"I appreciate your professionalism" - Part 6

My date with the 'ROOT CANAL' doctor (Dr. Hernandez, Endodontics) was Wednesday at 1030 hours.  The last root canal I had was some 20 years ago, and even then it was still something very unpleasant, and to be avoided if at all possible.  So, naturally, I was not looking forward to my date with Dr. Hernandez, even though I knew I really had no choice.....avoid the root canal and have an even bigger problem in the not too distant future.

My first appointment, to have my stitches removed, was at 1000 hours at Dr. Urena's office, and since I also wanted to get my new optical prescription installed in my existing frames we needed to get there by 0900 to give them the 2-3 hours it takes to make and install the new lenses.  All that being said I was up by 0300, and TLE a short time later.......we were in the car and on our way south by 0430 to drive the 213 miles to Los Algodones.

Sunrise over the Salton Sea

TLE took the first driving leg to the ARCO Travel Center at Salton City where we took a bathroom break, and then I continued the drive south from there.  We arrived at the Quechan border parking lot at 0900, parked, and were at 'Best Optical' by 0910 placing my order.  Since I was using my existing daily wear frames, and my sports glasses frames all I was paying for was the lenses.  In my daily wear frames I have both 'transition' (bifocals with no line) and 'progressive' (they get darker out in the sun light) lenses, and just 'transition' in my sports optical glasses.  Back when I first got my Bolle sports optical glasses it cost me over $300 (in the USA) just for the transition lenses......the lenses for my daily wear glasses were over $200.  My total cost at Best Optical for both pairs with a 2.5 hour wait......$158!  

After paying for the new lenses we walked down two blocks to Dr. Urena's office where I had my stitches removed, then over to Dr. Hernandez' office (a 100 feet away) for my root canal....my appointment was for 1030, but Dr. Hernandez did not begin the root canal until 1100.  I'm used to waiting in dentist chairs, but this is were the similarity to prior experiences ended......it took about 45 minutes for the entire process, and I was never in any pain, or discomfort (beyond the obvious discomfort of being in a dentist's chair).  The whole process was so much faster and pain free than my previous experiences.  My last root canal (20 years ago) cost close to $1,500 (20 years ago).....my cost at Dr. Hernandez' office in Los Algodones.....$430.

  New lenses installed!

We were on our way walking back to Best Optical by noon time, picked up my glasses and were across the border getting into our car by 1220......I might add that the optical technicians were very professional making sure the new lenses were what I was expecting, and being sure the frames were properly adjusted to my facial features.  Since we hadn't eaten since 0400 it was time for lunch so we stopped at the Quechan Casino (where we stayed in the Newell a few weeks ago) to at their food court to eat before getting on I-8 for our trip home.  Our drive home was totally uneventful, although we did stop briefly at the Red Earth Casino (Indian casino) near Salton City to fuel up before arriving home a little after 1600 hours.  By the way, the $2.29/gallon we paid for Premium unleaded was the best we have paid in a few years! In all we covered close to 430 miles (we could have been within 30 miles of Lake Tahoe after that many miles), and were quite tired from our 12 hour adventure.

The forecast rain began just as we arrived home, and continued on and off all night into the early morning hours.....a nice way to end a long day!

Thanks for stopping by!