Mexico

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Ready

Oh, I do hope the cheque is here tomorrow because I am ready. One might wonder what I would have done without this three-day delay. Well, I could have definitely been just as ready to leave first thing Saturday morning. I just stretched out the final chores to fill the days.

Here’s what’s left on my list for tomorrow (or whatever day that dang cheque comes…)

-pack final items into the truck (overnight, computer, and food bags)

-rinse out the black tank and put away the sewer hose (I leave the grey water open so the hose is always hooked up)

-drain the water system, apply the water heater by-pass, and add potable anti-freeze

-put away my garbage barrel

-buy my  US travel medical insurance

-put my SaskTel service on hold

-pack up the booster

-turn off the power, lock the breaker box, and read the metre

-drop a set of keys off at C&Cs

I can do some of those things before checking the post tomorrow, but there’s no sense winterizing until I know for sure that I’m going.

If I am unable to leave tomorrow, I will have to make yet another run into Willow Bunch for food. 🙁 What I bought on Friday was just the right amount to get me to tonight, but otherwise I’m down to nuts and miso soup, not quite a healthy diet!

Mail is sorted by 9:30, so I should know by ten if I am good to go. If so, I’ll be out of here by noon. I’ve conceded that the Opheim crossing makes the most sense even though I haven’t had great experiences crossing there. Should I get through with minimal delay, I’ll be in Glasgow for a late lunch and then I am going to drive hard to Billings. Google Maps says I’m looking at a seven hourish drive, so I wish I could set out sooner than noon, but it is what it is.

In Billings, I need to get an oil change done on the truck (my oil levels are fine for the drive down), buy a new GPS unit (the app I downloaded on my phone is not working well for me) as well as a paper map book, and see about getting a US SIM card for the phone. So that should eat up a good chunk of Wednesday (or the first day after departure…).

Twelve hours to go before I can for mail. Hopefully my next post will be about heading out! 🙂

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More Packing and Cleaning

I’ve somehow managed to fill two of the three days the postal delay forced on me. A good chunk of the time has been spent organizing and cleaning Miranda. A super deep clean didn’t make sense to me last week, not when it would have to be done again in the spring. But now that I had three days to kill, why not?

The back bed is loaded with more bags that need to go out of the truck and my laundry basket, sitting on the desk, is coming, too. IMG_0216 I have a similar staging area in the living room for kitchen things.

It looks like quite a lot, especially with what’s already in the truck, but I shouldn’t have any trouble fitting it all in. It’s rather like packing for an evacuation. What can I absolutely live without? I don’t need everything I’m bringing, obviously, and not everything I’m leaving behind can be replaced. This picture shows three things that I would miss and which are irreplaceable; my framed Egyptian papyrus, my soapstone mule, and my aquarium glass paperweight. But do they need to come to Mexico with me? Absolutely not.

I’ve made my peace with leaving for what will now be closer to seven rather than eight months, but still the better part of a year. What I come back to is what I come back to. It is just stuff even though this RV is the only real home I’ve ever had and I would be devastated if I came back to find it inhabitable. I always knew that this day would come. While I’m still reeling from the shock of it happening at 35 rather than 40, the day is here (or almost) and I am marching forward!

I am so excited about what lies ahead. The US portion of the trip down will be considerably shorter now and I have made the decision to tighten up the budget considerably in case next month’s cheque is late, too. But Zion National Park beacons and that is more than enough for right now. I should be there in ten days or so, maybe a little more if I get the work I want for this coming week. It will be a wonderful place to stretch my legs for a bit.

And then, Mexico… I am so mentally prepared to go that I’m not even nervous about the border crossing hoops anymore! I have my paperwork and the necessary funds and plenty of tips for the Nogales crossing. Come what may! I can already see myself at the restaurant in San Carlos Croft told me to visit on my first night, sipping a cold beer and eating fresh seafood, with a freshly stamped 180-day tourist visa and a shiny holographic sticker on my truck windshield proving its legal temporary import status. This is how real my adventure has become in my mind. I’ve been talking about it for many months, but it’s only in the last ten days or so that I’ve gone from disbelief that I am really doing this to this being an absolute inevitability.

I do wish I was in Billings or points south right now, especially since we’ve had a few warm nights that would have been perfect for sleeping in the truck. But it’s also nice to have had these last few quiet days at home to make sure it’s shut down properly and to enjoy the peaceful evenings listening to the mad band of coyotes out there in them hills. I know that this delay happened for a reason, whatever that reason is, but enough! I’m ready to roll out of here by noon Tuesday at the absolute latest!

 

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Displeased

The cheque I’m waiting for, which should have been mailed on the 3rd at the latest but did not get to the post until the 6th at who knows what time, is still not here. It’s a substantial cheque and I really don’t want to leave without it being in the bank. So I am stuck here until Tuesday at least since this is a long weekend (Thanksgiving).

I have no food to speak of and the kitchen is packed and spotless. So now, I have to make a run to Willow Bunch to get non-perishables (fridge is off) for the weekend, unpack, and plan to reclean the kitchen on Monday.

