'I appreciate your professionalism' - Part 7

As I wrote yesterday, we stayed at the Historic Coronado Motor Hotel on 4th Street.  This is not your typical old, rundown motel.....it has been well maintained over the years, and is completely modern.  We had the 'Economy Queen' room for $89/night (found the deal using TRIVAGO), which includes a regrigerator, microwave, desk, and a full cooked breakfast ($17.00 value) at their restaurant (Yuma Landing Bar and Grill).  The hotel takes up an entire block on both sides of the street, and is just 1.5 blocks from Interstate 8, and then another 10 miles to the border parking lot for Los Algodones.  It took us less than 15 minutes door to door to get to the border.  We were also just a 10 minute walk from their historic Main Street where Prison Hill Brewing, and numerous other restaurants/shops are located.

 Our 'economy' Queen room (couch turns into a hide-a-bed)

Most of hotel is one story, but there are two 2 story buildings

We were up by 0600, eating breakfast by 0700, fueling up for our return trip at the local ARCO station by 0750 ($1.67/gallon for Premium Unleaded....best I have paid here in SoCal is $2.19), and then back to our room to pick up our bags and on the road by 0820 for Los Algodones.

My first appointment of the day (0915 hours) was with Jose A. Hernandez, DDS (endodontics) to finish my root canal started just a little under two weeks prior.  Normally the entire root canal would have been done in one sitting, but since there was some residual infection from the tooth that had been pulled he decided to let it drain a little more before he finished.....I thought that was a good idea.  We arrived at his office by 0855, and I was in the 'chair' by 0910.  TLE's first appointment was not until 1030 hours, so she hung out and read a book.  Dr. Hernandez was finished with me by 1020, and then it was across the courtyard to Dr. Urena's office for my 1100 appointment.  TLE (her appointment was at 1030) got her new crown installed, so her work is done until the fall (couple of old fillings which need to replaced).  

My appointment (1100) with Dr. Urena involved taking impressions for a temporary crown ($40) for the tooth that had just had the root canal, and the installation of a temporary crown.  Dr. Urena wants to wait before she puts in the permanent crown to give the gum time to heal from the extraction, which was right next to the root canal tooth.  I was done by 1130 with that part, but had to wait 90 minutes for the temporary crown.....as it turned out, it only took an hour and I had my temp crown!  

So here's my dental schedule going into the Fall.....I'll return to Dr. Urena on April 18th for my dental implant (to replace the extracted tooth), then return in 10 days for the surgical followup.  Next September after Lake Tahoe I'll return to get my temporary crown replaced with the permanent one, and also the permanent crown to go over the dental implant post.....then I will be done.

We were on our way back to the border by 1300 hours (Arizona time).  When we arrived at the US Customs checkpoint there was quite a long line.......

Long, long line

......at least a block long, but it moved quickly and we were back to our car by 1330.......right across the street from the US Customs line is a Mexican restaurant with alfresco dining.....the next time there is a long line at US Customs I think we'll stop off there first for a few brews and wait in the shade until the line gets shorter.....:-)

Once we were on I-8 heading home we switched our clocks back to California time which is one hour earlier.  We stopped once at the ARCO travel center in Salton City to change drivers (go to the bathroom, too), and then again at the Starbucks in Mecca for.......you guessed it....a mocha frappuccino (TLE an iced coffee)......we hadn't eaten since 0700 Arizona time, and we were getting hungry!  TLE had us home by 1630 hours........that was a long day!

For the record, we know there are dentists in Los Algodones who claim to charge way less, but the old maxim "you get what you pay for" keeps me from checking them out.  We love Dr. Urena and Dr. Hernandez, and are quite happy with their professionalism, and pricing.

Thanks for stopping by!