Goodbye Tampa RV // Can we cross the border? // Prepping for Beach camping in Mexico // Part 1 of 3

Hey everybody, we had a great time in Tampa, but it's time to move on. We're heading out west and we're going down to Mexico. Yeah That wasn't Mexico. That's okay Thanks for joining us on our journey and follow along as we head out west We were doing a light test and I did the first right hand turn and David didn't see it. The connector wasn't pushed in all the way, but the rear camera is on so Let's see what he says What's happening? Yeah, the turn signal on the right hand side's not working Everything else is working, brakes and clearance turn signal, but the passenger side's not working. Huh, think it's a bulb maybe? Can't go anywhere. Gotta have our signals This isn't good and I think the last camper here and all the other campers are the campers from the show They're pulling them out now and queuing them up out here, I guess for all the transporters Bye Tampa RV show See where they're queuing up all of the RVs We're trying to get through the exit and thank goodness this little guy was well ahead of us because The exit gate is closed. So i'm gonna get out and move those cones You are getting a lot of experience making u-turns with this show How do we get out of here? Looks like you got it close inches a mile Now, how do we get out of here? I feel like we're Backstage at Disney here Let's see where the exit sign is It's usually what people say about us if we can make it then they can make it. So now What? But I don't think there's one on the um outside Oh What if he's not sure if he can make it? I'm sure hoping that's at least 13.6 We somehow made it to I-75 Are driving over I don't know if it's swampland or everglades, but it is part of the florida aquifer Where they get their water from? That is one truck. You don't want to see topple over they are hauling just a bunch of There is a vintage Case you the fuel gauge I always am for less than a third of a tank Yeah, I would like we're getting a red light tomorrow So as we head out west down to mexico We've got some prep work that we have to do We've got to take on water lots of water can never have enough water. We've got to dump tanks. Yes And we got to get some food Even though we're going to eat a lot of probably eat a lot out Normally, we don't eat out a lot but we're going to make an exception. This is mexico. Yes, so We're going to have a lot of tacos quesadillas Chilaquiles all kinds of different yummy foods, right? And then I also need to you know Just get a few supplies like laundry detergent that sort of thing just to make sure we're we're fully stocked with our normal everyday things And then also to cross in to mexico Since we're u.s. Citizens We've got to have the right documents Check yep, so david's gone online and prepped for all our insurance documents our visitor documents Um, I think there's a couple of others, but we've also got them all printed out. So we don't want any excuses We don't want to give them our phone and say here it's on here and you can't read it So we've got everything printed out and hopefully in duplicate and triplicate. We got our passports made sure everything's right. So David's got all the boxes checked. So hopefully they'll let us in we'll see Our shopping trip and we put that in the smart car. So what's interesting is they said we did check the customer service And they said we can park here even though there are signs that say no overnight truck parking or rv parking And those signs look pretty new too. We were here About two years ago And um So we're parked where she said she wanted us to park So we're here in the back corner, and I don't know if you can see But there's a whole herd of deer out there grazing on the field we're all buttoned up and ready to Make our next in transit stop which will be at the mississippi welcome center You ready to go ready to go ready to go Finally found the drizzling weather we're crossing over mobile bay and it is a little bit friends are traveling ahead of us and We stopped at the rest area that we're going to be staying at tonight and said the dump station was closed and we were planning on dumping there, so We're going to check this one out to see if we can go ahead and dump here This one looks like it's operational. It's got a hose and everything like that. All right Well, we are dumping on the side of the road, hey, did you know that That this is the first time we've dumped at a rest area Oh Cool. Yeah, so this is actually quite nice. They have a hose I guess for the flush unfortunately the threads On that hose are all messed up. So we don't have a way of putting it into our flush. So Actually, we do You do. What is that? It is a hose bandit So if there's no threads or if they're bad threads I can put it over there. It's rubber and it kind of seals it And I can now make it into a good threaded connection a hose bandit We're all done and david loves his little drain master David just made a bat turn. He was in the middle lane and we saw that there's a chester's that this loves And we are in desperate need of some chester's chicken tenders Well, we just pulled into the truck stop to get some chicken And the low fuel light turns on i'd say that's excellent planning. Yeah David just put about 12 gallons of fuel in the truck just enough to get us to the next fuel stop We stumbled across this rest area. Gosh, actually six years ago I think it was one of the first stops we made when we started full timing And we love it Got our spot and we checked all the water spigots on both sides And they probably have everything turned off For the winter, so we're going to have to Not do without water Sondra can't do that. So We have a backup plan In this lifestyle, you got to have a backup plan So when david was working with heron welding on designing the bed of the truck He had a 60 gallon fresh water tank put in And david accesses it through this open compartment where we keep the 2000 watt honda generator But a friend of ours saw this on amazon and said that you know, gosh we can make it cheaper so david bought all the individual components And made the box This transfer box himself And then to get power He plugs it up there And it is gravity fed. So the water will eventually