durrelllrobert - 8-14-2011 at 12:21 PM
I doubt if anyone missed me during the 7 weeks that I was gone from this board but I've been to hell and back.:
day 1: Punta Banda to Mesquite NV.
-10 hours including 2 in line and 1 in secondary at Otay.
-Room at Virgin River sucked and lost a bunch of $$ at casino.
day 2: Mesquite NV to Butte MT.
-11 hours. Room at Comfort Inn was great but lost a bunch of $$$ at (Montana style) casino.
day 3: Butte MT to Edmonton, Alberta Canada.
-12 hours including 2 hours at Canadian Immigration office.
days 4 through 47 visiting wifes relatives in Alberta.
- Rained 40 of those days with tons of viscous blood sucking mosquitos (at least our scorpions don't attack you).
- Did the Canadian "camping" thing 6 of those days (sat in trailer in the rain).
-Did the Canadian "baseball tournament" thing 3 of those days because 1 of wifes son played on 1 team and 1 of her brother in- laws played on
another.It started on Fri and was a double elimination tourney starting with 250 teams. Both teams her relatives were on made it to finals on Sun
(which meant I sat in rain about 8 hours per day for 3 days straight.
- Oh yea I forgot that the first day I arrived in Edmonton my engine spun a rod bearing and a wrist pin came loose and scored the cylinder wall (no
oil to that cylinder) so had have it towed to garage and rent a car (why didn't I just fly there and rent the car?). Turned out it was cheaper to buy
a used engine then to rebuild mine.
- Everything was very expensive in Canada including gasoline (@ $1.29 per LITER = $5.20 US per gallon) ,food (chicken breast @ $10.99 lb, lettuce @
$1.99 per head, etc) and especially booze (cheapest vodka was $27 per liter and VO was $42).
day 48: Wife finally agreed we could go home next day.
day 49: Edmonton to Butte MT.
-11 hours including 1 hour in US Customs secondary.
-Stayed at Comfort Inn again and lost another bunch of $$ at casino.
day 50: Butte to Mesqite. Yep,
-Lost another bunch of $ in casino.
day 51: Mesqite to Chula Vista.
-Took 8 hours instead of usual 6 because a double tanker truck overturned spilling 30,000 gals of diesel and catching on fire on freeway just as you
entered North Las Vegas. I15 was completely shut down in south bound direction and everone had to use surface streets until after you were almost past
the strip (no, I didn't stop at the casino).
-Got to Chula Vista around noonish and stocked up for groceries at Costco/ Walmart/Vons (muchas $) before heading back to Punta Banda
-2-1/2 hours to Punta Banda including 1/2 hour in secondary
- got home around 6 only to find kitchen and office flooded and mold growing on tile floors and bottom of drywall (pipe under sink had broke). I had
turned off the pila pump before I left but one of my nieghbors (not DENNIS) had turned it back on (I told him he could use the guest house bathroom
while his was being re-modeled) and never shut it off (muchas $$$ for repairs).
It's good to be back in paradise again. - Bob
Marc - 8-14-2011 at 04:54 PM
So, other than that , how did it go??
BornFisher - 8-14-2011 at 08:24 PM
Has to be the best non Baja trip I ever read! That`s the chance you take leaving Baja!
Does remind me of what my Uncle Big Paul told me. He said the only thing better than owning a ranch in Butte, was playing piano in a house of ill
repute!!! He said he would give up fame and riches, just to play for those old-------- errrrrrrrr, um cough, cough, excuse me!!
Did like the report, I`m sure you actually had a great trip!!
Lindalou - 8-15-2011 at 02:54 PM
Bob, if I were you among never going to Canada again ( I know wifes grand babies are there.) I would never enter the doors of a Casino again. I think
she must have had a really good time cause all I heard were the good parts. I don't think you had any!