On The Road

On The Road
Dutch Star and Subaru ready to go

Saturday, November 30, 2013

Its been a busy day.  Yesterday there was a couple of old lounge chairs that were custom made with 1/4 inch re-bar for a frame that had been left by a former tenant at the park. The nylon strapping had deteriorated in the sun and they were scheduled to be thrown out with the trash. A man and his son asked several times at the gate about them and last night I told them they could have the chairs. This morning about 9:00am the man and son was at the gate with the two chairs completely restrung with new webbing. Apparently there was a miscommunication about the chairs and he thought I wanted them repaired with new webbing. His English was negligible and my Spanish is far from being able to explain to him that the chairs were a gift and I didn't want new webbing.

Fortunately after about 20 minutes, Kathy, mother to our RV park owners came by and was able to explain thing to the man. He was happy as he could now sell them and make a few pesos.... I'm going to have to keep working on my Spanish.

Shortly after the lounge chair situation was taken care of, the paint crew showed up and started masking in preparation of painting the bottom grey area of the motorhome. They worked until mid afternoon and the job is looking very nice. Everyone yelled at me when I thought the paint was dry and touched front of the motorhome with both hands. Fortunately they'll be able to buff out my handprints. The paint crew plans on finishing everything by Wednesday including buffing out the headlight and taillight lens ...and my hand prints.

    Newly painted stripes and bottom grey area



Janelle and Trent the owners of the park arrived in the afternoon after driving their truck and small trailer full of stuff from Sacramento.  They had a long and tiring journey in the truck with their two beagles and are glad to be here.

As we really didn't have free access to the motorhome during the day because of the painting we decided we'd pick up a bbq chicken from a restaurant close by. This place really knows how to bbq chicken and sells over a hundred each day.

     Delicious BBQ Chicken

Friday, November 29, 2013

We stayed around the motorhome this morning waiting for the painters to show up but they didn't arrive till later in the afternoon.  We went to La Penita after lunch and Diane wanted to visit an optometrist to see about getting a pair of prescription sun glasses. We found Duran Cruz,  an optometrist at Opti-Duran a couple of blocks off the main street. Diane gave him a copy of the prescription for her glasses she got in Livingston and after explaining what she wanted was told it would cost 2,000 pesos and he would deliver them to the RV park next week.

When we left the optometrist we were getting hungry so stopped and had fish tacos for lunch. Then bought some orange juice and cereal and headed home. When we got there we found that the paint crew had arrived when we were gone and they were busy masking the bottom grey area of the motorhome for painting.

The painter brought his young kids (2 boys and a girl) as today was a school holiday. Diane and I had brought a bunch of school supplies with us from Livingston and we made up a package for each of the three kids. They were really surprised and happy and thanked us over and over.

       Optometrist Office
 
 
      Duran Cruz the Optometrist
 

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Thanksgiving day found us staying home in the morning even though it's Thursday and we still haven't made it to the Thursday market in La Penita.  Yesterday the painters didn't show up and we sat around the motorhome all day.  Today, thinking that they were not coming again we decided to wait until it was time to leave to meet our friends Fred and Sherry for lunch at 11:00.

However about 10:15 just when we were getting ready to leave, the painters showed up. The boss was with the paint crew and I told him the stripe that was painted yesterday looked too much like dark brown and not the cranberry red we asked for. His response was "no problem" and I showed him the broom we have that has a nice cranberry colored handle. In just few minutes he had the color we wanted mixed up.

They spent the day masking the stripping, then applying primer and finally two coats of paint followed by a couple of coats of clear sealer. The result is looking good and the boss held up the broom beside the painted stripe for my approval. I was told the paint crew would be back tomorrow morning to start on the background grey and white colors. .. we'll see.  I was also told that they should have the whole job completed by next Wednesday... again we'll see.

We made it to lunch with Fred and Sherry where we ate just a little as we were invited to a Thanksgiving dinner at a local bar on the beach that's frequented by Canadian and American snow birds here for the winter season. Instead of Turkey, stuffed chicken breasts with potatoes and vegetables was served along with pumpkin pie for dessert.  We were pretty full so took the pie home with us to eat later. Fred and Sherry are going to a Thanksgiving Pot Luck at their RV park.

