Season 2: RV Mexico | Preparing to Leave (Ep 37 Full Time RV Living Vlog)

We said snow or Mexico. Never in my wildest dreams did I think we would do snow in Mexico. Alright, here we are in Arizona. One week before we leave for Mexico. And you'd think in our preparation we would be focusing on gear, preparations of language and what not. But here is how we are preparing. ¡Bienvenidos! Welcome to Season 2. Welcome to Mexico. La Panita RV Resort. We are here and it's amazing. I can't even believe that Season 1 had 36 episodes. No kidding. That's crazy. It seems like yesterday we were just releasing Episode 1 to about 300 people. I had no idea what I was doing. The audio was all jacked up. And believe me, I heard about it in the comments. But by the third video, I at least figured out how to make the audio work. One of the things I like most about sharing this adventure and doing this is the KYD community. You guys are fantastic. Our videos are full of just the nicest people, the most positive comments. And I tell you, that makes it so much fun to put in this much effort. Yeah, totally. Because he puts in a lot of work and everything that goes into it is a lot. So, welcome to Season 2. It is officially started right now. And this is probably going to be a little different episode because we've got a lot to do in Arizona. A lot to do in preparation to getting on our way. Well, really, we're here as your hosts, bringing you through a month's worth of miscellaneous information through our Arizona trip and bringing you across the border. We had so many different, fun, cool preparation things to do in order to get where we are today. And so, we're here to host you through all of those pieces of information and bring you right back here to our second home, La Panita. Oh, is it our second home now? Yes. Okay. Trish and I are headed off to go meet Shirley, who we were on the phone with last week to talk about our caravan. And so, she was getting together with a couple more people from the group. They were getting together with two or three of them here at RV Park. So, we wanted to be there to meet everybody and kind of ask some questions and whatnot. So, we're kind of excited about it. So, that's where we're headed to right now. We went down to Mesa. We went to this RV park in Val Vista. Was it not the biggest RV park you've ever been to in your life? Ever. Well, it was like a mini city. It was a mini city. And we're driving through this place, and there were people dancing, and they were playing like… Golf carts everywhere. They were line dancing, and there were these crazy golf carts and smart cars, and it was unreal. It was hilarious. So, it's there we met up with the whole caravan there. They're just such nice people. And so, we kind of had a chance to sit down and have a conversation about how everything was going to go. The route we were going to take… And by the way, we're going to do a Q&A on everything we learned about how to get from Tucson or Nogales all the way down to Puerto Vallarta. One of the things that we left that meeting with is the fact that we needed a means to communicate. We needed a way to talk to everyone within the group. And so, it was there that I left there thinking, okay, I need to get my truck outfitted with a CB. So, that was the very next thing I needed to figure out is the CB radio. Okay. I am just leaving Ham Radio Outlet in Phoenix, Arizona. And let me tell you something. I'm pretty excited. In fact, a little throwback to our Sarasota video, I'd say I'm even jazzed. Hashtag jazz. I ended up not going with the Midland handheld because he said the range is better on an actual mounted unit. And it plugs into the cigarette adapter in here. So, I talked to another gentleman in there. He said, look, if you like it, get it professionally installed. Get the proper antenna mounted to the truck. But I'm good to go. And it was $94. Frankly, with all the traveling we do on the highway, I think it's going to be kind of fun to be able to chat with semi truck drivers and that kind of stuff. So, I'm sure the kids get a kick out of it. And we already have a handle. Ginger. Okay. So, if you have been RVing for an extended period of time, if you're away from home and you come back, you know what it's like. It's like a reunion. You've got your parents to see, which was super nice. You have all your friends. But one of the best ways to get caught up with someone is to go for a hike. That's what I love. You're together for an extended period of time. And you get to really talk and chat. So, I met up with two of my great friends, Krista and on another day, Heather. And we hiked to the most beautiful mountains. So, if you're ever in Arizona, you have to check out Brown's Ranch, Pinnacle Peak, Westgate Loop. They're fantastic. All about three to five miles each. And you will have so much fun. Sunrise, sunset, anything you want to do. Best. Speaking of Brown's Ranch, like Trish said, if you're ever up in North Scottsdale around the Pinnacle Peak area, Trish and I and the kids went out to this awesome mountain biking trail at Brown's Ranch. We went way in the back so that we could shoot our intro video. We brought the drone. And I think one of the coolest things about that day is that was the first time I really saw the kids appreciate Arizona. We were back there. And I'm telling you, the sunset, when it hits right around the golden hour, when that sun comes down, it reflects back off of the cacti. And these trails are fantastic. I mean, there was a moment