BC to Cuyutlan - Part 2

All packed and on the road leaving Tempe with John & Pat in their SportMobile at sun up on Sunday. Frost on the windshield. It's quite an arduous drive from Tempe, past Tucson, across the border at Nogales, customs, immigrations and vehicle permit at Km 22, then miles of scrub desert and maniacal drivers on the highway down to San Carlos. Temperature at 26C.

We arrived just before sunset at Pat's brother's casa on the water...a most welcoming spot to rest and to get prepared for our next jaunt down the highway.

John and Pat took us sightseeing to La Hotel Playa de Cortes on la Playa Miramar near Guaymas. The hotel is situated on a magnificent shoreline and appears to be making a valiant effort to remain grand. 

Guaymas looks like it is still suffering from the economic downturn but it had some festive Christmas decorations in its square...

Babe in a bauble in downtown Guaymas

Babe near a manger...

Wandering through downtown Guaymas we happened upon a churros stand and had to pick up a bag of these warm, sugary treasures.

Here's one for you, Mark!

This morning, Dec. 31, Meg and I bid farewell to J&P and headed out of San Carlos just after sunrise. John directed us to a handy bypass that skirts around Guaymas and a highway toll booth that hooked us back onto Hwy 15 on the coast. Thus we began a long day of driving, at times on a very narrow, shoulerless highway, contending with risky speed demons behind the wheel of every passing vehicle. We feel safer taking the toll roads which means paying 65 to 160 pesos about a dozen times today. The free roads meander through many small dusty towns where, more often then not, topes (speed bumps) bring traffic flow to a grinding stop. There are topes on the toll road as well but, generally, traffic flows more steadily.

As we apporached Mazatlan storm clouds gathered near the mountains. The sun was still shining so an enormous rainbow popped up. For awhile it became a double rainbow...a good omen. 

As it is New Year's Eve most businesses were closed in Mazatlan and people were getting ready to party. 


We, on the other hand, were getting ready to find shelter...looking for a handy hotel/motel. I have mentioned these convenient motels in a previous blog. We like them because they are safe, clean and secure. Tonight we lucked into the best one yet...the Sole Grand Motel just south of Mazatlan. It's superb! Our biggest trial is trying to understand what the person behind the squawkbox at the front gate was saying (rapid Spanish is difficult for us) but eventually we drove into our unit, dropped the garage door, gathered our gear heading up the marble stairs our well appointed nest for the evening. We booked in for the deluxe 12 hour stint - queen bed, A/C, double sinks, super wonderful hot rain shower, entertainment tower, sofa, mirrors, mirrors everywhere, free wi-fi, slippers and a raised dias with a pole for dancing (or whatever...?) All this plus free beer for 220 pesos (less than $20)

Secure garage ...

with trendy decor...  

Wonderful rain shower

Whoddathunkit?

 

Since you cannot leave the unit once you have started your 'time clock', we ordered dinner which was discretely delivered in the private. rotating lazy susan. Dinner was great, yummy and less than $8 complete with 2 Coronas. Who needs anything more than this, eh?

Discrete food delivery

Feliz ano nuevo!!

 Oh ya, I almost forgot. Along the road today we passed this rock signage on a hillside, near Los Mochis, I believe. Meg has been diligently studying Spanish for a few years and converses rather well in most situations. But her love of cars overrode her linguistics when she translated this phrase as "Jesus is my truck!".   Chevy's El Camino may not be as highly revered in this nation.

Feliz ano nuevo!!

BC to Cuyutlan - 2013 - Part 1

Although we were not sure if we would ever get packed and on the road south, we drove through the slush and crossed the border last Sunday afternoon for a short drive to Seattle to overnight and catch up with some ol' friends. 

Off fairly early the next morning we drove through constant greasy rain showers from Seattle through Portland until the sun finally broke through the clouds over Grant's Pass. By then it seemed like a good time to stop so the Travelodge in Medford, OR was the spot. It seemed awfully familiar...obviously it had been a rest stop from one of our many trips to and from Mexico. Even the Black Bear Diner was familiar and a great place for yummy comfort food.

From the start of planning our route I was worried about what road and weather conditions we would encounter on the passes on the I5 near the Oregon/California border. The Siskiyou Pass in December can be treacherous but we decided to tackle it.

