November 7, 2003—The trip to Algodones, Mexico and Bend, OR
Our next to last evening at Portal was spent having a wonderful potluck dinner with new friends and fellow Escapees Harry & Sheila Pethoud. We found we had lots in common with these folks, including towing with medium duty trucks and large fifth wheel RVs. Martin & Sue Jacoby, workampers at Portal, also joined us. Martin & Sue were due to leave the day after us.
Harry and Sheila Marc with Martin, Sue, and Harry
We were off from Moab by 9 a.m. on the 23rd and had a nice drive south on Hwy. 191 through Monument Valley, a tiny portion of the Painted Desert, past the entry highway to Grand Canyon, and on to a forest service road to look for a boondock spot just outside of Flagstaff. We found a poor choice but made do, getting dusted out and hearing traffic roar by nearly all night. We think hunters were getting set up for deer season or kids were just being wild.
Painted Desert
Flagstaff boondock spot
The highlight of the next two days was getting to meet and spend time with my long time pen pal from Ohio, Julie and her husband Donny, who also started fulltiming this summer. They are working at a large RV resort with a golf course in El Mirage, which is one of the suburbs to Phoenix. The resort offered a free two night’s stay in hopes of enticing seasonal rental, so we parked a short block away from the workamper section where our friends are located. They treated us to a fine dinner, al fresco under balmy Arizona skies, the first night at the resort’s restaurant where Julie works. We did some major shopping with them carting us around in their pickup the following day and then were taken over to Julie’s aunt & uncles for a marvelous gourmet dinner, again served al fresco poolside, featuring big shrimp on ice and a main course of duck ala orange. What a treat for us!
The following day found us headed out of Phoenix’s smog to Yuma to visit with more friends and also shop for prescriptions in the Mexican town of Algodones. We parked on a Foothills RV lot which my high school friend Dolores and her husband John bought a couple years ago and are in the process of developing. Once again, evenings were special as we all sat out in the shade of their motorhome, enjoying cocktails and dinner. We also had one dinner inviting Marc’s former co-worker Paul and his lady friend Virginia over, as their winter house is only a few short blocks away.
Algodones is an important stop for many RVers and retired people who can buy prescriptions and medical care at a fraction of U.S. prices. Dolores and John drove us to the parking lot on the U.S. side and we then walked across the border to this tiny town specifically developed to serve U.S. consumers. Pharmacies, liquor stores, and dentists abound in four small blocks, and all have barkers out front vying to catch your attention promising their prices are the very lowest.
Buying prescriptions is easily done. If one pharmacy is out or doesn’t stock the dosage you need, you just wander down to the next. Many medications are from the U.S., coming packaged in the sealed bottle directly from the U.S. manufacturer. Prices are astoundingly low. We were able to obtain a year’s supply of nearly all medications that we normally use for $352; a savings of probably at least $1500-2000 over what we would pay in the states. As an example, Prevasid, which sells for $120 for a 30 day supply at Wal-Mart, was $14.99 for a bottle of 55 pills, although it is the Mexican generic equivalent. All businesses take U.S. dollars and give change back in dollars so there is no need to worry about conversion or having to get rid of pesos before returning. Coming back in to the U.S. the border guards looked in our packages and gave cursory glances at a few of the bottles and let us pass with no more questions.
We noticed many seniors taking advantage of the dental care there and we have heard good reports as to the sanitary conditions and low prices. Many prices are posted so you can compare, with a cleaning running $15-20 for example. Root canals and crowns were featured from $150!
We said our goodbyes to friends and finally turned our nose towards home, deciding because of the out of control wildfires in southern California and dense smoke, even in Yuma, to travel through Nevada. Temperatures changed drastically overnight and after one night boondocking in the small town of Mina, NV on Hwy. 95, we woke to snow covered hills and 30 degrees. Since we had just come from Yuma’s 98 degrees, we felt we couldn’t get warmed up!
Gold Hill, NV Boondock Mina, NV
Walker Lake snow, NV
With a slight delay in Reno for chain controls to be lifted on I-80 over Donner Summit, we arrived to visit with my aunt and check on a possible job outside of Oroville, CA. Right as we turned on to my relative’s road, a lady flagged us down saying there was smoke coming from our rig. We jumped out to find we had suffered a blowout on the right front trailer tire. It had literally turned itself inside out and the steel belts were wrapped around the axle. Thankfully, there was no damage but it was a mess for Marc to change. After a couple days visiting, it was finally time to push on towards Bend and hope that the snow and ice wouldn’t prevent us from arriving home.
So, here we sit in about 3 inches of snow with more falling as I write this. Our pressure tank for the water system in the RV froze last night so we have no water this morning. Temperatures have been about 12 degrees at night. It’s been wonderful to see family again but we’re both wondering just how long we can tolerate staying in these conditions. We’re sick of snow and yearn for those balmy Arizona evenings again!