where we just kind of had to stop and just kind of look around and enjoy the moment that we were in. We just mountain biked all the way back there to make the intro video and our Patreon video. And I tell you what, we've traveled the entire United States and we come back to Arizona and we come back out here in this type of climate, in this type of desert, with this type of sunset. I am always blown away. What do you guys think of it? I think this is way better than going on my computer today. You got the tripod holder? What do you think? Is this not like amazing? It's so gorgeous. Arizona is amazing. Look at this. All right. Let's see if the sunset. All right. Hold on. I'm going to touch the screen. Is that not unbelievable? Caleb and I are headed out to go hook up with the folks from the Motorhome Experiment. Trish came across their YouTube channel when we were doing some research on the Carlsbad Caverns. And they had offered some tips on some BLM land. And that's when we kind of found those guys. And then they had made a comment on one of my videos and then I replied. And then they said we're coming through Arizona and we connected. So anyway, we're going to go hook up for a quick drink at Starbucks. Trish is feeling a little under the weather, which is a bummer. So Caleb was acting like Caleb. And I told Caleb, listen, I'm not doing the editing here. If you want to see his side of the story, I'll link it right here to watch that video. But the whole thing was making me nervous because Caleb was basically using Paul's DSLR. And he like took over and did some sort of RV tour. Caleb keeps stealing Paul's camera. It's annoying. Get your own channel. We got to go. You know, life's pretty good. And KYD now has the camera, the cat, and the litter box. All right, we're here at First Class Auto in Phoenix. Raze, he's always the guy that's been working on our trucks. We're getting prepared to leave. I'm going to go in for an oil change. I'm going to have him look at the brakes. I'm going to have him look at a top end, possibly replace all the spark plugs, all the fluids. Have him check out alternator or anything else like that that I might not be able to replace when we're on the road again. So pretty excited about it. I like servicing the truck. Trish isn't feeling well. Hey, you know what the good news is though? What's the good news? I got a hat for Mexico. Oh. It's authentic. It unfortunately wasn't made in Mexico. It was made in Colombia. Oh, yeah. And you're feeling better too, I can tell. Yes, I'm feeling a lot better. Still a little stuffed up. So anyway, dropped the car off at Ray. It's always an interesting experience at Ray because he always is kind of like laughing at me. That I'm like, hey, can you check the alternator? Can you check the fuel pump? Can you check all these things to see? He always kind of smiles like, I can check it and it's going to be fine. It doesn't mean it's going to be fine later. But you know, I think the difference is I have an airplane background. And in airplanes, you don't replace things when they're broken. Or you don't even replace things when the signs are broken. You replace them on a schedule. You replace them far before they're broken. So in my mind, if the average alternator, an F-150, gets 80,000 miles or X amount of hours, then replace it. I don't need to wait for it to be broken to replace it. Does he say you need any extra parts? Like, that's probably one thing. So that when we're in Mexico, if something goes wrong, we can get parts. I asked him and he's like, Ford's in Mexico. You can get parts in Mexico. Talking about spark plugs, he says they're not due until 90,000 miles. So we'll just take it back 10,000 miles from now and replace the spark plugs. That truck is awesome. I said, are trucks just getting better or am I just really lucky? He says, you know, they're good. So, you know, the truck's got 80,000 miles on it. I've replaced the oil. That's it. Right now, Trish and I are headed out to go pick up Ginger with her new awning. Without her new LED lights. Because the LED, the awning didn't come in until yesterday. Anyway, we're headed out to go pick up Ginger. And then we're going to take her over to the RV park that we stayed when we came in. And we're just going to get everything buttoned up as well as we possibly can. And we're going to drop off the other car. Put the bikes in storage because we're not bringing those to Mexico. Stop, swing by maybe Home Depot. And I'm going to get some extra tools for the leaf spring parts that I got. Going to Home Depot, maybe a little Bed, Bath & Beyond. Actually, pretty nice little Saturday. We're going to go to Home Depot. Yeah, buy some wallpaper. Maybe get some flooring. Stuff like that. Maybe Bed, Bath & Beyond. I don't know. I don't know if we'll have enough time. Finally seeing Ginger after all this time was so much fun. Because I knew our next adventure was underway. Just about. We went in. We looked around. We made sure everything looked okay. And we were ready to hook up and take off. We're ready to go. Kind of feels weird pulling Ginger again. It's exciting. Yeah? Yeah. It's funny how not pulling her in a month, you kind of feel like rusty. Like what am I forgetting? So we brought Ginger back to the Cave Creek Regional Park which was so beautiful. Finally we had an awning. We were both so excited. Testing it, bringing it back and forth. It was almost like we couldn't believe it after all this time without one. It's really nice to have the awning back. And it's