by A. Jill Gaebel

Created on: April 10, 2011

Three Days in Mexico (The Escape)

As I write this, I’m wondering how many people are old enough to remember a movie called “The Long, Long Trailer”, a comedy starring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnez.  In it they are a married couple who buy a long trailer, hook it up, and happily head out in anticipation of great vacation.  Been a long time since I saw it, but, of course, things don’t go as planned due to all kinds of comedic errors and problems that brings them to the brink of divorce. 

It was with this movie in mind that my companion, as we began our RV trip to Mexico, jokingly called me “Lucy”.  I laughed at the time. 

Several pleasant days later we reached San Quentin, Mexico.  In reading the different guide books we had on traveling Baja, I had learned some things that concerned me, but didn’t really compel me to express concern about them until the morning we were to leave San Quentin.  San Quentin is sort of a “last chance” spot before entering the many miles of the remoteness and isolation of the Baja desert.  The books warned of Pemex (the only gas stations in Mexico) often overcharging for gas.  They have different ways of doing this such as not clearing the pump of the last transaction and having a second attendant distract and “blind” the customer by washing the windshield with unclean water and smearing it. 

The Pemex stations in the desert are few and far between and sometimes are shut down or out of fuel.  Also, the opportunities to restock an RV with water are rare to none.  The same with food, and, of course, there would be no real resource for medical care if needed.

So, as I’m standing outside the surprisingly good restaurant in the very rustic and run down RV park after breakfast that morning in San Quentin, I remembered all these warnings and I suffered a sudden moment of anxiety.  I decided that before we continued further, my partner and I needed to discuss the situation.  Yeah, yeah, I know…where’s my sense of adventure?  I think I lost a few pieces of it along the way beginning back about 20 odd years ago. 

I hadn't intended for us to turn back.  I just wanted to talk about my concerns.  With certain of my health issues in mind, he took my concerns seriously and said we should turn back.  Well, now I felt badly.  I believed I had just ruined our vacation. 

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