Author: Mary-Ann Knight

After a wonderful winter in Mazatlan escaping the cold & snow; we’re back!  To read about our escapes there visit my or Allan’s FaceBook page.

May 07th:     A Tale of Troubleshooting and Triumph

Today’s the day we get Bailey ready for the road.  The batteries have to get reinstalled so we are meeting Back Country’s mobile tech at storage.  Batteries in Bailey starts the first shot!  Way to go Bailey!!

Not so fast!!  Bailey stalls!  Allan restarts; stalls again.  Allan gets the error code:Meaning:   “The Winnebago error code SPN 111 FMI 1 indicates a low coolant level or a problem with the coolant level sensor circuit. This can lead to the check engine light and stop engine light turning on, with potential power derating or engine shutdown if the engine protection feature is enabled”

How does that happen?  The coolant was fine when we parked, it looks like there is coolant in there so thinking this will not solve our issue.  Off we go to Canadian Tire and buy some consentrated coolant, back at Bailey we’re  surprised it takes the entire bottle. I get a chopstick, to use as a measure stick – the fluid barely covered the bottom.  Off we go again, this time to fill our container with water.  Back again and the stick is measuring.  Let’s try to start Bailey again!!   Not only does Bailey start, she keeps running!!

Bailey pulls out of the spot with no problem.

Off to Back Country RV, finally! 

Back Country de-winterized Bailey, reinstalled the balance of the batteries, serviced the auqa hot, replaced  3 slide toppers, roof atenna, one of the bathroom faucets, sealed the roof.

May 09th:  This done we head to Diesel Tech for the engine stuff.

As fun as RVing is, it’s   

and requires               

May 14th:  Bailey’s innards are now all serviced; grease chassis, full service genset, engine, check air filter, air all tires, coolant level; they had to add more coolant.

Pick up complete!  Bailey back in storage

We’re happy Bailey is all good to go but are we?  This is a confusing “what are we going to do?” time in our lives.

About 1-1/2 years ago Allan’s right foot began to swell.  This is the condensed version of what has transpired …

The podiatrist diagnosed it as gout; medication prescribed allopurinol & colchicine for when a flare up occurs (problem is Allan has peripheral neuropathy; no he isn’t a diabetic) so can’t feel a flare up.

The no feeling in his feet caused wounds to form.  Allan has been attending a wound clinic for at least a year.  They debride the wound frequently.

Thinking it must get better as now Allan has been prescribed antibiotics (October 2024) we booked our flight & AirBnb for 4 months in Mazatlán, MX

Another podiatrist visit more tests, no new prognosis, foot still as swollen maybe more.  The podiatrist’s letter to our family doctor stated he had no clue what to do next.  Really comforting.

Shoes fitting are an issue; Allan comes up with the idea to buy 2 pairs of Brooks, each a different width.  That works!

A few weeks before leaving another wound clinic visit reveals the wounds are now extremely infected.  The wound doctor loads Allan up with a multitude of antibiotics.

Now in Mazatlán the wound requires debriding.  A friend who has spent many years here, recommends a doctor.   A great doctor!  We get the wound treated and a referral to a specialist.  Trying to keep this short, I know right, 3 doctors later they ordered a culture test.  Ended up have 4 over the next few month;  they all come back the same Bacteriological culture: Pseudomona Aeruginosa; one of the most difficult bacteria to combat.  4 more different antibiotics, one as an IV, and still the foot is the same.

Back home we’ve seen an Infectious Disease Doctor, had another culture test (this one agrees with the Mexican ones) another 2 types of antibiotics taking for 42 days.  He referred Allan to an orthopedist surgeon; this is an upcoming appointment.  Surgery is almost all but guaranteed to either remove the infection or just reattach some bones that have become dislodged and straighten that has bent during the swelling. Recovery from surgery is going to be at least 8 weeks. As it is, Allan has grown out of the Brooks for his right foot and now wears a healing sandal. Driving with this sandal just adds to our concerns.

SO… with all this we are in limbo.  Multiply appointments, tests, etc. still to come our lives are in a “what are we going to do?” state of mind.

 

There is much talk on how safe Mazatlan is, we feel VERY safe.  We exercise care and caution we you should do anywhere.  These guys and the military vessel in our little bay are always close by.  How can we not feel safe?

A walk around town

An interesting building and wow oh wow how do the construction dudes balance up there.                                                                           Top right on the rebar

Our first bus ride..  standing room only but a kind gentleman gave up his seat to me

Our 30th Anniversay Dinner

Making spicy salsa

Dinner, pork shank for Allan – bacon wrapped shrimp for me

Spanish coffee for the win!! Been forever since we had one prepared at the table

Our condo, only bad thing is no dishwasher.  So far 2 wine glasses down.

Our view from the kitchen makes dishes easy to takeThat’s if for now.  Happy 2025 everyone; hope it is the best year yet!!

