Be careful of what you ask for!

Off to new adventures, right? We departed Puerto Escondido at sunrise.  The colors were lovely on the mountains and valleys for a couple of hours. But we had a long day to get to Guerro Negro, and unfortunately with a 50’ long rig, our ‘side of the road photo shoots’ are pretty limited here on Baja!

We made it up the big Santa Rosalia hill, saying our goodbyes to an absolutely mirror calm Sea of Cortez.  In certain spots, it looked like there was no horizon the sky and the sea blended together.

We pulled into Guerro Negro about 2:30 and found a spot in Malarrimos RV and restaurant.  The energy just seemed to be off in the town, a fact I commented to Tom.  Our first clue should have been we were told that there was no water pressure, or minimal.  The second was the fact that the sewers throughout town were, uh… full, including the camping area, so no ‘dumping’ of tanks. Ok, not a problem.  So, after walking the sites to choose one, we pulled the rig around.  All the slips are back in. Tom maneuvered the rig into one and it was a bit of a tight fit with the truck needing room to turn.  As he ended his turn, I heard a ‘pop’ and saw the electrical cord that connects the 5^th wheel to the truck, shredded!   We quickly pulled the plug and disconnected and Tom raced to the battery to disconnect that as well.  CRAP!

Smoke and sizzles and I’m not talking about hot dogs!

We spent the rest of the afternoon assessing the damage, gathering tools and making several trips to the local auto parts store. Tom put on his MacGyver hat and rewired the connections making it better that before.  We discovered 2 fuses that were inline, but didn’t do their job.

They’ve now been replaced.  All house lights, truck lights and trailer lights are good to go.

So early the next morning, we headed out to the bird sanctuary. We needed a few more parts to complete the job, so we gave ourselves until 9.  It was a beautiful morning with not a breath of wind.  The reflections of the birds on the water was very pretty in the early morning light.  

We did our parts shopping and completed the project. Since we were up before sunrise, it was time for a nap. An hour later, we headed out at 3:30 to go explore the southern end of the Ojo de Liebres Lagoon. 

Back to Highway 1 and south 5 miles there’s a road heading to the salt flats, and during whale season a camp ground.  Well, we didn’t get that far.  About 500 yards into the road, we realized the tonneau cover wasn’t latched.  Tom stopped in the road, no shoulders and no traffic, and left the car running.  We both got out, closed the doors, latched the tonneau cover and…… the doors were locked!

Cell phones, money and MY set of keys were locked inside the running truck in the lane on the road!  And all the tools were in the back seat!

We flagged down the first car we saw, which happened to be Idaho plated truck hauling a small trailer.  A single woman inside cautiously pulled up inside and offered to use her phone to call someone for us.  She ended up driving me back into town to search for a locksmith at 4:45 on a Saturday night in Mexico!

We tried several places: the tire store, the mechanic and then I saw the door still open at the auto parts store.  After explaining the problem, the owner and his wife made many phone calls for us.  I kept hearing ‘leave a message’ recordings and was aware that the sun was about to go down.  Time was running out.  But I was trying to be as Mexican as I could and not show my frustrations!

Finally, the sister of the owner, said she could get us into the truck and away we all went.  Tom, while waiting, had made a great stone cairn, walked the field, paced the highway and was giving me about 15 minutes more to return.

Well, the woman and her son had a long piece of wire that they thought they could get down the door and push the door lock.  As the son was prying open the top of the door with a screwdriver, I hollered ALTO! ALTO!      

Tom ended up borrowing the screw driver and broke the back, slider window.  We’ll just have to get it replaced later.  All this got done about 15 minutes before the sunset, so no more exploring for us.   Back to the RV park and regroup for an early departure.