Post Gordon ~ Thoughts, Commentary & Reflections

Ha-ha! Thx, Blu.

Zoom!! (Over my head... )

 

Thx double yellow, and for the 'Can Vic Come Out and Play' thread.

I liked that.

Reminded me of going from one friend's house to another to see who could come out. From sun up to sundown I had a free ticket as long as I didn't abuse the privilege. None of my friends did. Mentioned that to a fellow one time and he thought, paused, then said, "I hated guys like you." Meant it, too.

Still makes me smile.

 

Back from West LA Veterans Hospital

--Current location: in the desert, north of I-8, west of Yuma
--Car camping.

 

For some time now I thought TTR's policy meant TTR maintained it 'owned' anything I wrote here. Not very encouraging and doesn't seem fair. Fortunately, that's not TTR's actual policy.

Thx to d o g for getting a favorable clarification on TTR's policy:

(Re-worded by me.)

Whew!! Now, that's good news.

 

Thx, 25(2)+2. And free to 'write'.

Trying to 'bullet-point' my posts was a real pain.

 

Back from West LA VA Hospital (Temporarily removed by me...)

Sunday night wrapped up my visit to my 93-year-old Mom in West LA and headed east toward Yuma. When I got to Algodones Road, the Dodge Avenger was about out of gas since it somehow slipped my mind in Brawley, despite the Jack-In-the-Box two tacos for 99 cents and a large, unsweetened tea for a buck on my way back from SoCal. The gauge was on empty. Didn’t want to waste the gas to cross over to the north side of I-8 where I usually car camp. Hey! It’s 8 miles to a gas station in Yuma.

Instead, made the right turn at the end of the exit ramp and pulled off into the desert sand that overlooks casino parking below. Then pushed the seat back, made my ‘bed’ of a comforter ($9.99 from Goodwill in Yuma) on top of the front seat and two strategically-placed pillows ($2.50 each from Wal-Mart).

About 6 a.m. (Pacific) Monday morning, I pulled the Dodge Avenger out onto the roadway, got up to speed, slid it into neutral, turned the key off and coasted the curvy mile or so down to the entrance to the Quechan border parking. Nice.

For a while I just watched early arrivals to the Quechan (Indian tribe) border parking lot, mostly folks looking to fill prescriptions at the farmacias in Los Algodones. They don’t stay long. Some are back in ten minutes, the time to walk across, make a quick purchase and walk back through customs.

Algodones is on the cusp between the blistering heat of summer and the arrival of snowbirds. Monday night I was back at my usual car camping spot, a fair piece off the road and into the desert north of I-8, where snowbirds will hang out all winter. So far they’re few in number and most all across I-8 and south of the Quechan casino from me. As more arrive, and the spots closer to Algodones fill up, some will park here. For now, it’s just me. Well, and the Border Patrol, of course.

Just me, a big, big night sky, the railroad tracks with trains that run both directions through the night on the north side of the road and the tire noise from the semi’s on I-8. Now, this is funny–at least, I think so. My internet reception out here is great. Over in the Quechan parking lot at the border, it’s hit or miss. Have to move around and watch the signal on my phone

But here, all alone for the night, my iPad’s connected to the whole globe.

All of it.

 

Bank of Wal-Mart

Grabbed 6 bananas (56 cents/pound) once I got back to Yuma today (Wednesday) and headed to the first almost-open cashier. Well, she was open except for a little old gal who insisted paying by check. Does that take time!

"Another goofy customer here," I told the cashier, referring and pointing to myself. I went on, "Gonna buy these one at a time, you'll see why." The first was 24 cents and I got $100 cash back. At $500, got a decline on my card. (Just a per-day limit I expect. Plenty of money in that account.) Pulled out another card for the final $100, then headed across the parking lot.

Across the parking lot, a teller window was open inside Wells Fargo bank and I deposited $590 to my Los Algodones implant dentist's checking account.

Almost two years ago, had the implant post ($550) put in for a lower tooth I'd lost. Took about an hour and was virtually painless. Easier than a filling. Back in Bloomington, Indiana, that implant would cost me $3500. Last week had my teeth cleaned and the impression taken for the crown, which would run $1500 in Bloomington. Had been worried might've waited too long.

"No problem, Victor," said my implant dentist, as he put a fixture on the post.

Today I got the permanent abatment and crown installed. Took an hour or so, plus 20 minutes to send the crown back to the lab to add porcelin after it was fitted. When I went to pay, pushed my debit card toward Maria, whom I've seen a couple times over the last two years. Seemed like the Doc was always out of town when I passed through.

"Oh, we don't take cards, Victor. Here's Doctor's Wells Fargo checking account number. Just deposit the money in Doctor's account. Okay?" Sure, I thought.

With that, Maria trusted me, a guy from Indiana, to walk out of their Los Algodones, Baja California, Mexico dental office with a fully-installed dental implant with only my verbal promise to pay and nothing in writing.