Nomad Life & Expenses June 2023

We had just crested an incline when the whirl of Ballena Blanca’s engine suddenly went quiet and stopped. We were on the Horace Wilkinson Bridge crossing over the Mississippi River into Baton Rouge, Louisiana. With the forward momentum we had left, Greg maneuvered the van through the traffic whizzing by us into the right lane and parked her on the shoulder of an exit ramp. 

Greg got out and popped the hood to look for an answer for our loss of power. Before I had time to follow him outside a MAP (Motorist Assistance Patrol) vehicle had pulled up behind us and Greg was talking to the operator. The MAP operator pulled a contraption out of his truck, connected it to our battery, unconnected it, shook his head, and radioed for more help. Within a few minutes, a MAP tow truck arrived. The plan was for the first vehicle to push the van to a larger shoulder and then for the tow truck to hook Ballena Blanca up and tow her off the busy highway. We rode in the van while being pushed and then got into the other truck and followed Ballena Blanca as she was towed to an Alberson’s parking lot.

Breakdown crossing a bridge in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Apparently, Alberson’s was used to this scenario and we were assured that it was no problem to be parked there for a while. Greg started calling Ford Service Centers. I started disaster planning in my head. We got lucky. One of the service centers, Robinson Brothers Ford, could look at the van the next day. Every other one Greg called didn’t have any appointments for months. I called our insurance company for a tow which arrived hours later. The tow guy loaded our beloved Ballena Blanca up on his rack and took her to the Ford place, leaving us standing in a grocery store parking lot in a town we knew nothing about. I checked a link my insurance had sent me. We had a $15 credit with Lyft. I downloaded the app and requested a ride. We arrived at the service center as they were closing, just in time to fill out the paperwork. I found a cheap-ish hotel about a mile away. I filled a bag with a week’s worth of clothes, grabbed the computer bag and all of our devices, loaded a bag with any non-refrigerable food items we had on hand, and tossed all of our cosmetics into another bag. Greg grabbed the beer. We called another Lyft to take us and all of our stuff to the hotel.

We had left Mexico only 4 days earlier ending the saga of the broken transmission and our rush to the border with before we became illegal aliens in a foreign country (with one day to spare). Fortunately, despite our rush, we had just enough time to visit a few friends before we left the country. Back in December, just days into the start of our Mexican journey we met Chris and Juan who live in Santiago, Nuevo Leon. Stopping to visit them the days before we returned to the US, it felt as if we were ending our Mexican adventure where we had started it, with amazing hospitality, and now good friends.

Once we were across the border and back in the US, we headed for Austin, Texas. In Austin just a little over 6 months previous, I had reconnected with an old friend named Greg, from my very brief commune days. We had also done some house-sitting during that time and had made new friends with pet owners, Laura and Griffin. We spent a couple of nights camping in Greg’s driveway and had a nice dinner with Laura and Griffin.

There was a lot of driving ahead of us and a lot more people to visit so we moved on pretty quickly. After leaving Texas and a night parked in a rest area, our next stop was to visit my niece, Ariadne, and her husband, Ian, in New Orleans. From there we would continue across the country to visit more friends and family.

At the hotel in Baton Rouge, I started contacting everyone in our forward path telling them we weren’t going to make it. Our friend Debbie was planning a party for Greg’s birthday in 4 days. I texted her to cancel it. More disaster planning – I looked at bus schedules to New Orleans and even thought about flying to Greg’s parents’ house in North Carolina. We had no idea what was wrong with the van or how long it would take to fix it.

After talking to my friend Karen on the phone I realized that I might have been overreacting. Perhaps it was nothing. Maybe it could be fixed right away and we could still see everyone and make it to the party if I just cut our visit with my niece short by one day. Maybe it wouldn’t be a disaster. I texted Debbie back and told her to not cancel the party yet.

The next morning we decided to save the money and walk to Ford. We loaded ourselves up with our 4 bulging overnight bags and walked to Robinson Brothers. We piled all our gear up around a table camped out in the waiting room and waited.

About 3 hours later they gave us the diagnosis. It was a blown fuse for the fuel pump. Inside the engine compartment is a fuse box. We had no idea this compartment existed. Somehow the 20 amp fuel pump fuse got switched out for a 10 amp fuse. We thought back to when we initially got the van back from the transmission shop in Oaxaca. When we left the cargo doors open (as we like to go to get air in the van) the interior van lights came on. We had pulled the fuse for this light from the interior fuse box 7 years ago when we first outfitted the van. Someone had replaced it. I guess we can’t really say how the fuse in the engine compartment got switched but it appears someone was playing musical chairs with fuses while the van was out of our possession. We are sure lucky this fuse didn’t blow until we returned to the US.

