On The Road

We are back in business and all is well right now with GANNET2. Yesterday started with a tow when Jerry showed up to get us to his shop.

Jerry works slowly steadily and precisely. He studies the problem in that way they say carpenters should: measure twice and cut once.  The work started at noon. 

Rusty found his quiet spot and with a yawn went peacefully to sleep. 

I was hopping around watching the new radiator fit into its slot. It took eight days to get here from the European warehouse and we had no issues with customs. The radiator came  with four gallons of radiator fluid Jerry ordered from the Jeep dealer. The cost for parts was $450. 

When we got stuck in Belize two years ago we were getting a tug out of the mud when the towline snapped the hitch on the truck and it flew back and wrecked our radiator. I think that installation left out two critical bolts ( highlighted below) because when we inspected the broken radiator this time there was some play. My thinking is the rough roads we’ve driven combined with the movement allowed by the absent bolts, caused the plastic to split. I’m hoping Jerry’s new bolts will prevent that happening again.  

And the a/c guy did a very careful job recharging our system. We both think the cold blows colder and the hot blows hotter than before. We’re happy. 

The labor cost $400 for everything. Excellent service in our book and all done in nine days.  Desert Garage did us proud.  They are also keeping an eye on us and telling me to take a test run to make sure it’s working right. We plan to take a drive to lunch and come back to give the system time to settle in.   

There’s a lot of lonely desert ahead of us before we get to Peru.  Rusty is ready. 

Final checks. 

Temperature gauge where it should be.  We operate the van and our lives on US measurements to keep it simple for us. I change the oil every 5,000 miles.  

Then we went to the waterfront after shopping at Unimarc the biggest grocery in town. We were down to barebones groceries after nine days in the campground. 

Layne wanted to have dinner where we’d eaten with Konstantin and Julia two weeks ago. 

Fish dinner for dinner two with lots of left overs.  

We closed the restaurant and walked home to a sleepy dog. 

And we decided it was too late to go for a test ride so we went to sleep. 

Repairs

New radiator is being installed. 

Wednesday lunch time.  

I repaired this website yesterday. I tried calling GoDaddy and got Tina in South Dakota. She listened to me, found the problem and fixed it so now this page should not be blocked again. No one before her managed to pull that off. I let them know at Go Daddy she succeeded. 

Apparently she found, after a diligent search, some malware buried in some dark area.  This thing would provoke a danger message blocking some people from reading this page. I knew there was a problem but none of my other calls yielded a result. I bought a firewall for $1200 which apparently has solved the problem and the page is now fixed.

Tina was quite surprised to know I have been posting here most days since June 2007. She had ideas to modernize it and make money off it but I nixed that. I’m sick of endless advertising and videos replacing actual content and photos. I don’t want anything to do with that or mean comments designed to shock. I’ve paid to have trolls deleted too so I don’t even have to see sales pitches and insults. It turns out it’s a lot of work to opt out of mainstream online exploitation.

Thank you Tina and it was fun talking with you. 

Jerry the mechanic cabs out to the campground this morning and towed us back to his shop.

I know there’s lots that can go wrong but I’m hoping that we’ll be mobile by tonight.  Fingers crossed. 

Tuesday

We walk out through the front gate, turn left and go to the beach.

And this is the campground viewed from the beach: 

The campground is gated but we are free to come and go and the public beach is right next door. 

It’s beautiful and empty. 

When he wants to go home he goes home. When he wants to go for a walk he yammers at me and won’t take no for an answer. So we go.

Eight days ago we were getting towed. No radiator yet. Sunshine. John Le Carré. Rusty walk. Here we are for now. 

Monday

I’ve run out of things to say. Except. 

THE RADIATOR ARRIVES TODAY. 

They say. 

Rusty expressed boundless excitement at the news. 

Fingers still crossed. 

The Toyota Hilux pickup truck, above, sold everywhere in Latin America. Diesel, manual gearbox, crude and tough and does not pass safety requirements for US sales. Probably doesn’t have enough cup holders either for fussy US drivers. The ideal overland vehicle with a decent camper shell I think, especially for youngsters looking for Instagram worthy dirt roads. 

Waiting

It’s been a week, not long in the grand scheme of things but we have a routine. 

Rusty starts his day with a walk with his favorite human.  His favorite human then washes the dishes while his second favorite human sleeps in. 

Hot tea and cold oatmeal in the style of Webb Chiles, a warm shower, a book after checking the headlines for more human frailty around the world. 

The campground is vast and Rusty has it to himself so he’s happy. 

You can rent a cottage for about $70 a night and two of them are occupied this weekend. 

The workers are shutting down the pool, putting away the chaise longues as winter closes in. 

I saw a movie years ago, an inconsequential thing that stuck with me called RUBY IN PARADISE, about a young woman who escapes to the redneck riviera, the Florida Panhandle where she starts a new independent life. It’s a moody film with not a lot of plot but it captures the off season in a beach town. Bahia Inglesa in the Fall puts me in mind of that little film. 

The family spent a night grilling meat and tossing a football. The campground truck gave their Chinese SUV a jump Saturday morning as they packed and left. We stay here, helpless, not uncomfortable. 

People come and go. South Americans camp elaborately, picnics with table cloths, grills with fire and embers and lengthy cooking times, tents, windbreaks, furniture, complex set ups. And in twenty four hours they’re gone. 

We will still be here. It’s okay. 

The radiator replacement should be a simple repair for a mechanic. I try not to think of all that could go wrong. 

I follow Rusty, he lives in the moment. 

There’s a big hole under the hood. 

But we are at home. For perhaps another week, maybe less. I hope not more than that. 

A new week unfolds. May you have less uncertainty than us.