get from the truck over to the hose And then he's going to transfer that 60 gallons into the trailer And then when I use up that 60 gallons if we need to transfer that wasted wastewater Um, he can do just the opposite. He can take the macerator pump and pump all our Stuff Back into the truck in the 60 gallon waste tank. Well, we made it to the rest stop kind of early. It's about 3 30 4 o'clock I think and we're dry camping here in one of the rv spots But i'm not gonna be doing too much rest because I have got a ton of laundry to catch up on About three loads and it'll take me about from start to finish about four to five hours But we'll be watching tv and catching up on some other stuff so it's all good It's a crisp early morning and we are entering into Louisiana Yay We have fuel We have full tanks I can't believe when we pulled into that chester's that the low fuel line came on. That was hilarious. It was it was funny No, we are not stopping at this ta for fuel it's just mighty convenient that there is a whataburger Right next door and it's 12 15 We're stopping for my fuel Yes David's absolutely favorite And whenever we are even remotely close to a whataburger He's gonna find it. He's gonna sniff it down. It's like this internal radar And he's gonna find it and we're gonna stop Just crossing over to texas Are we there yet? Are we there yet? We've stopped for the night David found this tractor supply and we need to fill up our propane tanks, but he's been in there a while I'm getting a little worried This might be a good sign. I saw david shake this gentleman's hand inside And they both came out and he's been taking pictures of the rig Well, are we going to be able to get in? Uh, well we're in we're here, uh, so we can We can park here, which is good and but we can't get propane tonight Eight o'clock in the morning and they have a full crew so felicia loves it mercedes loves our rig and gary took a picture and I shook his hand and he says You know, you've made my day you put a smile on my face and I said, you know, then that's been a good day That's a good day. So tomorrow morning at eight i'll get my propane But tonight no, but that's okay. We have a place to stay and it's nice and low Well, I might actually be able to sleep in then if we have to wait Yes, actually, that's a good thing We had a really nice night here at the tractor supply David was first in line to get his propane. He's all done and We have a composite tank so they're not the metal so they're a lot lot lighter to carry Even I can carry them and what's really nice is we can put them in the smart car as well We pulled into the rest stop and this big bad boy came rolling in this is the middle section of one of the wind turbines It's huge I don't feel so big anymore We're kind of tiny Yes We are through san antonio outskirts on the western side at west Really very little traffic the only traffic a little bit of entering the ozono welcome center Well, we're getting ready to leave obviously you can hear the truck right behind me So every day in my bullet journal I write down something i'm grateful for today's easy to see so I can thaw my rear end out Pulling into the rest area at mile marker 234 I think this is a new one Dave says we've been oh, yeah, I think I remember this one. Yeah okay, yeah, so This is a very fancy smancy Rest area the pecos safety rest area Okay, I think I just checked and there's no one in the bathroom. This is just a really cool bathroom and for a rest area Wow so let's Take a look I'm gonna put on wide angle Slatted ceilings Granite marble. I mean is this incredible or what? Yes, I still have my jacket on backing up. I got you. Oh, are you petting the sheep? We're in van horn for the night get some things caught up from several days of travel and also Getting prepped for our trip down to hopefully crossing the border into mexico Now one of the things that we do is we need water. Yeah, we need lots of water Well, actually sondra needs lots of water. So what we have is in the truck. We've got a tank and I filled that and That's not enough because that's only about 60 gallons so What I did is i've got a bladder I cleaned out my basement I'm sitting here watching to make sure Water is not going to be leaking out of it. We're going to put this water bladder in here just to give us a little bit extra cushion Because we're going to be there for what three weeks three weeks three weeks and Yes This has traveled before So it shouldn't be a problem Shouldn't be a problem. So we'll see if it makes it down to mexico If not, i'm going to have a really clean basement he is Checking out the back of our dryer. We were running It and it just stopped. This is what david fished out from behind the lint. Well Mystery solved it was the buildup of lint After doing a little investigation, we're pretty sure the heating element or the thermostat Fried in the dryer i'm going to be about four weeks now minimum without a dryer Just crossed over into new mexico and You know, I don't know has there ever been a time Where we have been on I-10 passing through here that we have not stopped at this rest area I think Stopped at this rest area. I think this is the most stopped rust area we've ever been to Oh look more dairy farms So this is actually pretty funny. I went to visit our My uncle's farm in kansas, and we were talking about these the stench of these farms out here in el paso And I said, yeah, they've got this big pile of poo and it's covered in plastic and tires And they probably do that to cover up the stink, but it's not working And then my uncle david says well, how about sondra that ain't poo That's silage. I was like, what is silage? And he said that's the stuff that cows eat. So I guess they bring it in and Ferments or something. I um That's to protect the silage for the cows to eat it And I hope that is not what we smell because it's just not the best smell in the world And what makes things worse is that's the stuff that we love to drink so much I don't know if that's pistachio or pecan, but it says pistachio land bigger and better Now I went online to see because it seems like every time we come through here There's nothing on the trees and apparently they do the harvesting on pistachios Late august 1st of september