Dec 29th to Jan 1st

I went outside Saturday when it wasn't dripping wet and the temp went north of 60F. I planned to install my new, wait for it, sewer drain hose! Whoever would have thought this would be on anyone's Christmas list! But, to an RVer, these are things you need. While doing this I noticed there was water dripping from a couple of places under the RV which was difficult to spot earlier as everything was dripping from the rain. Turns out there was water in a couple of the storage lockers so had to do the hunt for the source.

It's a little better than looking for a leak in a boat as the RV won't sink in a worst case scenario, whereas a boat..... But, still a pain to find the source as water travels horizontally along structural framework sometimes so I had to do a lot of feeling around places I couldn't see. Finally traced it to a bronze vacuum breaker/anti siphon fitting under the bathroom sink. The water was leaking at the vent seal there and running down the pipe into the lower portion of the RV. This fitting is here to prevent backflow from the internal waste tank rinse hosegetting into the freshwater system of the rig via the hose connection to the city water supply.

I went looking for a replacement and found a plastic 1 for $65US (no thanks) and opted for a $5 brass garden hose version instead. We have a series of valves that safeguard against this problem occurring but the fitting I bought will do this automatically should the valve accidentally be left open so we have backup protection.

We went to a local Flea Market and got a real eye opener. I guess it was a flea market in the true sense of the words vs. What we're sued to back home. They were selling everything from industrial tools to vegetables and even live chickens, but nearly all of the non-food items were used. The vendors and clientele were all Hispanic so this was geared towards their culture vs. Tourists. Still, a very interesting experience.

Seeing as we were so close to the "Phantom Menace" of Mexico, we headed down to the Rio Grande to get a glimpse of "The Wall". It ended up being more of a berm that ran along the river a few hundred feet back from the shore, on which the road ran along the top. A very narrow road with very steep sides, no guardrails and an RV park at 1 point down on the flood plain. I wouldn't want to be dragging our RV along it and meet a vehicle coming the other way. There were Border Security towers along the US side of the river every so often but no wall or any other physical barrier visible.

There was a report a few days ago of a border officer being shot with a small calibre gun from the Mexican shoreline while patrolling the river but no suspects arrested. There was also a news item this week of a couple of Mexican police vehicles coming across the border and then turning around and heading back once they discovered where they were (according to the "fake news" report we saw anyway).

And while we're on the topic of guns, a local politician is trying to pass a law making it illegal for celebratory gunfire as New Year's Eve approaches. Apparently last year he got hit in the head with a bulletin coming down from one of these vertical gun shots returning to earth. Who knew that bullets fired up would come back to earth...at speed?

We went to the New Years party and sat at Canadian table with a bunch of people from Winnipeg. This was a lot livelier group than the place we spent last New Years in Arizona where the party was over at 9 pm. We had to head home just prior to midnight to take care of Finn as the huge round of artillery fire erupted. he spent the night quite happily sleeping between us on the bed.

It was just above freezing in the morning so the deep freeze that has gripped most of the continent has extended this far south...again! the guy next to us, a Canadian from Port Dover, told me usually there are only 190 days a year that the temperature doesn't get above 60F. As luck would have it, we are here for all 10 of them....and probably 2018's allotment as well from the looks of the forecast. Only 2 more weeks and we can head to the promised land of Arizona (where it's 72F today BTW)