La Dentista

7:55 am - MT - Tuesday - 55º F, humidity 74%, wind 5 mph out of SSE......high wispy clouds, but there is sun, or at least the promise of it!

Our entire purpose for being here at the 'Q' (Quechan Casino) as it is affectionately referred to by the locals is its proximity to Los Algodones and our dentista, Dr. Eva Urena.  TLE and I both had appointments Monday morning.....TLE at 10 am, and moi at 11 am.  It was determined on our last visit a month ago that my gums needed to heal a little more before taking the all important impressions for my two crowns.  TLE came away from our visit a month ago with the knowledge she would need 2, maybe 3 root canals in the future.  So with the stage now set for our next adventures in dental repair let us look at the happenings in Los Algodones on Monday.....

After my last visit to Dr. Urena I was discouraged......I had been waiting since last April to get my crowns done, and after my visit showing I had not done a good job at keeping food out of the area around the dental post, and the tooth stub upon which my two crowns would be mounted I was determined to do a better job.  Well, that hard work paid off and Dr. Urena pronounced my gums in much better condition, and ready for the impressions which must be taken in order to manufacture the two crowns.....what a relief.  I was in the chair for less than 30 minutes, and then it was just waiting possibly two more days to get them installed on Wednesday.....Friday at the latest.

TLE's news was not as good........after her consultation it was determined she had a cracked tooth, and two additionally old fillings in two other teeth that have gone bad.....all three teeth will require ROOT CANALS!!  So Dr. Hernandez, the endodontist, began the work on the first tooth whilst I read a book in the waiting room......in all she was in the chair about 90 minutes.  When TLE came out to the reception area the receptionist advised that if TLE was willing all three root canals could be completed this week in two more appointments on Tuesday, and a final two appointments on Thursday......she agreed....she is one tough chick....I am so impressed!

We were on our way back to the border crossing by 1:30 pm where we found a ginormous line about a block long.....the longest by far for us. Based on our last re-entry into the USA at this crossing it took us 90 minutes with a much, much shorter line, however, on this Monday the computers were working quite fast, and they had all four windows manned.....we were across the border and on our way to the car in less than 30 minutes!

I had a couple of projects to work on in the afternoon, one of them was the repair if the power cord for the trailer.....some how in backing up in a truck stop parking lot Sunday the cord had been pinched and severed meaning I had no trailer lights (brakes, turn signals) for the last 7 miles to the 'Q'.  Fortunately I have all the necessary things needed to make such a repair.  Now there are 7 pretty heavy gauge wires in that cord that had to be reconnected so it took a while, but not because it is complicated, just because you have to take your time to be sure all the couplings are properly crimped so they wires will not pull apart again.  Then I had to slip some of that rubbing tubing over each coupling that one then shrinks with a heat gun, one of which I have......the power source?..... my handy, dandy Predator generator.  Once all the wires were connected, but before I wrapped the whole area with electricians tape, I plugged it back in to be sure power was restored.......while TLE turned on the turn signals I walked back to check and they worked!  Once the test was done I carefully wrapped the exposed wires in several layers of black electricians tape.

The second project, which has only come up since the 2nd to last day we were at Crossroads.....somewhere in my 12 volt electrical system there is a phantom draw.  Normally when everything (lights,heaters, etc.) is turned off there is a slight draw of about 2 amps per hour.....that has been consistent for the past 5 years.  Suddenly it has mysteriousl climbed to 9-10 amps per hour, which means there is either a short somewhere, or perhaps one of my two 8D batteries is going bad.  I began checking grounds at all the usual places, but so far have been unable to locate the drain.  Fortunately I have a three way marine grade switch that disconnects the two batteries from most of the coach accessories (it has three settings.....battery 1, battery 2, or both), so I turned the switch to the 'OFF' position, and saw that the draw dropped to a minuscule .2 amps per hour......WOW.....why haven't I been doing that just as a matter of course every night when dry camping, or boondocking?  So, just when you think you've learned everything about your motorhome you probably haven't.  I still need to find the cause of the drain, but at least I have a temporary solution that allows me to isolate the batteries from whatever is draining them at night giving me time to figure it out.  When I got up this morning (Tuesday) the batteries were still at 100%.  Typically we would lose anywhere from 5-6% of our charge overnight.....now I can reduce that to zero, even after I find the short, or whatever it is.

We had a nice sunset.........

 Sunset at the 'Q'

.....our evening's entertainment consisted of watching '24 Legacy', a reprise of the popular TV show from a few years ago called, simply, '24'.  Like the original '24' this reprise is also filmed in 'real time', meaning that each episode covers exactly one hour of of time in a day.  Each season covers a single 24 hour period, which means there are 24 one hour episodes.  We love the concept, and so far we are enjoying the new '24 Legacy'.

Thanks for stopping by!