For November onward, the cheques will be sent to my mother in QC for depositing, but I thought that I could wait here for the October one to arrive. What a mistake that was! 🙁 The delay is such a snowball in that even when the cheque does get it, the bulk of it will be frozen for up to two weeks. I can still take off, but my budget for the first bit of my trip will be much tighter than it would have needed to be.

I’m glad that I accepted as much work as I did for this past week, otherwise I would be quite angry today!

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Town Run

One cheque I’ve been expecting was here today, but not the one I was hoping for. The one I got was for 198USD from Amazon (thank you again to everyone who uses my affiliate link!). I wanted to buy 200USD, so I thought I could just get the 198US straight up. Nope! I had to convert the cheque to CAD and then back to USD. I lost 15CAD in the exchanges. Based on my banking history, I was advised that I should open up a USD account. I’ll investigate that next year.

I then went to the SaskTel dealer to unlock my cell phone and was told that I needed to call the toll free number to do that. I informed the clerk that the toll free number had told me to do it in person and was haughtily told, “Yes, I can do it for you, but you still have to pay the $50.” Nowhere in the exchange we had previous to that did I even mention the $50 unlock fee, much less that I had any issue with it (for things like that, choose to just accept rather than fight). So now the phone is supposed to be unlocked, or at least it will be once I go through some steps to reset it.

I was also told that I can call SaskTel on Friday, or whenever I’m ready to leave, and they will suspend my account for three months. My monthly fee is $70 plus tax and I was resigned to paying that for eight months, so I’m glad to save the three months!

I had some bottles and cans to return and got $11.40 from that. Lunch at the buffet in town is $11.45 with the tip, so I took that as a sign to go have lunch even though I hadn’t planned on it! As I’ve been posting on Facebook, I’ve been keeping myself rather creatively fed as I work through my stores, but I’m really due for a ‘proper’ meal. So lunch was rather appreciated, especially since they had baked ham as a special item (no extra charge) and it was cooked and seasoned exactly the way I like it. Yum!

I also stopped at Peavey Mart to buy a good quality tarp to cover the front part of Miranda’s roof. I haven’t had a leak in several rainy days, so I’m thinking the caulking I put up there finally cured, but I don’t want to take a chance with the snow melt in the spring. I have no idea yet how I’m going to secure the tarp, but I’ll figure something out. 🙂 While at Peavey, I also bought a better, weatherproof, lock for my breaker box. The one I’ve been using is incredibly stiff and no amount of lubricant is helping.

Gas was ‘only’ $1.23 today, so I filled up, not being certain of how soon after the border I’ll hit a gas station. I hoped to find a map book or at least a map of Montana at the gas station, but there was nothing. I’ll pick something up in Billings because I like to have the paper as a backup. I’m also going to buy a new GPS. I’ve been using an app on my phone that isn’t bad, but it’s just not as user friendly as a dedicated GPS. I also need to have some work done on the truck (oil change and possibly the brakes), so I might end up in Billings for a few days.

I should be done with my work by tomorrow night and then I can spend Friday morning getting the property closed up. So I’m guessing I’ll be on the road by early afternoon Friday, as long as the cheque is here by then. I’m going to ask about when it was sent if it’s not here tomorrow.

Driving my truck into town today, I couldn’t help but be eager to take her out for a long stretch. My Moya’s happiest on the long hauls. We’re a good match. 🙂

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Delaying Departure

I had thought to leave tomorrow afternoon, Wednesday morning at the latest, but it looks like departure is now going to be sometime Friday. Work has been a little iffy the last several weeks because of holidays and a new contract starting. I got what I wanted for the last week of September, but didn’t get anything for the first few days of October from my main client (I did have piddly assignments from less regular clients). This week, I was offered a tad more than what I asked for.

If I was truly on the cusp of being ready to go tomorrow, I’d go and plan to stop and work over the weekend. Instead, I’m just going to hang out and get the work done before I leave. This way, I won’t lose any of the income to hotel accommodations. This week’s assignment will just about, if not fully, cover my first month’s rent, so it makes sense to keep as much of it in my pocket as I can!

I’ll then be able to take four or five days to get myself to a warmer climate before stopping. All that I’m eating into is my time in the States and none of these delays will affect my time in Mexico, so I really don’t mind. I’ll better be able to enjoy what time I do spend in the States knowing that my slowly diminishing bank account will be replenished generously at the beginning of November! 🙂

I got all the clothes loaded today except for one bag of necessities to get me through the next week. Getting the suitcases out of the RV has really made it seem like I’ve made a huge amount of progress in my packing!

Tomorrow, I am going ahead as planned with delivering things to my neighbours’ for safekeeping, including my RV batteries, and I’ll start the process of winterizing my water system. The RM (rural municipality) has been told that they can shut the water off as of the 10th (Friday), so I’m hoping that I’ll be able to have hot showers until I leave. 🙂