The big blow out...on our way to Catavina!

We left Fidel’s campground Pabellon at around 10 am after hooking up and then dumping--quite a challenge in itself as the dump station is situated OPPOSITE of the side of the RV’s sewer pipe. But , again, consider where we are???? As we are dumping (have to have extra sewer line to go UNDER the RV), another camper is telling Fidel what is wrong with the whole deal. Fidel interrupts him wholeheartedly and laughs, offering a handshake and says, “Thank you for the information!”. We all got a great laugh out of that. He too adds, “This is Mexico, my friend”! Isn’t that the truth.?

So on we go. We stop in Rosario to get gas and continue on our way. About 20 miles or so outside of Rosario, we enter no man’s land. Winding roadways, cactus and nothing else. We are admiring the scenery when all at once we hear this huge POP! Yes, we blew the rear tire on the passenger side of the RV on top of a hill. Dave and Izzy stop behind us, set up the red triangle on the road indicating that we are in trouble. Dave is out of his motor home, shovel in hand and begins digging out the tire. Meanwhile Mike and I are looking all over of the jack and finally locate one. Dave is a one man show, gets us all organized and helps us get the blown tire off and the spare on. He is one calm and collected dude!! I truly do NOT know what we would have done w/o them! Within an hour, we are back on the road in the middle of nowhere without a spare now. Our first inclination is to go back to San Quintin, get all new tires and then head back out. However, we are not certain we can make it and it is all uphill back that way. We decide to gut it out and try to make it to Catavina which was our intended destination for today! We stopped at many “tire shops” along the way hoping to find a spare. Not a chance. We did stop at this one place that was a restaurant but was really the home of a family. It was very neat. So en route to Catavina, we stopped at every Llanteria (tire shop) hoping to find a spare to help us limp into town should we have another blow out. We made it to Catavina, pulled into the campground Rancho Santa Inez and met a man who told us that the owner of this campground has an uncle who owns a tire place. We find a suitable spare that we can use to limp into the next place if we have another problem but we are praying to make it to the next larger city!!! I told the Brits to move on without us and they would not hear of it. I was moved to tears. What wonderful friends we have found in them.

Once Mike and I decided that what was done was done and that we were safe, we tried to breathe a bit easier and enjoy the wonderful landscape that was before us. The area from Rosario to Catavina, some 125 miles, is totally desolate. This area is very unpopulated except for a few ranchos in between. We cannot imagine how anyone survives here. The rolling hills and hairpin curves soon took on new terrain that showed cactus and other desert plants. Then as we got closer to Catavina, huge boulders of granite appeared among the cactus!!!! Unbelievable magic! It was almost surreal the way that they just appeared.

We had dinner here at the restaurant and spoke with other couples who were en route South and some North. Both had great tales to tell.

The man that sold us the tire had darling twin boys. Of course, Mike tries to talk to them……Somehow communicates to them that he has some baseball hats for them. They are thrilled! One of hats was from Pine River and the other a Milan Supply one! Such darling little guys too. Like most American kids, they explained that their favorite days of the week are Saturday and Sunday!

We were totally bushed at the end of this day and were asleep by 9.30ish and up at 6 am.

Our goal now is to find a reputable tire place and replace all of our tires!!! We are glad that we made it to our destination safely . We both feel very out of touch……..

February 14. Happy Valentine’s Day

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