We were back on the road again by noon. I texted my niece that we were coming, and texted Debbie that the party was still on.

Lunch with Ariadne at Sweet Soulfood, a vegan soul food restaurant in New Orleans.

Ian works for the radio station WWL in New Orleans. He produces a talk radio show for Scoot, a New Orleans iconic personality. On the day Greg and I visited, they were doing a live broadcast from the newly remodeled Audubon Aquarium and Insectarium. Ian got us free passes and we spent a fun time looking at sea life and bugs.

Jelly Fish.

There was an exhibit on the Great Maya Reef. I joked – Who needed to travel all the way to the Yucatan when we could experience an ancient Mayan City right there in NOLA.

We also got to try out the Undersea Explorer Virtual Reality. Greg and I went underwater with whales.

The Insectarium is connected the Aquarium but requires an additional ticket – or just a pass in our case.

You have to wait to get into the butterfly room. Once the door opens people file into another room and wait until the first door is closed before you can enter the lepidopterarium (I looked that word up). When you leave you have to check your clothes for stowaways.

Back at Ariadne and Ian’s apartment. Just 3 of their crew of 5 cats.

Ariadne and Ian.

From my niece’s house, we continued east and made stops in Peachtree City to see an old college friend of mine, Natalie, Cabbagetown for Greg’s birthday, Greenville, SC to see our friends David and Michelle, and to retrieve some things I had left in their attic a year and a half previously, and then finally landed at Greg’s partents’ house in North Carolina to rest for a few days.

Pickin’ party at Natalie and Andy’s house in Peachtree City, Georgia.

An Usie with Andy and Natalie.

Andy’s breakfast casserole.

Pot luck at Debbie’s for Greg’s birthday in Cabbagetown.

Party in the kitchen at Debbie’s.

Pickin’ party on the back porch.

Pickin’ party on the back porch.

Michelle and David in Greenville, SC.

After catching our breath we hit the road again, this time to St. Louis. There we dropped off some of the stuff, negatives and slides, I had retrieved from Michelle and David’s attic with a friend, Greg, who will scan them for me. We had a nice time visiting with Greg and his wife Natalie. We saw one other friend, Dane from my punk rock days, while we were in St. Louis, spending the day visiting some of the free museums in Forest Park. From St. Louis, we drove to Pennsylvania to visit my cousins and their families before heading back to Greg’s parents’ in North Carolina.

Dane, Me, and Greg in St. Louis, MO.

The Gateway Arch downtown St. Louis.

We spent the morning at the free Missouri History Museum in Forest Park in St. Louis.

I really liked this display on runner-up designs for the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial monument.

Dane at the Saint Louis Art Museum standing in front of a painting by Monet. The museum is free but it was $12 for adults and $10 for seniors to see this special exhibit.

Greg and I with my cousin Kris and her husband Jeff at the Railroaders Memorial Museum in Altoona, PA.

Me and my cousin Tom.

Dinner at my cousin Kris’ house in Everett, PA. With Kris’s mother-in-law, Mrs. Troutman, Jeff, and her two daughters Rebecca and Danielle.

The Expenses

And our total expenses for June were…

Here is the breakdown of categories…

It was a big month for Van Expenses. We burned a lot of gas ($768.02). We had to get Greg a new driver’s license and unfortunately, we let it expire so we had to pay a penalty (all total, $72.00). I put this expense under Insurance/Registration because it pertains to driving the van. Insurance was $91.86. We spent $94.24 on an oil change (maintenance). And of course the was the repair expense. To find out that we had a blown fuse cost us $203.30 and our Lyft rides (one out of pocket, and one out of pocket for the tip) which I included with this expense added up to $13.75 for a total of $217.05. The rest of the repair expense, $151.27, is the total of what we have spent so far on our current ongoing windshield-wiper repair problem. More on that one next month.

I rolled the hotel room expense ($64.75)  into my Camping category. Perhaps I should have stuck that in repairs too? We also had one actual camping expense ($14) on our trip to St. Louis. We drove quite a few toll roads ($26.15) to get out of Mexico. The remainder in that the Tolls/Parking expense is the difference between the amount of the deposit we had paid for our Temporary Vehicle Import (TIP) when we entered Mexico and the amount we got back. Since the exchange rate was more favorable when we entered Mexico than when we left, this refundable deposit ended up costing a few dollars ($6.09). Four years ago when we returned our TIP the opposite was true and we made money on the deal.

