2014...Really?
27 December 2014 | Rancho Cordova, Ca
Gabriellas' Gpa
After trying one more time to launch the boat and failing due to another leak, I finally got it down to a trickle and am happy (somewhat) with it. Due to all the extra time out of the water, I missed my perfect weather window. So it was a choice of spending Christmas in Guaymas or driving home to surprise Gabriella. Of course it was a no brainer and I put the boat in the marina and took off at 4am the next morning so I could drive all the way through. Driving about 60 miles north of Guaymas, doing 65 mph passing a truck I struck a heavy piece of metal...it looked like an I-beam. It blew out the front tire and later realized the rear tire was also destroyed. So I put on my donut tire in the dark and started driving on a donut tire and a flat rear tire towards Hermosillo. As I'm driving I notice a tire shop sign painted on a huge truck tire and then a little down the road I notice another sign on a truck tire and then in the middle of nowhere another one pointing across the highway. I drove across the highway and was figuring on staying there until they were opened later in the morning. To my surprise I saw a man walk up to the shack/shop from a 24 hour restaurant and discovered they were open. All they had in my size was an old used tire mounted on a trailer in the back of the property. So, two hours later and $650 spent, I was on my way (about ten miles) to Hermosillo to buy 2 new tires. At the Toyo tir store I found 2 tires at a pretty good price for Mexico and had them install them. When they were installing the second tire the installer called me out to the shop. He showed me my rim that had a big hole in it from the steel object that I hit. So I had to put the donut tire on and go to junk (yonke) yards to find another rim. Found it...bought it and returned for them to finish installation. I get to the border in the afternoon to cross and it takes 1 hour and 45 minutes to get through. Needless to say that the 4am departure was a bust with all the delays and extra expense. I drove until 4:30 am and finally stopped at a motel in Sylmar for a 2 1/2 hour sleep. Then back on the road to Rancho Cordova which I arrived at 11:30 am and made arrangements with my wonderful daughter-in-law Karen to surprise Gabriella at Grandma Pat's house. Surprising Gabriella was worth the nightmare of a drive up to Rancho.