No problema...sunny skies and tiny clumps of snow on the edge of the road. The only adverse condition was dense freezing fog around Yreka, CA (the dragon and cow were barely visible). We stopped briefly in Weed to use the WiFi at McDonald's and gas up.

near Weed

The woman at the gas counter told me it would be a gorgeous drive along Hwys 89 & 44 to Susanville and it was. Blue, blue skies, clear road and very little traffic. And so we continued south through Reno, took the right turn at Fallon and down the 95 to Hawthorne, NV, another previous layover on the trips south and north. Hawthorne seems to exist for the huge ammunition storage depot encircling the town. 

Bomb art in Hawthorne,NV

 We celebrated Christmas Eve in a sleazy motel in Hawthorne drinking dirty martinis (0:

With no reason to hang around the motel Christmas morning at -4C(25F) we hit the highway. There was no traffic, sunny skies and miles of barren landscape. We stopped for breakfast at a saloon/casino in Tonopah, once a flourishing silver-mining town.

The temperature rose during the day to a high of about 17C(63F)...way too hot for long sleeves and jeans for us but obviously winter temps for the bundled Nevada natives. With Tempe, AZ within reach we drove past Las Vegas, over the new bridge by the Hoover Dam,

eventually arriving at our friends' cozy home in Tempe.

We love Tempe. Home of the saguaro cactus,

Arizona State University and lots of interesting shops and shopping centres. It's an extremely pleasant spot where we catch up with our friends, relax a little and reorganize ourselves for the next adventure.

The same...but different..

Yes, that was the same procedure as Meg had last week, on Grey's Anatomy tonight, but there were a few major differences: 

Meg's neurosurgeon, although very charming, was no Derek Shepard nor Avery Jackson.

Tonight's procedure went far too quickly. Derek said it would take 30 minutes....Meg's procedure took 4 hours...and that's not even counting any preop consultations, MRI, blood tests or even the universal decontamination.

The patient was sitting up in bed, smiling and chatting post procedure showing no signs of headache, medication woes or wobblies. Meg, on the other hand, was down for the count for 3 days before she sat up and tried to chat and she wasn't even close to becoming a happy camper until day 4. 

But it was a huge surprise, nonetheless, that a hemi facial spasm was a topic this week. Is that life imitating art or art imitating life?

A Speedy Recovery (0:

It's quite amazing to think that just 8 days ago Meg had instruments probing her brain and today she is feeling substantianlly better. It's still going to take rest and easy living to get her back on board but she is a happy camper. Not quite ready for a marathon but well on her way to recovery. There is no sign of the spasm so things are terrific! The incision is still gross but Meg can't see it so all is well!!

She's home (0:

Meg texted me just before noon that she would be discharged from the ward between 12 and 1. Although the nursing staff have been very attentive and considerate, it was an anti climatic shuffle passed the nursing station on our way to the exit...no one seemed to notice.

Meg is now at home, snug in her comfy bed, resting from a very eventful 5 days. She is very happy to be here. 

Excuse me while I change into my Nurse Betty outfit <0 font="">

Day 4...improving..

It certainly isn't Club Med but VGH NICU is a good place to be when you are recovering from brain surgery. Meg is progressing slowly. It would help if she got a good night's sleep but that is not too realistic. Meg's neurosurgeon does not want her to go home until all systems are back to normal so she is being monitored. If things go well today I may be able to pick her up in the afternoon. (0:  I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Day 2 - on the mend, sew to speak...

Well today Meg is doing a lot better than yesterday. She got her IV and arterial lines taken out and was up walking around the ward. As expected, she still has a headache, though it could be due to the steroids they gave her after surgery which have caused her blood pressure sky rocket. Now they are giving her another drug to counter the steroids. Hopefully it will balance out soon. 

Some people will go to extraordinary lengths to achieve the best Halloween effects each year. You have to give Meg credit for coming up with the greatest scary scar ever. If only they had added two little knobs on her neck...

Happy Halloween!!

Day 1 - post op

Meg was sitting up when I visited her this morning. Although she tried to carry on a conversation, she was extremely tired and wanted to rest/sleep. She didn't get much, if any, sleep last night. I thought she looked good considering what she went through 24 hours ago. 

According to my VGH source, Meg was up this afternoon but is still suffering from a boomer of a headache and was not too chipper. I think she will be in NICU another night. It's a good place to be.

It's over...she is in NICU

I just got home from the hospital.  Meg is recovering in the neuro ICU. She is very groggy and just wanted to sleep. The twitch was not evident. I would say the procedure was a success! She will most likely be transfered to the neuro ward tomorrow. Thank goodness for a talented surgical team!

She is in good hands...

It was a beautiful morning...clear and crisp at 4:45 a.m. when we drove over to VGH. It's an ideal time to drive...not a lot of traffic.

