Day: July 24, 2015

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First Steps Towards My Second Isla Winter

I managed to get hold of my landlady on Isla a few minutes ago (on the first try!) and confirmed that I can arrive early. I had talked about coming for November 25th, but now I want to be there November 1st. No problem, the house will be ready for me and I should have TelMex internet for the 3rd, which is going to be my first work day in Mexico. Worst case scenario, I’ll have time to get the booster antenna on the roof to get a reliable TelCel signal to tide me over till the hard wired internet kicks in.

I learned last year that my landlady doesn’t communicate well, possibly a Mexican trait. The attitude is, I’ve got the information and there’s no need to discuss it again unless anything changes. I nearly drove myself batty last year trying to get hold of her as I got closer to Mexico to confirm that I was coming and that the house would be ready. Now I know that she was thinking, “OMG, how many times does she have to tell me this?!” So on this call, I told her that I would not be calling again unless my date of arrival changed and that if anything changed for her, she could Facebook me. So for me, this is done. I’m arriving the 1st of November and the house will be ready.

The other big news is that I’ve decided not to take time off the new job to get to Isla. I’m trying to put off taking any vacation time until I’m feeling a bit more secure in the position and am ready to take a proper vacation. It would be nice in January to take a week, or maybe even two!, and go to a resort or something and be pampered a bit. Flights within Mexico are super cheap, so I could maybe even fly somewhere like the Yucatán to explore ancient ruins or fly to another city I could easily drive to from Canada to explore housing options for my third Mexican winter.

So the plan is to drive down to Isla in two chunks. I will finish work at 4PM on Thursday October 22nd and spend the evening finishing the packing of the truck and closing up the inside of Miranda. I’ll be up at first light on Friday the 23rd to close up the property and take off by 7AM to get to the border when it opens at 8AM.

Once I’m across, I’m going to drive till I drop and repeat on Saturday and Sunday to get to Nogales, AZ, by noonish on Monday the 26th. This will give me time on the Monday to get pesos, Mexican vehicle insurance, and do a Walmart run (I promised friends I’d arrive loaded down with kitty litter!).

I’ll then work my Tuesday through Thursday shifts, which will help me recoup a bit of energy from the mad dash down. I’ll then take off for the Mexican border super early on the Friday to arrive in San Carlos by early afternoon, like I did last year. Then drive partway to Culiacán Saturday, and then get to Isla around 2PM on Sunday. This gives me Monday to breathe and work on the booster.

WHEW! Of course, this doesn’t give me much leeway if I’m delayed for any reason, but I can of course stop sooner than Nogales to work if I need to and I know I could get to Isla in two days rather than two and a half if I wanted to now that I know the route. I could go from the border to Navojoa and then from Navojoa straight to Isla, for example. It really makes a difference that I’m not going into the unknown this time around.

So if you’re looking at your calendars, I’m already talking about leaving in terms of two months and a few weeks. The summer is going by really quickly!

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Programmable Thermostats Work Both Ways

Some time ago, I upgraded to a programmable thermostat so that I could better control the furnace in cold weather. What I liked about it is that I could set a temperature for different times of the day, so go to bed in a warm rig, let it cool down overnight, and then get up to comfy temps.

It’s taken me a bit of time to realise that I can use the thermostat the same way with the air conditioner. Now, I don’t run the AC tons and I don’t need my home to be icy cold when it’s 50 billion degrees outside, but I work in here and need to concentrate. I have the machine, so why not use it?

We’ve been having an odd summer where it is very cool in the morning and then it gets to infernal temps in the afternoon. It’s such a gradual change that by the time I realise that I’m boiling, it’s 95 in the RV!

So I have my AC set to 85F, which is a good compromise for me between boiling and paying for tons of power. Most days, it never kicks on. But there are days like today where the AC kicks on and I realise that it really is getting warm. I get up, shut the door, windows, and roof hatches, and then let the AC do its thing.

The thermostat upgrade was one that has really paid off over the years. You should consider it if you spend any length of time in your RV!