We had to throw another $100 into our mailbox account which made our Communication total a little higher than usual.

Our Consumables ($533.66) are back down to a reasonable amount since we are no longer stress-eating or self-medicating.

Entertainment was a bit high ($511.70). This happens when we see friends and family – which we saw lots of in June. We also treated a lot (and we were treated).

And now that we are back in the US it is time again to think about our Health. Greg had an eye exam ($129.00). There will be more expenses for new contacts next month.

While visiting my family in Pennsylvania we visited the Railroaders Memorial Museum in Altoona, PA. My grandfather used to work for the Pennsylvania Railroad and lived in Altoona in its heyday.

Old train outside of the museum.

The roundhouse.

At the museum, we bought a combo ticket which also gave us entry to the World-Famous Horseshoe Curve. In this model, you can see how they solved the problem of laying the tracks to take the railroad over the Allegheny Mountains.

View from the Horseshoe Curve. The funicular (to the right) was out of order so we took the steps.

A train goes through the curve. Trains come through here about every half hour.

To see all of our expense reports, click here.

If you are interested in reading other expense reports from nomads who really know how to live cheaply while still having a good time, check out the blog from our friends Mark, Liesbet, and Maya at Roaming About.

The Camping/Sleeping Report

Here are our camping/sleeping stats. All stays are free except where indicated.

6 – nights parked in friends’ driveways
3 – nights at rest stops
1 – night in a hotel ($64.75)
18 – nights in friends’ and families’ homes
1 – night at a campground ($14)
1 – night at a Boondockers Welcome location

Our first night back in the US we stayed at the La Salle County Rest Stop just south of San Antonio.

After we left Austin on our way to New Orleans we spent the night at the Louisiana Welcome Center just over the state border.

On our way to St. Louis from North Carolina I decided that instead of staying at a rest stop, that I wanted to stay somewhere relaxing with a nice view. So we spent $14 and camped at Seven Points Campground just outside of Nashville, TN.

Map and Miles

We drove 4037 miles in June. Our cost for gas per mile was 20¢.

Mexico Tips

This isn’t so much a tip as me describing our border crossing.

We took our time leaving our friends in Santiago, NL the morning of our crossing and arrived at Puente Internacional Solidaridad-Colombia, the road that would take us across the border and back into the US,  close to 2 pm.

Turning right off of Highway 2 onto Puente Internacional, we followed the sign that told us to stay in the left lane designated for autos. But there were a whole lot of trucks blocking the lane, a whole lot of really big trucks. It didn’t look good. The trucks seemed to be way too big to make the turn. It was impossible to see what was going on ahead and whether the situation would get remedied soon so we just did what everyone else was doing and followed some cars down the highway to the next place to turn right. Unwittingly we ended up going the wrong way on a one-way road. But it worked. When we saw our chance we crossed back over to our road and got around the truck jam.

Returning our TIP was super easy. About a mile and a half down the Puente Internacional road, we found the Banjercito booth. We pulled over. An inspector came out. We gave him our TIP. He took some pictures of the van and we were on our way.

Just a short drive further we paid a toll to cross the Columbia Bridge. Once again we reunited with the logjam of trucks. We crossed the bridge and were back in the US. The trucks peeled off to the right and we could finally see the customs booth ahead. The line was short. When it was our turn we showed our passports, answered a few questions, and were on our way – to roam freely in the US once again.

Despite the trucks, this crossing was easy peasy.  It was very clear where we needed to go, the wait was very short, and we weren’t hassled at customs. This may have been our easiest exit from Mexico. We will definitely be using this crossing again.

BTW – if you are curious about our other México border crossings, check out this link to read what we have written about each one.

Trucks jamming up the road.

Returning our TIP at the Banjercito.

Right Now

We are on our last morning at a house sit in Greenville, SC.  This is our second house sit of the summer. Visiting with friends was big fun but we are really glad to be able to slow down a bit and have our own space.

We are leaving here today for Lake Keowee to spend the weekend with Greg’s children, their spouses, and the grandchild, Gabriel. Then there is a camping get-together followed by over a month of house-sitting.

We are spending our time studying Spanish and planning what we need to start doing for our trip to Ecuador this fall.

*Click pics to enlarge, read captions, and view in a slide show.