Everything was flawless. We whipped through Admitting and were up in the peri-operatve area before 6. There Meg got into her little gown, had all her vital signs taken, had electrodes glued to her head and ears and was attached to an IV drip. Next up was a procedure which was developed at VGH....universal decolonization. Methylene Blue up the nostrils followed by two minutes of laser light times two.

Pretty slick! Then a visit from the anesthesiologist and the neurosurgeon and she was off....

Motherboard upgrade...

Tomorrow morning Meg and I will be at Vancouver General Hospital at 5:30 to get Meg checked in for her motherboard update. Specifically it will be microvascular decompression for the hemifacial spasm that she has been suffering from for the past 8 years. She has tried the Botox and drug treatments, both of which turned out to be bandaid efforts.

Only a month or so ago Meg went to see her physician, was fortunate to see a locum who realized that Meg should see a neurosurgeon, saw the neurosurgeon the next week, was fortunate to get a cancelation MRI, then got an earlier OR date than expected....hence the date in the morning. Some things just fall into place,eh? 

In preparation for a convalescence at home, Meg, not being one to sit idly, demolished her dark green bedroom last week, added a small wall to fill in a too large doorway, drywalled, sanded, painted it a bright cheery yellow, designed and constructed two dressers and a bookcase, installed Berber carpeting and a new leather sleigh bed. I painted a wall tattoo (0: The room looks spectacular! 

To cheer us up, Taegan was over for a sleepover last night. She is SO much fun!! Besides calling us Oma and Momi, to our surprise and delight, she has started calling us Meg and Marni. Then while watching TV she grabbed my hand with her left and Meg's hand with her right and sat between us, happy and content.

This afternoon Meagan gave Meg a very stylish short haircut. Tomorrow a preop swath will make it even shorter.

 

  

So we are currently bedded down in a friend's basement suite in Vancouver... awaiting a 4:30 a.m. series of alarm clocks on our phones and tablets. This chapter will continue in the morning....

HGTV may be Reality TV but it is not Real!

Over the summer I have watched many DIY shows on HGTV. I especially like the show where the woman gets the owners out of their house then comes in with a crew and completely renovates the kitchen/living room/family room in the time it takes for the owners to have dinner and see a movie. Where is she when we need her?

Currently Meg and I are renovating the downstairs bathroom and laundry room at the kids' house. We planned on a simple demolition, adjusting the walls to accommodate a larger bathroom/smaller laundry room, leaving the construction of the new and improved shower area until later. 

Demolition is the part I like.  In most reno episodes on TV, I believe that the deconstruction portion generally show happy, smiling home-owners swinging heavy tools through walls and cupboards.  There is a certain satisfaction that comes from punching through drywall, ripping it off, wielding the BIG crowbar and tearing out studs! What isn't shown all that much on TV (except, maybe, on 'Love It or List It') are the surprises that arise once the walls are punched out. This is when the unorthodox patterns of wiring and plumbing appear, when past water seepage and critter trails are exposed, and when dubious prior construction projects leave you gobsmacked.

       

We have seen them all on this bathroom reno. Everything can be remedied but each remedy takes way more time than planned. Case in point - stripping the vinyl flooring from the concrete. It was really easy to strip it where the water seeped out of the shower but in the dry areas it is taking hours and hours (possibly days and days!) to scrape it off. It's a hand tool, inch-at-a-time kind of job. You never see this on TV.

Another surprise was the concrete shower base that showed signs of questionable bonding to the concrete floor. Meg decided it needed to be lifted...good decision! After demolishing most of the form simply by using a concrete chisel, mallet and beaucoup de elbow grease & sweat, no bonding agent seemed to have been present on the outer edges. All of the 'Bondo' must have been poured around the drain where I am sure we will have to use tiny sticks of dynamite and maybe a jackhammer to loosen the pour. Again this will take days to accomplish and is never seen on TV. 

One the brighter side, our little project inspector, Taegan, is always around to cheer us on and up! She loves to pick up a tool or two to join in to help. This morning she trotted in while Meg was up the ladder about to solder some copper pipe.  Taegan would say 'Whazzat?" and Meg would explain what she was doing and say each tool and material she was using. (You can never get toddlers interested in the trades too soon!)

This went along smoothly until Meg, forgetting that T hasn't mastered the letter L yet, picked up the flux and said " Can you say 'flux'?  .....  We both were aghast at T's rapid response and had to stifle any signs of our horrified reaction.