         Getting the Dutch Star prepped and painted
 



Tuesday, November 26, 2013

The painting crew showed up this morning and brought all their equipment in a truck that they parked beside the motorhome. After checking to see if all the masking was correct the painter started to spray the primer coat of paint.

Unfortunately I had to leave as my dentist had scheduled my root canal this morning. When I was gone the painter applied the paint where the decals had been. There are three swirls on the motorhome and we had asked that they be painted black, cranberry red and light grey.  Unfortunately the color they chose for cranberry was more of a dark brown very close to black.  So tomorrow when they get here I'll show them what cranberry looks like, (we have a broom with a cranberry colored handle) and have them repaint those areas that are brown.

      Painting the Dutch Star

The dentist that did my root canal has his office above a small grocery store on the main street of La Penita.  I was a few minutes early and took a few pictures from the balcony. The dentist office was very clean with modern dental equipment and the charge for a root canal including before and after x-rays was 1,300 pesos (just under $100.00 USD

            Dental Office waiting room 


             Main Blvd. of La Penita
  




Monday, November 25, 2013

Nothing much happened over the week-end with the motorhome and we just stayed home and tried to stay cool in the hot weather with high humidity.

The crew did show up this morning and started to mask the area where the decals were. The lines from the old decals were quite faint and fortunately we still had the brochures with pictures from when we ordered the Dutch Star. It's time consuming and it took three people several hours just to get one side of the motorhome masked.

I had my dental appointment this afternoon to have the permanent filling completed and I have another appointment tomorrow with another dentist who specializes doing root canals .. can't wait.

                        Almost ready to paint

                      Shrimp Boats off La Penita
 

Friday, November 22, 2013

Today the auto body workers showed up before 8:00am. Its been so hot here lately that they wanted to get an early start so they could finish the sanding.  The next step is for them to do masking where the old decals were.  Diane and I had dentist appointments for cleaning early this morning so we left the workers to do their job while we drove to town.

                 Our Dentist --  Dra. R. Adriana Flores


                        Diane in the dental chair




Thursday, November 21, 2013

Well... they didn't show up today. It's a good thing we don't plan on leaving here for several months. As long as they do a good job on the motorhome, that's the main thing.

The garbage truck came by today. It's interesting how they do it here. It's a normal garbage truck that drives slowly down the street followed by three or four men who empty the garbage pails into the back. In front of the truck one man walks ringing a cow bell. If you want your garbage picked up, it's necessary to pay him 5 pesos for which he gives you a small receipt. If you don't pay him the 5 pesos, the men behind the truck don't empty your garbage pails. It's also customary to give the men behind the truck a few pesos. Doing so gets any spilled garbage in front of  your house picked up. The few pesos given the men are put in a coffee can hanging off the side of the truck to be divided up at the end of the day.

We were almost out of purified drinking water but in the afternoon the water truck came by. We buy the water in 5 gallon bottles for 21 pesos. The young man who rides in the truck will carry the 5 gallon bottle from the truck to your door and we never ask for change when giving him 25 pesos.

Thursday is market day in La Penita and we walked over and bought some fruit and vegetables. We also met with our friends Fred and Sherry at one of our favorite restaurants for lunch.  The temperature has been very hot with high humidity lately which made it uncomfortable walking through the market so we didn't stay long.

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

November 20th is Revolution Day, a major holiday in Mexico. Many businesses are closed and there was no sign of our autobody guys today.

Every city and town in Mexico celebrates Revolution Day with a parade celebrating this major holiday that commemorates the revolution in 1910, led by Francisco Madero.

La Penita is no exception and crowds lined both sides of the main street while watching the parade go by. I took many pictures while watching the parade go by but couldn't decide which ones to post so I'm posting them all. .. enjoy

Opps.. the autobody guys just showed up and worked for about an hour sanding the motorhome.

                            Sanding the motorhome



                   Revolution Day Parade in La Penita