Broke down in Mexico

Our first night in Mexico.


Kay, Spud and I left home on 8 January and spent the first night at Wal-Mart in Las Cruces, NM. The second night we spent in a RV park in Yuma, Az. None eventful so far but starting the third night things began to change. We were camped out at a county park across from Tecate, Mexico and the Santa Anna's started. The wend blew so hard we had to bring in the slide out in and even then we rocked and rolled all night. From Tecate we drove to El Rosario, Baja Calif.
After El Rosario we drove several miles south of El Rosario Baja Calif. when our transmission gave out on us. We drove our car back to town and went to the police station and ask for a wrecker. They put us in contact with a guy with a small wrecker that pulled us back to El Rosario where we spent the night and proceeded to call our insurance people in Mexico City. They contacted a large wrecker to pull us to the nearest Dodge dealer in Ensenada. The Dodge dealer, in Ensenada, told us it would take them about a month to make the repairs and suggested we go to Tijuana or San Diego, Cal. At that point we decided it would be best to go on to San Diego. To get across the border we had to have a American wrecker hall us across the border. After arriving in Tijuana we found out that the border closed at 7:30 for commercial trucks. The wrecker driver told me he would have to leave my RV in a holding area for the night so I so I asked to stay with the RV. (I heard them call it the cactus pit)He said we would be safe because they had 14 ft. tall walls around the place. He didn’t tell me but they also had three junkyard dogs in their. I couldn’t take Spud for his walk because they had already tried to get to him. The stay was very quite and very safe. The RV and the wrecker crossed the border at a commercial crossing; we crossed at the other crossing in our car. When we arrived at the dealer in San Diego, we opened the door of the RV and all our stuff had been thrown out of the cabinets and broken dishes and our stuff was everywhere. Quite a mess to clean up. Kay really lost it for a while. Our Mexican Insurance told me they would pay for the towing and I called Chrysler Towing service and they told me to have a them send a form to my home and they would pay also. We will see. The Dodge dealer in Ensenada Mexico told me to contact Carl Burgers Dodge World in La Mesa, Ca but they told me the only certified dealer in the San Diego area was Rancho Auto Group in San Diego, so I had it towed their. Received a call from them this morning and sure enough, the transmission is out. They are having to order the parts from Las Angeles and will hopefully have it fixed by Monday. I haven’t been able to talk to the mechanic but the service person I’m dealing with told me the problem is a fairly common one with our vehicles. She said they didn’t necessarily get one a week but maybe two or three a month. I will be trying to find out the problem and I’m sure it will be listed on the paper work I get when I pick it up. I have 69,034 miles on my View so I’m covered by warranty less $100.00. This dealer has 4 lifts capable of lifting our rig so I’m having the tires rotated. Meanwhile we are sitting back in comfort at a close by Residence Inn. They allow dogs and have a complete kitchen; very comfortable. The RV dealer does not allow customers to stay with their vehicle because of insurance.Margreata and Jim Hensel were traveling with us and continue to enjoy their trip. Margreata told me they saw several whales on their whaling trip.
Kay and I have not decided what we are going to do when we get the RV going but will decide by Sunday. Meanwhile we plan to use our free tickets to go and see the San Diego zoo.