We left Clear Lake, Texas on March 11th heading back west on I-10. That was our first time visiting that part of Texas and it turned out to be a very successful trip.
Steak Nite at Waring General Store, Texas
my 3 ladies
March 13th we broke down about an hour outside of El Paso, Texas. Alternator died on us. We got a free AAA tow into the city. Got dropped off at Pep-Boy’s 15 minutes before closing. They took the Volvo into their locked garage over night and gave us a ride to the Day’s Inn up the road. After two days of waiting for our alternator to arrive and to be installed, we were back on the road.
piña obviously didn't complain about the hotel arrangements
flavored cremas (creme fraiche) in El Paso
lunch while we waited on the car
back on the road, rest stop sleeping in La Sancha's trunk bed
Once we crossed the border at Nogales, we were making record time towards the boatyard in Guaymas. Until La Sancha’s gauges started dropping and we lost all power, once again! Paranoid that something was overlooked, we sat on the side of the highway in a Mexican desert.
Waving our jumper cables over my head on the side of the road, we snagged a boost. Which only got us a little more ways up the road, where we died again. This happened a total of 9 times between Nogales and Guaymas. A six hour drive ended up being over twelve hours. Luckily we were quickly assisted at each break down by friendly locals, police officers, taxi drivers, and families.
Our next to last break down I managed to roll into a truck stop. There I could whip out my battery charger. We hooked the battery up and went inside for some dinner. After dinner I took a closer look at the alternator situation. All the new wires were rinky dink 22 guage and horribly spliced. It seriously looked like a 4 year old crimped the wires on with its tooth. The battery charge up at the truck stop got us to the end of our road, where we managed to snag one more boost, enough to die infront of our boat!
That was a horrible nightmare car ride. I spent a few days diagnosing the alternator situation. With the help of Nick via email, La Sancha’s previous owner and a few guys in the boatyard I managed to get everything figured out. It was quite the headache for a few days there. Basically I removed and re-installed the new alternator with freshly spliced beefier wires, like the professional should have done from the beginning. That’ll be the last time I take her to a shop.
seriously?
fresh tips
healthy connections
beefed up
had to rip the dash apart to check the battery gauge bulb
after days of aggravation, all it took was proper wiring and an extra grounding wire to get La Sancha's battery charging again.
March 19th we had the crane come remove our mast.
so weird looking with no mast
March 20th we had the travel lift come put us on our trailer.
Since we've been put on the trailer, we have spent our days customizing the trailer to fit our boat snug, saying our good-byes to other friends who near their departures as well, and cleaning up our mess to be road ready.
We were lucky enough to find a fellow boater in the yard who is leaving for Pheonix, Arizona this Saturday, March 29th.
We were even luckier to meet Brian, through our For Sale ad on craigslast. He emailed us interested in buying our trailer. Which I had posted For Sale a couple weeks ago. After a few intriguing emails we have come to the agreement that he will be meeting us in Tucson on Sunday March 30th. Where we will switch our boat onto his truck, and he will bring us the rest of the way to Clear Lake, Texas.
This all may sound quite sketchy to most, but as soon as we found out that he is a fellow cruiser, we knew all was well. It sure is crazy how things can fall into place in this world.
Splendid Isolation should be floating on Gulf waters in Clear Lake, Texas by Tuesday! Wish us luck on our big move!
fried chicken sandwiches with skillet chips and ranch packets for dinner!
the necessities
Claire's Salsa
prepping for pork stew
Claire's ham, honey, and queso fresco rolls
pork stew with dumplings
our favorite: chilaquiles
framing to box our keel in
piña in the chainlocker
getting the alternator bench/bulb tested in Guaymas
Claire cleaning up the deck.
Securing all the halyards and rigging cables for the highway.
5 minute difference
almost ready!
$8peso pork tacos
(62cents)
9/16" U-bolts for the keel box framing
one our of security guards in the yard.
the siren on that toy police car was quite convincing.
all boxed in.
obviously looks Mexican ghetto for a reason.
But it sure is strong and should keep the keel from wiggling on the road.
there's 2200lbs. of lead in that giant surf fin, with another 4500lbs of boat ontop of that.
gorging ourselves with the best food before we leave Mexico!
forward: giant local shrimp stuffed with cheese and wrapped in ham
center: fish ceviche
back: shrimp tacos
papayas growing in the boatyard
Claire made delicious margarita's with the papaya!!!
