Is safe from the Mexican drug cartel and the abduction October 8, Arizona?

by John
(Oregon)

Question: I was on the Web a while back and discovered a Government BLM characters, read beware that the drug trafficking and abduction everywhere in this area suggest Hwy 8 go up and not unten.Ich can not remember the exact wording, but this is the jest.

A. von Marianne

Although we have never had a problem, these areas near the Mexican border can be a security risk.

Park Ranger told us that the most common concern particularly theft ? is camping supplies: tents, sleeping bags, jugs or anything that could help on the journey of a desperate illegal travel on foot. To prevent a problem It?s blocked a good idea to keep all items from the point of view entfernt.Je closer you are on the border, more reason to leave unattended to your car or RV.

The drug trade is another problem, and with him that place for themselves in the wrong risk of the search to the wrong Zeit.Aufgrund some people are now more hesitant in the free camping areas bearing these concerns. If you think You?ll you will be safer than you would a Boondocking community just because You?ve paid it a fee, That?s until you a campground.Personally, I Don?t see that the chance of a burglary of less on a pay campsite would be unless It?s barricaded a fortress.

Just my opinion: I?ve read There?s a symbiotic relationship between the ?coyotes? (pariahs to smuggle hundreds of dollars by the Mexican population you across the border take) and the management.It?s suggested that by a certain number of refugees slip through and caught a certain number, coyotes both the border patrol officers keep their jobs and their Einkommen.Kochen Doesn?t it always down to money somehow?

I believe that water and food along the popular diffuse routes should be discontinued.Besides saving life, would reduce robberies and burglaries it., No matter how you got there thirst on American soil should nobody werden.Obwohl die some individuals and groups It?s apparently against the law to these Mexicans in any way, including water, food or shelter you aid to you identity Don?t exist and be thirsty in the desert to die within the law perfectly ist.Hmmm.

But, that doesn't really answer your question, does it? I think really, everyone has everything for themselves even berücksichtigen.Ja, I agree, there is some risk of crime near the border to because this is the case where it desperate people sind.Ich think we all have to evaluate our own "fear factor" and go with what we feel comfortable mit.Ob, borders, cities, areas of poverty or natural disasters avoid is to carry country, rattlesnakes, mountain or four-lane highways.

~ Marianne

9 August, our winter trip to Arizona... (Part 2)

 

Back on the 101 south our GPS continued to have its limitations. The 101 takes you through many picturesque communities. However the street detail on the GPS was very limited and going through some of the towns presented a few challenges. At one point I missed a turn which took me to a part of the town that was not designed for large traffic. My GPS dutifully pointed out my error and instructed me to make the next left turn. I now find myself on a narrow residential street with cars parked on both sides. The GPS then calmly instructed me to make the next right turn which took me down another residential street. Getting out of that pickle was not pretty but we finally made it back to the entrance to the highway. It was a very steep approach that I was sure was not going to be good for the trailer. As I expected there was a loud scraping noise as we pulled back onto the highway. Almost immediately our travailing companions got on the radio and told us there was a problem with the trailer. I pulled off at the first opportunity to find that the ball had been ripped off the hitch and the trailer was dragging by the safety chains. It had also ripped all of the trailer wiring out at the hitch.

Oh Well?. at least it had quit raining.

I dug out my tools and got to work. Within a few hours I had a new ball on the hitch and the wiring was fixed.

By now I had my fill of the 101 and I was ready to move over to the I5. I was soon overruled and we were on our way to see the California Redwoods. Wow they were truly impressive. The rain stopped long enough for us to get some great pictures. The girls wanted to see every hollowed out tree on the brochure so I found myself negotiating through more narrow windy roads in the pouring rain. Now I am watching for a station that sells diesel. As we come around a corner there is a small station with a diesel sign. At this point my mirrors were almost useless as they were covered with water droplets and the side window was the same. As I swing in to get access to the pump there is a crunching sound. Yes now one of my basement doors has a dint in it. One more for the ongoing gong show. We eventually get to every spot on the brochure and are soon heading further south.