 

So excited, the day has finally arrived – off to the Lethbridge Airport for our flight to Mazatlan.  Last year it took us 3 days to finally arrive in Puerta Vallarta, hoping for a quicker, smoother time.

Lethbridge to Calgary flight delayed by a mere 15 minutes.  Calgary, we wanted to grab breakfast, but with just 1-1/2h layover no time.  How great is that?

Allan heads off for pre-flight boarding biffy break..  As I’m awaiting Allan’s return I hear a voice behind me ask “do you have the time?”  I turn around and it’s 2 people wearing hoodies pulled tight.  “9 o’clock” I saw – these people are not leaving.  Felt very creepy.  One of them pulls down their hoody!  “Oh FUCK” I say, followed by big hugs.  It’s my sweeties; Kyle & Megan              We knew they were coming but they led us to believe it was the day later, in Mazatlan and we’d meet at the condo. What a great surprise followed by a great flight.

December 17th – First full day… breakfast 

On our walk to Sam’s Club (no Costco here) we encounter this lizzard       Enjoying the rays after Sam’s visit

Dinner prep time                                                Whoops, oven not working pivot to micro cooking 

Dinner figured out it’s now Kings Cribbage time!  Allan for the win and highest score since we’ve been playing.

  Sunset over the waves

Dec 18th – Walking to Walmart, we see this red, slightly overfilled pick up.  Chairs, chairs, chairs!!

Kyle and Megan crossed the street and wandered around the beach while we stocked up.  My new favourite photo of them

Another nice sunset in the making 

Highlight of today!  Kyle & Megan took us to a Brazilian restaurant – La Churrascaria Mazatlán    Super delicious and fun.

Preparing Cowboy Steak     

A first for us… “Golf carts are a popular way to get around Mazatlán, Mexico, and are known as “pulmonias”. Pulmonias are retrofitted golf carts that are open-air and a unique way to explore the city”

More fun than an Uber

December 19th – Tour day to a tequila factory and a few remote Mexican towns.

“Experience the traditions of Mexico up close on a half-day tour from Mazatlan to villages known for their tequila and other locally made products. Stop at the picturesque villages of La Noria, La Vinata, and El Quelite, where you can visit a tequila distillery, browse the handicrafts and stroll along cobblestone streets. Learn about the process of making tequila, see a blue agave plantation, and sample tequila from the producer. Your tour includes guide, entrance fees, round-trip transport from Mazatlan, and the option to upgrade to include lunch.”  We did upgrade to lunch  🙂

Stop at a bakery,  best bread!                                                      Should have bought more

Town of El Quelite: Hike up to the top of a mountain to enjoy the lookout

  Yahoo, we found “Rosie”      Off to the tequila factory

They explain the process:

December 21:  Walk the Malecon Day

Caution flags up, jelly fish	Posing with my friend the Walrus!

You’d never catch us on a scaffold, let alone one that isn’t level!  December 22:   Light Parade with Santa!  Is Mexico the only place where they hold a parade with active traffic lanes?

 

 

My attentive family, whoops my cell is in my hands as well   LOL  Gotta wonder what Megan’s smile is about

 

December 23 – A walk around the nearby pond.  Love pelicans!

Spot the lizzard??Cruise ship visiting Mazatlan   

December 24th – Last meal together – Breakfast @ La Laguna aligator ranch (Alligator Ranch) delicious food and even better company.The official receipt!   

And just like that our week is over.  To take poetic license on Dr. Seuss famous expression “We’re not sad it’s over just over the moon happy it happened”

They are off!

Dinner and the next door hamburger stand after another beautiful sunset

We missed the hot tub so…..

Allan tackled the refill   

     Getting there!

Before and “almost” after in this area

Water at temperature, our first hot tub.  October 11 @ 551a.  Yes, AM, it is normal for me to be up at this hour but it sure isn’t for Allan 🙂

Beautiful sunrise   

October 12th:  The first time in months I’m wearing pants & running shoes.  Miss my shorts and sandles already. We’re walking to No Frills cause we have no groceries. First a stop at “Knight’s Pond”Back home for a much wanted fire

It’s been a busy week; doctor, dentist, eye appointments.  Buying groceries, Costco, hair cut  and much more.  Today we have been back for a week, time sure does fly.

Got another pond walk in this time with a reward.   Our first in quite some time

Today, Covid & flu shots, done!  Tomorrow we take Bailey to be winterized, not too fond of that.

Allan found these helpful work tips

After a great summer of bucket list fulfillment ie attending 8 races, time to go home

Our last US sunrise for awhileThis little guy came to see us off and wish us safe travels

Sweet Grass, MT 927a 

Coutts, AB

  Our turn 930a

Through customs 932a 

This was the easiest border crossing, even easier than when we crossed during the height of Covid.  All the guard asked is how long we’ve been gone, how much liquor we have or any drugs.  No questions about meat, vegetables, fruit, (made sure we didn’t have any) a dog, how many people in the vehicle.  None of the regular stuff.