Our bodies are feeling the rigors of this physical effort. We are no longer 'puppies' but we do love the finished product of our labour. It will still be there in the morning and tomorrow is another day...

Alive and well but,seemingly, too busy to blog...

Well, Fevered Brain, I must have sobered up from those cocktails in Santa Fe by now. I can't believe I haven't blogged since August but tempus fugit. I have pretty much forgotten the road trip back to BC from NM...it was a long way and seems like long ago. I started that last post at some point but neglected to fill in all the blanks and publish it.

In September, after Taegan's first birthday, Erin returned to work so Meg and I began our year of babysitting duties that we gladly volunteered to do. It has been a wonderful experience for me. I have changed diapers and played house and had tea parties, things I never have done prior to T. I had thought that there would be time to blog while T was off playing or napping but those moments did not seem to materialize - hence the dearth of words over time.

You can see why we are having soooo much fun (0:

It's raining today, a perfect day to catch up on this blog.

Last September, Meg's powers of manifesting were in tiptop form when we once again got a call from the Pacific National Exhibition informing us that we won another PNE Prize car...this time a red 2012 Prius V.

 I had always wanted to drive a Prius because they are so economical and it seemed like a wise, peppy, eco-friendly car to drive (51 mpg). We exchanged the red V for a spiffy deep blue one. It had lots of bells and whistles - solar panels in the roof for cooling the car, back up camera with a monitor in the dashboard, great graphics to watch power generation and consumption. The problem was we had just imported a 2004 Subaru Baja Turbo from the US of A a week before our windfall. Turns out, for me the Baja was way more fun to drive - I definitely prefer a stick shift to an automatic - and it is so gutsy. After 2 weeks of tootling around in the Prius, Meg listed it on Craigslist and it was another notch for our vehicle board.

Speaking of vehicles, we sold our C class TravelAire RV, as well. It seemed too big for us. It sleeps 6. Nice vehicle but not the right fit.

In October, Meg found a 2000 Rialta, flew over to Edmonton to pick it up and drove it over the Rockies just ahead of the first snowstorm of the season. It has a very comfortable layout that suits our needs. We took it down to Oregon in the fall for its initial outing. We dubbed her 'Riley', as in "the Life of..". She is a keeper as she is a sipper of gasoline at ~22 MPG. A better fit...

That cold/flu bug that made the rounds over the fall and winter kept hunting me down and attacking ever 2 weeks or so. I was never healthy enough to get a flu shot. Meg decided that in order to survive the season, I would have to see some sunshine and warm weather so, in February, we packed up Riley and our golf clubs and headed down the I-5 to California. We almost didn't make over the Siskiyou Pass. Meg was overwhelmed by a virulent bug that sidelined her to the bed in the back. Being the perpetual navigator I was not too keen on driving but wanted to make it over the pass before an anticipated snowstorm. We managed to make it to Medford, OR to overnight it before the flu bug started to bounce around in my innards. Feeling like death-warmed-over the next morning, I focused on getting over the pass, into California and into the first rest stop we could find to sleep and recoup a little. Meg rallied the next day, more or less, and got us down the rest of the I-5, through gridlock in LA/Pasadena and into Hemet.

Hemet is about an hour west of the Palm Springs/Palm Desert area. It's got a few well equipped RV parks and plenty of cheap golf courses. We found some fine courses with 18-holes of golf plus a cart for under $15. It was great...and the colds disappeared. Mind you, we did run into snow flurries one morning in Yucaipa, CA...about 30 minutes west of Hemet. It wasn't super hot but there was sunshine and golf! 

We made another outing to Port Townsend in March to join the RVW group. It was a fun weekend but we encountered an unseasonable snowstorm at the ferry dock in Coupeville, WA and slipped and slid through the parking lot. Port Townsend is so picturesque and full of quaint diners and shoppes. We took a wooden steamboat tour of the harbour.



Last month I won a weekend for two to the 'Passport to Woodenville' . It included two nights at the very nice Hilton Garden Inn in Bothell, WA   and a two-day passport to sample wine at over 30 local wineries. The hotel drove us to the warehouse district where about half of the wineries have distribution centers and sipping stations. What a blast! and, Wow!, did we ever sip some wonderful reds. Not being much of a white wine aficionado, I was surprised to taste some palatable white wines, too. We even sampled some mighty smooth vodkas and some brutal bourbons. The next day we visited the remaining wineries around and about Woodenville. It's hard to say but we soon both hit our limit. It's a matter of survival - sip, swirl and spit!

That's probably enough of a catch up for now...
I'll be baaaack...!!