First days at Pilot Knob, and a trip to Mexico

Sunday, December 15
Today was the day we moved the short distance from Yuma Lakes to Pilot Knob Resort just west of Yuma, in Winterhaven, California. Funny that we actually arrived at Pilot Knob before we left Yuma Lakes. How? Pilot Knob is in California that is on Pacific time......but given it's proximity to Arizona we stick with Mountain time. Confused? We just need to know when Happy Hour starts and work back from that!! :-)

We went over to Bill and Pat's for a drink after we had set up and got settled. We met up with Bob and Joanne there and met Ken and Kim. All Ontarians and very nice folks.

Next to Cheryl is Kim, hiding behind her is Bill, then Ken. Pat by the door, then Bob and Joanne. Higgins is under my chair keeping an eye on my beer.

Our site. Nice corner site.

No clouds but still a nice sunset over the Imperial sand dunes just to the west of us.

Monday, December 16
Start talking to folks anywhere near the Mexican border and soon the discussion gets to dental work. I actually have a dental plan at home but my benefits are used up for this year and I broke a tooth shortly after we started our trip this fall. It needed attention before we return to Canada so I decided to head to Mexico to see if I could get the tooth fixed and capped. Anyone that has had dental work done in Mexico will usually recommend their dentist. I had several recommended dentists but went with one that a family member suggested.

So Monday we headed down to Algodones just a short drive from here and right on the US/Mexico border. Algodones is a small town but is a medical destination for thousands of Americans and Canadians. There are over 200 dentists in a four square block area! I chose to try Escobedo Dental. Dr. Eric has been in business for 16 years and he seemed to me to be a confident and knowledgeable dentist. We discussed options and then he went to work drilling out the old filling and taking an impression for the crown. He also filled a couple of smaller cavities. We decided on a zirconia crown and he said the lab would have it ready the next day but we made an appointment for Wednesday to have the new crown installed.

With a frozen mouth and a bit of a sore jaw we decided not to spend a lot of time shopping in Algodones so we headed back into Yuma to pick up a few things and then head back to Pilot Knob.

Monday sunset

Tuesday, December 17
Today was chore day. I took laundry over to the laundry room and started on that chore while Cheryl started out on a full day of baking some treats. After laundry was done I spent time cleaning up the basement storage area and strung a few lights. It's nice that we'll be here for a couple of weeks so we can spread out a bit.

Shuffleboard

The pool is covered. A bit too cool for swimming today.

$2 per wash

$2 per dry

Wednesday, December 18
Back to Algodones today to get my new tooth installed. Dr. Eric is very accommodating and came in to work about twenty minutes early to get my crown installed ahead of his first appointment. The crown didn't quite fit to Dr. Eric's satisfaction so he ground it down a bit then sent it back to the lab to be polished. A motorcycle courier picked it up and ran it across town to the lab. Try this at your dentist in Canada! It would take a week to get that done. Here, it was 45 minutes! So he refitted the tooth and we were done. Fits and feels great. The cost? Two fillings, x-rays, zirconia crown and two visits was $560 USD. I could have gone with a less expensive crown and saved at least $100, but I felt this was a good choice for me. I'm very happy with that price. Time will tell if the quality of the dental service was worth it, but I haven't heard of anyone that hasn't had good luck with their dental service provided in Algodones. The only complaint I hear is from our Canadian dentists that seem to feel the quality is sub-par. We'll see.

Dr. Eric's office.

He's had a few water leaks.

Lots of stuff you didn't know you needed!

Nice tasty fishbowl, er glass of Margarita. Tasty!

We had lunch and a drink here at the very popular Paraiso outdoor restaurant/bar.

We did some shopping for outdoor wall hangings for our lake site back home. We stopped for a margarita and Mexican food before heading into Yuma to pick up a few things. We were back at Pilot Knob by 3 PM, in time for HH over at Rob and Joanne's. (I stole this photo from Pat, shhhhh!)

from left: Bill, Ken, me, Cheryl, Joanne, Bob, Kim. Pat is taking the picture. We are outside Bob and Joanne's beautiful Redwood trailer. All paint, no decals!

We were treated to a very nice sunset tonight.

......and that was Our View From Here!