The border guard did point out that “you’re going the wrong way, you should be heading South!”  The US border guard when we crossed into the States in May, pointed out the same thing.

We breeze through, North to South side was very backed up and will get worse as more head South for the Winter.

Alberta sign 934a   

Bailey  has a new Winter storage home, the last one was so muddy and we didn’t have a reserved spot.  This base is gravel and we have a designated spot. We’re hoping for the best outdoor storage experience yet.

Want to start a business?  Indoor RV storage is the one to have, there are very few and those in the area are booked with waiting lists.  We even tried Great Falls MT, same all booked.  Indoor charge $300+ a month, {which we’d pay to have Bailey all warm and cozy); we’re paing $360/year.

We unload stuff from Bailey can’t winter in her, we did open a slide to make it easier.  There is more to go but Bob is full   

Summary of our trip

May 14th:  Start Mileage             86,545km/53,777m

October 10th: End Mileage         97,535km/60,605m

Total km/miles driven                  10,990km/ 6,828m

35 Stops!!

Our itinerary, click the photo to enlarge

The before and after map of the States we’ve been to in Bailey​

Take aways:

• We were gone 5 month with no power failure at home
• It’s easier to go away in the Winter, yard wise.  Although we did have someone cutting the lawn we didn’t have a weeder.  Hired one of those quickly!
• Not one State we travelled through required reuseable bags.  I now have enough plastic bags to perhaps, last a lifetime
• Illinois was our least favourite state. It has Chicago, the worst most construction  highways ever even using the by-pass
• Wisconsin was our favourite state 

Looking forward already to our next adventure

Sunrise

“Downtown” Shelby.   Most of the shops are shuttered, Covid?  It’s very sad, even the State run liquor store is gone.

Weather is still warm but oh that wind, don’t think I’ll ever get used to it.  16mph converts to 26km.  Bailey is rocking!

Not a big town but managed to get 12.297 steps.  Wonder what we’ll be up to tomorrow.

Billings to Shelby   

On the road again  Like the scenery   

Is that the dreaded “s”?Rocky Mountains or just a mountains of rocks

On to more flat lands

Some think this is pretty, I think it’s just pretty sad

More flat

What are we seeing up ahead, vehicles in our lane of a 2 lane highway.  As we get closer we determine it’s a lane painting unit.  We stop at a Rest Area, hey we’ve been here before.  When?  When we returned from Yuma.  That time, there was no one else here either, except for a snow plow.  There was snow then.

Not the nicest of parks and fairly deserted

This will be fun, what will be.  Not sure yet but it will be!!

Was its snow?No, just the Saline Depression Wetland

I was expecting Billings to be a cool Western town, I’m a little disappointed.  Perhaps we didn’t find the right places to explore. Tripadvisor wasn’t much help so we’ve had a relatively quiet week.  We still got our 10+k steps a day (except for Sep 30 our travel day)

Walked to town and back one day, that was 16,277 steps and just to town and around the last farmers market getting me 16,154 steps.  We Ubered back with the worse driver, zero personality but at least we got home safely!

Thursday we walked to pick up Amazon items from a UPS store.  We didn’t realize it was down a major street so not the most pleasant walk but we got it done and ended up with 19,441 steps.  Our reward was a “Street Fight” beer, even me had a beer.On one of our walks we spot these dueling planesSame walk, different sight

First we saw a Trump firetruck now a Tim Sheeny one. Those Republicans seem to like their trucks

So ends our Billings week.

755a we’re off, bye bye Sturgis     

No clue what this plane is about, no signs and in the middle of nowhere

It’s super dry here with a fire ban in place

There is much smoke in the air

Smoke does make for interesting skies

     

As seen at the Sheridan Rest Stop.  We all have different ideas about what a RV should look like 🙂

Active fires 

My darling battling the heavy winds for most of the trip 

Made it, Billings Village RV Park

Today Spearfish & Belle Fourche, South Dakota There is one thing in common of small-town USA; almost nothing is open on a Sunday!  We go and explore anyways.

This is a “Make the world spin”.  There is a crank you turn, spin, spin.  It’s not that easy Allan decided he was done before I could do a video  🙂

The weather is so wacked! Winds are crazy from Helene, just fortunate we are not in the middle of the storm.   

Wind gusts up to 50+mph

Next stop!  Center of the Nation

Allan has been the centre of my universe for almost ever.  Now he is also the center of the nation’s universe We need to buy some produce stuff, back to Sturgis and a quick stop for a brewsky,  Their logo and mascot

Back at Bailey super hot and oh so windy2nd day we have our slides pulled in to protect our toppers. It is cozy! Pass the time  playing King Cribbage 🙂 Our favourite game, still.

My chef!  Always stepping up!!

2nd night I had to wake my Sweetie who sleeps through everything to close the bedroom slide.

We are sleeping sideways again tonight!  Meaning our bed slide is closed, Hopefully our nex stop will be less windy.