Monday morning began at 5:30am when our alarm clock gave off its typical PING-PING-Ping. And that was a good thing as I had misplaced my wristwatch only days earlier and had not been able to relocate it within the 4 walls of our trailer. But hey, it's just another mystery in our household.
The reason for the early wake-up call was, of course, that I was slated for another visit to my Algodones dentist. And today I was to receive my crowns!
After the usual morning chores, I hit the road at 6:30 PST (7:30 MST) Arriving at the border parking lot, it had already begun to fill up quickly. From the parking lot one can look down to the border station.
Except for images of the inner-german border in Berlin during the cold war, I have never seen any border created as ugly as the border between the US and Mexico. When Ronald Reagan said "Mr. Gorbatchev, tear down this wall", he would never have imagined this embarrassing construction along the southern border to Mexico.
I made my way through the chaos of town, down Avenue A then turn left on Calle Tercera. And as usual, I didn't count all the invitations for "great" deals shouted at me on my way to the dentist offices. I have heard that there are around 450 dentists in town, and I assume a similar number of optical stores, which all compete with eachother to get your business. I put a friendly smile on my face and shaking my head every time I received another "great deal". "AMIGO, we have the best prices" or "SENOR, you looking for dentist?" It's only a few minutes of walking to the office of "Dental Solutions", but you gotta watch out all the time. Hint: Avoid walking through the narrow sales tunnels the vendors have established on the sidewalk. Try to walk out on the street, traffic permitting. It's way faster!
Well, by now the girl at the reception knew my name. If that doesn't give you a good feel, I really don't know.
A new-to-me doctor (how many do they have there?) invited me into the chair, and started by putting one crown after the other on my teeth, well, first they were placed only loosely to try the fit, then removed again for "cementing" them in. Every crown made a little "click" when put in place. The last one was the bridge.
To begin with it all felt like a bit unusual, but over the course of the day I hardly noticed the new teeth anymore.
The cost of this entire " repair operation" will blow you away. I paid USD 1,250 all included. Can't beat that!
Stepping out into the warm sunshine only about one hour later, I began the return walk to the border. It was only 10:15 MST and there was no waiting line at the border. I just blew through and back into the US.
Returning to camp, Dixie had one of her "Oh-dear-where-have-you-been-that-long" wild welcome dances. It always marks one of the highlights in my life when being welcomed home that way. I believe only dogs can show that wild affection to their owners.
The day progressed with really nice temperatures around 75F, and I made a shopping trip to El Centro for propane, groceries and drinking water.
But could you blame a guy to get tired after being on his legs since 5:30am? I think not. So I took an hour-long nap in the trailer before it was time for coffee. While in town, I got groceries at ALDI. To my huge delight, I saw that they had further discounted the German Christmas cookies. Where else can you get packs of gingerbread cookies for 62 and 99cents respectively?
Btw. I also made an appointment for Bea at the dentist. She's been having toothache for a coupla days now and before it gets out of hand, she better gets it fixed.
Be careful with all those Aldi cookies that you don't have another trip to the dentist.
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