We stayed a few nights at a California coastal RV park. As we pull in to book our spots, the park manager had just come back from pulling his crab traps. Wow several traps loaded with live crab. I jokingly said if he had too many we could find a home for them. To our surprise there is a knock on the camper door around supper time and he is standing there with a large bowl full of freshly cleaned and cooked crab. Wow what a surprise. We thanked him and dug into our fresh crab meal.

Oh yes?the ongoing gong show. The next day I am walking around the motor home and discover the extension sewer hose that I left laying under the motorhome is now nicely flattened under one of my levelling jacks. I guess I should have put it away when I set up.

Soon we were off to Santa Rosa, California.

Getting around in some of these larger communities can be intimidating if you are driving a large unit and Santa Rosa was no exception. The instructions we were following to get to our RV park took us into the town fair grounds. We soon found ourselves in a place we should not be. Again it was necessary to unhook our cars so we could get turned around. John discovered it is not a good idea to unhook your car if you are on a slight slope. Gail found herself chasing her new car across the parking lot. Oh well I guess that is what insurance is for and the damage was only minor. We soon managed to find the RV park and got settled in for the night.

The next morning the girls did some touring while I did some more repairs on the trailer and John caught up on his sleep. It turns out the creator of the peanuts cartoon came from Santa Rosa and the girls enjoyed the museum. Our next stop was going to be San Francisco and I was not looking forward to dealing with the traffic. In a conversation with the RV park manager, she suggested we take the ferry across the bay. What a great idea! We were about 3/4 of an hour away from the terminal. The next morning we took one of the cars to the terminal and had an exciting ride across the bay to down town San Francisco. The next several days we did the bus tour, Fisherman's Wharf, the seals, the submarine, the liberty ship, Alcatraz island and much more. We had a great time.

Soon it was time to move on. Gail and I were heading over to I5 and San Diego while our friends were continuing on down the 101 to catch a few other places they wonted to see. We leave together and find ourselves on a rush hour 6 lane freeway, as we are taking separate exits Gail and John find a large highway transport dangerously close to them. The driver is busy talking on his cell phone as the mirror on their motorhome is being ripped off. The driver suddenly sees what is going on but it is too late for the mirror. Of course there is no place to stop so Gail was on mirror duty until they could replace it.

It was sure great to be out of the rain on a 4 lane highway with no hills or curves. It was the first time on the trip where I could just sit back and enjoy the drive. After one overnight at a truck stop our next stop was just past Los Angeles. Finding a place to park the motorhome for the night was not easy. Every RV park was full and we ended up at one that wanted $100 a night. It was very old with small parking stalls but we had no choice. The next morning we continued our trip to San Diego, enjoying the straight highway and some really unique scenery. The San Diego RV park we ended up in gave us less then roomy stalls but they were adequate. Gail and I spent the next few days hitting some of the tourist spots and soon John and Gail hooked up with us again. One of my neighbours told me of a bug problem he was having with one of the trees near my motorhome. He said he had sprayed them and things should be OK. The next day I was checking my sewer hook ups and noticed my fresh water hose was alive with bugs. I followed it up to the motorhome and found them all over the outside plumbing on the motorhome. I made a panic trip to the local garden shop for some bug spray. The spray did the job but for the next several months we would find a few ants in the motorhome from time to time.

Soon we were off to Yuma, Arizona. There were lots of things to do and places to go. It was only a half hour or so to Mexico and we managed to make several trips there during our stay in Yuma. Gail and I got new glasses and I picked up two genuine Rolex watches for only $15.00 each. To my surprise they are still running after several months. Gail and John had several snowbird friends in Yuma they wanted to visit so they stayed in Yuma a few days longer while we headed for Mesa.

The Mesa Rv Park was everything we remembered from the last year and we had a great time. It was the first time we had spent Christmas in a summer climate. It was neat to see all the RVs and Park models decorated in Chirstmas lights. I could go on and on about our time there but this story is about RV travel.