also nice to have it clean. They washed it up for us. And we have not washed it. Well, we washed it only one time on the entire Season 1. And I'll link it right up there because it's pretty funny watching Trish do the little bunny hop as we washed it. But man, I don't think I realized how dirty Ginger was until I've seen her cleaned. The kinds of things you pack when you head out the first time. This is the kind of things you put on your kid's bed. I don't know what I was thinking. This has got to go. Hugs. Alright, well how does it feel to be back in Ginger? I'm excited. Ginger is the capsule to excitement. And adventure. She brings us places. Yes. I can't wait to go to Mexico. How does it go? Do you know the line you do at weddings? What's that thing called? Yes. You don't know what I'm talking about. Yes, I do. Sure. I have Jewish friends. It's a Mexican dance. I know. Then they stomp on the glass. And they put them up in the chair. You know those time lapses where everything looks like a total disaster. And then like within just a few seconds everything looks absolutely perfect. I tried to do that. It didn't work. We literally worked all night long. And somehow it looked just as much of a mess as it did at the end of the time lapse. As it did in the beginning. And we actually tore her apart. We went under every single pillow. Under the bed. In the cabinets. Because I thought that I needed to make a bunch of room for groceries and supplies. Because I didn't know what would be down in Mexico. I don't know what we're going to be able to find there. Oh, look at these LED lights, huh? I'm going to need you to get on this one. Oh yeah, look at that. What's wrong with that? Where is it? I think I'm going to just call you Senor this whole time. Ooh, Senor. I like that. Should we change the name of the channel? Or should we just keep it Keep Your Daydream? I'm going to put you to work, Senor. I am working. I'm holding the camera. But we did manage, finally, to get on the road. And I could not help but to compare the first day of season one to the first day of season two. And one of the things that comes to mind is day one of the first adventure was filled with excitement, but also a little bit of anxiety and a little bit of fear. A little bit like, is this going to work? What are we thinking? Like, oh my gosh, I can't believe we're actually doing this. Yeah? Yeah. And now that we're through all of that anxiety, now we've got the excitement of going to Mexico, which is something that's new and, you know, something that has some things that we need to be concerned about, nothing we're not prepared for. Trish, I'm trying to record here. Yes, you're blocking my mirrors, Senor. So while Trish was driving, it gave me an opportunity to work on the CB. Basically, it came hardwired. It came with the wires that you would hardwire into the dash. So I needed to splice those wires, connect to a 12-volt to connect to the middle console, then assemble the antenna. Magnetic antenna in this guy right here. And connect, stick to the top of the roof while we were driving. Probably wasn't that smart. It's on. Car? It fell, but it's on. Oh my gosh. Well, I had it right here. Probably wasn't that smart. I did it anyway. So if you're going to Mexico through Nogales, a wonderful place to meet up is the Desert Diamond Casino. You could go there the night before. They have plenty of parking. We were there on New Year's Eve when it should have been crazy busy, but there was still plenty of parking. We met up with our crew, spent the night, and we were staged for a perfect takeoff point. That guy's from Canada, and you got us. And then Bob and Shirley are in the Freightliner Class C, if you call it a Class C. I'm sure there's a name for it. And then there's a Class A, a Class A, and a Class A. So that's all six of us. And so there's three diesel and three fuel. We were advised to bring some extra fuel because apparently there's a bit of an issue with the fuel going on right now where there's some sort of game being played with either the gas stations and the government. So they're supposed to raise the prices tomorrow, and any gas station that doesn't comply with the increased prices is not going to have gas delivered. So there may be not diesel. Diesel will continue to be delivered. So there may be long stretches where we're not able to get fuel. But you know what? There's probably people watching right now going, like, that's exactly why I wouldn't go to Mexico. And this is some of the variables. I talked about variables in New York. These are some of the variables that kind of make it more interesting. That has alcohol in it. It's interesting that, you know, you've got to, like, navigate some unexpected things. Right, Trish? That's right. And in the meantime, you might as well have some sparkling wine. Isn't that Prosecco? I don't really like champagne, so I got a Prosecco Bellini. So Prosecco is like the cooler, trendier Italian cousin to champagne. I like cooler, trendier cousins of Italians. Happy New Year. To 2017. Oh, Carson, put it on the side. It doesn't make for a good picture. There we go. Thank you. We really wanted to bring you across the border in this episode, but we're going to have to save that for next week. This way we can start right at the border and take you through the entire process of getting down to Puerto Verde over our five days without skipping any of the details. As always, if you like this video, give it a thumbs up, and we will see you right here next week.