I was up just before 5 am Tuesday in anticipation of our 3.5 hour drive south to Los Algodones, Mexico for our annual dental checkups. This year, for a change, we had no major issues with which to deal......just a cleaning for both TLE and I, and a report on our dental health.
We were in the VW and exiting the Elks Lodge parking lot at precisely 6:30 am. Usually I drive the first 100+ mile leg of the 218 mile trek to Salton City, CA where there is a large ARCO truck stop. We go to the bathroom, and sometimes fuel up there (which we did) before continuing the drive to Los Algodones with TLE at the helm. We arrived in Salton City (on the shores of the Salton Sea) a little after 8 am, and were back on the road by 8:20.....
Imperial Sand Dunes.....
.....once we hit Interstate 8 it is only another 48 miles to Los Algodones Road. About 10 miles before we exit the Interstate we pass through the Imperial Sand Dunes. The state (California) has been gradually, over the past 3 years, repaving this stretch of the Interstate from the Arizona border to the CA-111 exit. We were hoping they would be done by now, and they almost are, but we still had to drive through about 20 miles of construction zones once again.
We arrived in the Quechan Casino border parking lot around 9:50 am, and were across the border into Baja California by 10 am on our way to Dr. Eva Urena's offices on the corner of Avenida B and Calle Cuarta.
We made a quick stop at 'Best Optical' where TLE ordered new eye glasses.....trifocals, computer glasses and reading glasses to be picked up later in the day after our dental appointments.
We arrived at Dr. Urena's offices by 10:40, and I was sitting in the 'chair' a few minutes later having my teeth cleaned. During my dental health examination by Dr. Urena it was determined that the screw which attaches one of my crowns to a dental implant had come a little loose, so Dr. Urena removed the crown (you just unscrew it), cleaned the crown, installed a better screw, and then reinstalled the crown. The whole process took less than 20 minutes and I was back in the waiting room whilst TLE had her cleaning. Total cost for our cleanings and examinations was $35/person. Sweet!
The line to get back into the USA was the longest we have ever seen (we were told it was even longer Monday), and when we finally got to the end of the line we were about 2 blocks from the border station. Usually it takes about a hour from there, but we were handing our U.S. Passports over for scanning a little less than 45 minutes later and walking back to our car.
End of the line
We had made reservations at the historic Coronado Motor Hotel on 4th street in Yuma so we first headed there, checked in and then over to Old Town Yuma, and Prison Hill Brewing.....our favorite local micro brewery.....
First time I've been here when I wasn't having major dental surgery the next day.....😋
......we sat talking, drinking and eating for over an hour......I was very grateful that, for a change, we had no major dental issues requiring surgery, implants, root canals, etc. Just a normal checkup. We were back at our hotel room by 6:30 relaxing after a long, UNEVENTFUL day.
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Hi guys......I'm drilling following your blog and what your up to. So glad your enjoying the warmer weather, time with family and just enjoying your free time at life. I am in North Carolina till next Monday. I fly back to Phoenix on Tuesday. Will have been here 3 weeks and just living it. My son and new daughter in law wedding was just beautiful. I stayed and took care of the their fur babies last week while they honeymooned in Azul Mexico. I talked to Kathy yesterday, things are still as crazy as ever there. Take care!
ReplyDeleteHi Sherry! Good to hear from you! We are so enjoying the warmer weather and visiting with our kids, grand kids and great grand child. Just returned from an overnight trip to Los Algodones, MX and the dentist. We'll be departing SoCal on the 14th headed for Maine for the summer. Glad you had a great trip back east.
ReplyDeleteGood to hear ......I look forward to following your blog with adventures in Maine.
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