By mid April it was time to come back to Canada. About 3 hours into our trip we are sailing down the highway listening to 50s and 60s tunes when there was a loud bang and I saw in my mirror a large slab of rubber tumbling down the highway beside me. The left outside dual had blown. It damaged my jack as well as part of the wheel well. Of course we were in the middle of no where. Fortunately we were still in good cell coverage area and called our friends at AMA. Within a few hours our motorhome was on a flatbed truck heading back to Goodyear, Arizona. The RV shop they took us to told me my great looking tires were 5 years old and would remain a risk for us. They told me we were lucky as they get many like this. They said in most cases there are thousands of dollars in damage caused by the shredded rubber coming off the tire. They did the needed repairs to the coach and directed us to a tire shop that had the tires. We decided we did not want to have any further tire problems and opted for new tires all the way around.

Within a few days we were back home reminiscing about our adventure.

That was the second time old tires had caused serious problems for me and I have concluded I will never go on another trip with old RV tires.
The new tires helped to sell the motorhome and it was time to shop for a new one.

But that is another story.

9 August, our winter trip to Arizona (part 1)

After a great summer at the lake we saw the leaves starting to turn and the smell of fall was in the air. Our thoughts turned more and more to our planned winter stay in Arizona. We had made reservations with a Mesa RV park and I was anxious to get behind the wheel of my new diesel pusher. ( a 1999 Beaver Contessa ). A departure date was set for late October and we found ourselves counting down the days. Our surprise early snowfall the first of October further stimulated our anticipation.

Gail had always wanted to see the Oregon coast and it was decided we would drive first to the west coast and then south on the US 101. This would mean we would need to drive through the Rocky Mountains in late October, which I was a little concerned about. I was also told by a few experienced travellers that taking a 40' motorhome towing a car down the 101 could present a few challenges.

As the end of October grew closer I was watching the weather forecast for the best time to make our run through the mountains. A date was soon set and the motorhome was loaded and ready to go.

Departure day gave us an overcast morning with an optimistic weather forecast. The first 3 hours was great driving conditions with a few sunny breaks. As we drew closer to the mountains the weather started to deteriorate and we soon found ourselves in a winter blizzard. I had almost decided we would stay overnight in Hinton (the last stop before the mountains), but soon the clouds parted and it became a sunny day. We decided to proceed and were soon driving past the town of Jasper in very light snow. The light snow soon turned to heavy wet snow as it started to get dark. This is just what I was trying to avoid and it was 10 times worse then I ever thought it would be. The headlights on every motorhome I have owned have always been marginal and this one was no exception. Now the wet snow was clogging up my wipers leaving me narrow streaks that I could just see through. Now the road was white with one set of tracks that left no reference to where the shoulder was. If I tried to stop I would be risking someone running into me, if I tried to pull over to the shoulder that I could not see I could end up going down the side of the mountain. I can honestly say I have never been so scared in a driving situation in my life. But it gets worse!

In the dark and through the tiny slits of view my wipers have left me I can see a few cars and trucks pulled to the side of the road. Of course there are no pull over spots left for me as I go by the sign that says chain up area. Hmmm? I am driving a 40' 15 ton motorhome with summer tires on and dragging a car and I am about to try to climb one of many mountain grades. All I could do was put the peddle down and grasp the steering wheel even tighter with my white knuckles. The next few hours of driving was an experience I never want to live through again but we soon seen the lights of Valemount in the distance. We quickly found a service station that allowed us to park overnight.

The storm we hit was not in the forecast I saw one day before departure, but that is the chance you take when you do mountain driving in the winter.

The next morning was clear and overcast but I was not getting back on the road until I was confident we were past the storm. I could get no radio or TV reception so as a last resort I went to our CB. I quickly got a response from a trucker telling me it was clear through to our next stop Clearwater, where we were going to meet up with John and Gail our travelling companions in their motorhome.

That trip was uneventful with the exception of the washboard. Wow I have never seen anything like it. The storm had gone through about a 10 mile section of highway that left enough snow on the road to create the worse washboard I had ever seen. We were going about 10mph and it was like driving down a railroad track without the rails. That was a long 10 miles.

By late afternoon we were at Clearwater and met up with our friends. They had left two days before us and had smooth sailing all the way.