So there's some fat chance we're ever going to be coming through here Because that's when it's like really super hot Or the cold so in two miles you need to keep to the left on well, it's saturday night And do we know how to party or what we do? We are party animals. Oh, yeah Yeah, we found the place we did in arizona That is gonna just rock your socks off for a saturday night. I'm not i'm not teasing This is like 10 to 6 on saturday All right, not saturday morning No, saturday night Oh my goodness. We thought we were going to be pulling in here at apple annie's and get some apple pie And then we thought oh my gosh, it's going to be so busy. We're not going to be able to get the rig in Yeah, yeah I I don't think we'll have a problem. No, but no pie for us tonight. No pie for us Oh, well, i'll just have to make some Good morning. Well, i'm normally not a fan of sunrises because that means that's early in the morning, but This is just really pretty the colors and the sky and the sun Well that tank is pointing right towards us so I don't think we want to get that driver in any road rage Wow making some big changes. It's been a couple years since we've been here last time. We're here was in 2020 Right before we had to start sheltering for covid And the quilt show just ended yesterday and there's some Horse riding competitions going on today. So hopefully We'll be able to get a sight but I see a lot of camper tops Lindsay wasn't kidding when she said this is the busiest she's ever seen it Great how are you doing? We're we're hoping for one night tonight All I can do is give you a drive captain. Okay, if that's all then that's it So we making a quick pit stop here in tucson, arizona Basically dump and fill the trailer tanks get a few supplies, so when we get into When we get into mexico And we're going to also stop and meet up with some friends while we're here. They're wintering here for the winter and One advantage of having a truck is that we have a refrigerator inside So we can go directly from our little shopping spree And put our milk and ice cream and stuff in the fridge And not have to rush home So it's Really really super efficient with our time Plus you can get a lot more groceries in the truck than the smart car Well, it's 7 very 30 in the morning very early and doing our last dump Before we get into mexico, hopefully So in about three hours, we'll know Where we're going to be for the next three weeks Right now I guess we are kind of homeless. We are homeless. We have no direction. We don't know where we're going to be. It's It's an unsettling feeling but It's kind of exciting all at the same time, too I can't think straight right now. I really we're in tucson We are Gonna head south. Yes And it's a beautiful day and there's no traffic out. Yeah, it's morning rush hour and there's literally nobody on the road and everything is all green and All is right with the world except it's just really early in the morning really pretty view of the Tucson skyline and the mountains in the back 137 miles to go to the border. What do you think our chances are that they're gonna let us in? you think our chances are Yeah, so after just seeing some of the uh, blm boondocking in tucson Man, I mean that was full yes, so Puerto penasco may be the same way. I hope it's not But uh chances I you know, I i'm giving us about an 85 percent chance of crossing the border They said it's pretty loosey-goosey getting in. So after seeing that I feel much better, too I feel pretty good about getting across the border even in our our big rig. I maybe I don't know 70 percent getting into the campground 75 and i'm hoping there's not a lot of people down there, but this is why we're concerned is typically They don't allow hdt's or big semi trucks into mexico, so It's been two years since we've been to the border and asked him about hey, is this is going to be okay? We showed him a picture of the rig. We actually drove the truck to the border walked across and talked to some people They said it was no problem. We took him to the supervisor, but that was also two years ago It's gonna be an adventure one way or the other. Yes, it will and if we get down there They want us to turn around and after seeing how tight it is We may not be able to get around We are entering y arizona and i'm not sure why it's called that I'm sure hoping that this is not All that's here in y We're making a quick pit stop and I thought I would come inside. Um This place has a lot of character. I I sure hope that Sonoyt is going to be like this as well as Puerto Penasco um, really Really anxious. I feel like a kid at christmas, you know, are we going to get in are we not you know? What what am I going to get for christmas? So, um Yeah, i'm i'm getting pretty nervous. We just met a couple here that we're filling up at the gas station uh behind us and um They're heading on down too so they said they've been going down there for years and it's no issue and the roads are nice and smooth and Everything will be great. So we'll see On our way to mexico and uh, not very far from uh, loopville and sonoyta and the border and behind us is a Mexico insurance sign now you can get that on the road in At a lot of places or you can get it online and we've got it online It was easier and we can print the forms out. So we're ready to go but yeah, that's We're getting closer. So we'll see if uh, we're going to make it across I'm excited. I'm scared I guess we're getting a free windshield wash with no fill up. Dang Thank you, but I don't think I deserve applause for that Getting close to the moment of truth. Yes. My heart is pounding. Oh You see the wall we have the documents out. Yeah, right the walls ahead of us Yes, first step is Are they going to let us through? south of the border Oh, yeah, I will uh engage with border protocols It looks awfully skinny doesn't it those rumble strips ahead. I sure hope that corner up there is 13 six Hug the left side. Yes, I mean motorhomes do it, right? Yeah, we have more than ten thousand dollars or ten thousand pesos on us Well ten thousand dollars no ten thousand pesos It's tight Hi How's it going down to mexico and I didn't like that so this is me trying to figure out This impacts my artistic creativity finished with our You