The hitch and Catavina
Posted: Thu Jan 07, 2010 1:41 pmWe are crossing Baja to the Sea of Cortez side again. The roads are not nearly as bad as we had been led to expect. For those not interested in my hitch problems - go straight to the photos. For those sticking with me, even though I got the equalizer bar made I was still having problems. Every tope was a nightmare. When we got into Fidels campground in Catavina I was literally dragging sand. Fidel said, "Fidel, he fix!" He took my hitch off and raised it. I thought my problems were over. Wrong. When we left there I could hear horrible groanings and moanings from behind my truck. As I was on a dirt road I wanted to get level and take a look. We limped into a gas station and I'm surprised I hadn't lost the trailer. Fidel's fix was good, but he had just used a crescent wrench or something to tighten the bolts and the whole thing was slipping. The great thing about Mexico is that everyone is so willing to help. But I was getting wary of shade tree mechinics, who were more than willing to help, but really didn't know what they were doing. While we were waiting for El Mecanico to come in diez minutos Beth and I seriously discussed whether we should return to the mainland and get this fixed properly. However when the Mechanico showed up he had a professional looking truck and two helpers. They took the hitch off, tightened it with an air compreeser. He hitched me up, obviously familiar with the process. He took one look and mimed, we turn it upside down. We unhitched again. He took the whole thing apart, reversed it, assembled it again and repositioned it and hitched me up. Success! I can clear anything now. And it only cost me 32.00 US. When they took my hitch off at Kaibab I think they put it on wrong then, and that has caused all my problems since. And being on the rougher Mexican roads really showed it up. So hopefully there will be no more on hitches! 
On to the good stuff!
I think God said at one point, Hmmm, I'd like a rock garden with some cactus. Boy, did he do a good job. There were miles and miles of boulders interspersed with every variety of cactus, Saguaro, Boojum, Barrel, Cholla and many I didn't know the name of. Miles and miles of what, in a garden, would have been the envy of every neighbor.
The famous Boojum Tree.
On to the good stuff!I think God said at one point, Hmmm, I'd like a rock garden with some cactus. Boy, did he do a good job. There were miles and miles of boulders interspersed with every variety of cactus, Saguaro, Boojum, Barrel, Cholla and many I didn't know the name of. Miles and miles of what, in a garden, would have been the envy of every neighbor.
The famous Boojum Tree.