I decided to do a thorough walk around the unit to see how it had weathered the storm. Before we left I was concerned about my tow car getting rock strikes as it was being towed. We spent much time and expense mounting a bra on the front of the car to protect it. That turned out to be a bad choice. As the sand and rocks accumulated on the hood they worked their way down to the top edge of the bra, sanding the bra edge down to the metal. I was now starting to call this trip my ongoing gong show.

The next morning we were off the Chilliwack. This trip produced some long steep grades. To my surprise John was soon leaving me in dust with his 25' gas unit pulling a small car. I had expected better performance with my 330HP pusher but we were carrying a big load. We were soon in the lower mainland with the fall colors and milder temperatures.

We planned on staying at the Wal-Mart store there but it turned out to be a very small lot. Fortunately there was a larger mall across the road and we spent the night there. This gave us another chance to inspect the units where we discovered much of the rubber was missing from the front tires on John's new car. John was new to car towing and the company that sold him his tow bar went to great lengths to show him how to take it on and off but did not tell him he needed to unlock the steering to tow it. He took the car for a quick test drive and everything worked fine.

In the morning we were off to the US border and then Burlington, Washington. There was a small challenge at the border as they had concrete barriers set up that only left a few inches either side to get a motorhome through. We made it through and were soon blissfully following the instructions of our GPS taking us to Burlington. Unfortunately the GPS gives no consideration to the size of unit you are driving and we soon found ourselves on a narrow windy road in very picturesque countryside. This was OK until the top of the motorhome was brushing trees and some of the corners were putting the right wheel of my trailer in the ditch. You should never blindly follow the instructions of your GPS if you are driving a big motorhome. I would learn this lesson many times on my trip.

The GPS soon had us on a narrow gravel road with a sign that said bridge washed out. Hmmm? Now what are we going to do? The road was very narrow and I had no choice but to disconnect the trailer to get turned around then reconnect the trailer. John ended up getting stuck in his attempt to turn around and it was a two hour wait for the AMA.

The tow truck driver told us how to get to the next town about twenty miles away. By now it was pitch black outside and it was pouring rain. We drove the 20 miles on the narrow windy road in the pouring rain which had us doing about 40MPH in a 60MPH zone. We soon had a long line of cars behind us but there was nothing we could do about it. When we finally reached a main highway and found an area we could pull over, many of the cars going by gave us a blast on the horn. I don't think they were saying hi.

The next morning we made it to Burlington where we had arranged to have a new washing machine installed in the motorhome. We had ordered it several months before to insure everything was ready, but of course there were some surprises and we needed to stay two nights in their parking lot.

We soon made it to the US 101 where we came across many breathtaking views of the ocean surf. There were even a few stop and look points where we could get our big units in. It was slightly stormy which made the surf even more dramatic.

The girls wanted to get in some shopping and were watching for outlet malls. Soon they spotted a sign that led us to one. We found ourselves needing to manoeuvre through some tight spots but finally made it to a large mall parking lot. John and I had our fill of shopping after a few minutes but the girls were in there for a few hours.

We were back on the road again and I was soon understanding why the 101 is not the greatest for a large motorhome pulling a car. Narrow roads steep hills with endless turns. Gail was sitting back marvelling at the breathtaking scenery while I was trying to make it up and down the hills loaded with tight curves. This was not fun for me but she was enjoying it. Oh yes we did run into a straighter section but it was of course one of the many road construction sights we came across. It was already just a two lane highway and they had put up plastic pillions for about a 5 mile section which further narrowed the highway. Whoever decided on the location of those pilons did not understand that the crazy Canucks were coming. As I am driving down that section I can hear the pulsing of the pillions tubing under the motorhome. John told be after that he thought he ended up getting most of the ones I missed.

Of course we are going down the west coast in the rainy season so it was poring rain most of the time we were traveling.

Soon we are at one of our planned stops, Tillamook Oregon, where they have the famous Tillamook cheese factory.
We found an RV park and spent the next few days there. The tour of the factory was quite interesting and we all came out with enough cheese to do us for a while. We even found a great aviation museum in the town.

To Be Continued...