carroll and I went to Lo de Marcos to see our friend Ron and he takes me to see his friend Art who has a Code Reader. Art agrees to come tomorrow as he is tied up elsewhere today. Eureka, we might have a solution. So after a couple drinks at Ron's abode we return home with better " hopes" for tomorrow. The rain is still off and on but it stayed off for Happy Hour. I said to hell with it, tomorrows another day. cheers
3 Feb: Ron and Art show at 9 AM with the Code Reader and everyone in the park wanted to see what this mystical Code Reader looks like and how does it solve this engine problem by merely spitting out the info on a computer. Our anxiety was short lived as Art's Reader was for small diesel truck ( ie F350 ) only.
We spent the rest of the day trying to find a Cummins Tech somewhere in MX and it seems that nobody could tells where to find this Code Reader. With all the frigging Cummins Diesels in MX it was unbelievable that nobody could help us.
Dave Killey just kept asking all his connections if they knew of a dealer and finally he came up with a phone number in Compostella ( 1 hour away ) and they in turn gave us a number in Guadalajara ( 3 hours away ).
Since it is now 5 PM , Chris the park manager / owner will call the Guadalajara number in the morning and of course hopes are high that they will solve the problem.
I know everyone wants to help and or feel sorry for us but I was wearing thin on all the question. No one else every had this problem so they never had a better solution than mine. Tomorrow looks like a better day. cheers
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