It’s been nearly eleven months since we flew back into the States. That’s enough for now. We are definitely ready to get south of the border again.
The past few days have felt a lot like boat life—getting ready for a passage. I spent two days getting the bus up to snuff. I installed the new shift cable, which fit perfectly except for one small piece which I happily made work with just a bit of bailing wire—my favorite tool. I jacked up the tires and adjusted the brakes, fixed the clock, straightened out a piece of flooring, and tore the oven apart in a vain attempt to get it working. Basically I was just trying to get as many odds and ends off the list as I could.
Meanwhile, Ali was making her runs to Target and the grocery store in between doing fun things with the kids and hanging out with friends.
I can’t even remember what this little tiff between a forty-year-old and a four-year-old was, but I feel like I lost.
“Okay, you can stay here by yourself.”
Arms crossed, “Fine, I want to.”
“Why, what would you do by yourself?”
Head nods matter-of-factly, “Pull all the toilet paper off the roll. Hmmph.”
26 Comments on “Wrapping Things Up”
…..RIGHT!?!…… can’t even count anymore how many times I have had to re-roll the toilet paper……KIDS……safe travels Bums.
I always get excited when I see a new blog post!! I’m also happy you will be visiting my dear dear friends, George & Steve, at their park in Mexico. Can’t wait to read that blog.
We’re looking forward to it as well.
i doubt there is a person on earth who can win any argument with a 4 yo. they are still tiny enough to be cute and tug at your heartstrings and aware enough to come up with off the wall (yet plausible) arguments. miss those days (kinda :))
oh, and safe travels! (or as my kids would say, “mucha mierda!”)
Pat,
It would be interesting if you could include some comments on the paperwork that you need to follow to get the bus into Mexico.
You used to explain that very interestingly in your cruise blogs.
best of luck
We’ll do that, Mitch.
Where in Mexico are you headed? After following your blog and Sailing Totem as inspiration we set sail in January. We’re liveaboards in San Diego now. Glad to see you enjoyed Mission Beach, it’s where I grew up.
Safe Travels!
Headed down Baja, then mainland. Maybe we’ll see you down there. Have a great trip.
Also, I can’t imagine how awesome it must be to grow up in a place like Mission Beach. Sun, sand, and waves every day of the year. Jealous.
Hi Pat and Ali, Have a wonderful trip into MX. Eleven months is definitely long enough in the States. Thanks for all your great posts. The photography is simply amazing and gets better every year. Cheers. Edan
Thanks for the support Edan.
What an amazing life your kids have!
And me and Ali, too. 🙂
But did you get the oven fixed? I could not live without an oven. (Well, I COULD, but would not want to.)
Funny, I would have thought the same thing, but Ali hasn’t even mentioned the lack of an oven, which is why I haven’t spent any time trying to fix it.
And no, I didn’t get it going. Pilot light works, but it won’t fire up.
Check the burner tube, spiders like making homes in there and block it. Just a thought
For the 11 months you were here in the States, what did your healthcare look like? Overseas it’s cheap, easy, and quality. Here is a different story.
Obviously you didn’t have any major incidents occur, but what did you do in terms of the ACA and having a compliant plan while you were here? (If you don’t mind sharing details on the cost for the 4 of you, or if you decided to just pay the penalty, or what.)
Good question. Originally I don’t think we anticipated being in the States this long. When we arrived back in December I made a couple of half-hearted efforts to at least check out getting health coverage for a few months, but every time I did the website was down. I wasn’t that interested in the first place, so that little inconvenience was enough to make me skip it.
During our time here we took Lowe to the emergency once while we were visiting my mom in Portland. It was late at night, he fell out of bed, and then was having a hard time breathing. We didn’t know what was going on so we zipped down to the hospital where they quickly diagnosed Croup, a simple virus. One month after that visit we got a bill for $800. I thought, okay, expensive, but fair enough. Of course a month later another bill came for $470 (this one for the doctor that breezed through for two minutes and confirmed what we had already been told). Ali called and got 20% knocked off, we paid, and figured that would be the end of it. Another month or two later we got a notice saying they were going to send our bill to a collection agency. Surprise, surprise, they showed us owing a balance of exactly 20% of the original bill. We straightened that clerical error out, and I believe now, five months later, we may finally be done paying the bill for our thirty minutes at the hospital. (It’s no wonder that more than $1,000 per year per person in the US goes simply to pay for health care administrative costs.)
The medicine he got for that didn’t get rid of the Croup, so a couple weeks later we went to an Urgent Care drop-in clinic and paid $99 to get him checked out and a new prescription written up.
So all told, his one little virus cost about $1500. We’ll also pay the tax penalty for not having coverage.
Anyway, I’ve no idea what the right answer is for a family like us that is always on the move, traveling through the States occasionally and through other countries regularly. There is no easy solution as far as I can tell.
“Anyway, I’ve no idea what the right answer is for a family like us that is always on the move, traveling through the States occasionally and through other countries regularly. There is no easy solution as far as I can tell.”
I’m running into that same issue. 🙂
Thanks for the thorough response!
This post from another full-time traveler dates back to 2013, but there may be some healthcare options to explore thru links mentioned within it. The lab testing and surgical center in Oklahoma sounded viable if you’re not dealing with an emergency.
http://r-v-ino.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-real-healthcare-scam.html
What is the tax penalty for a family of 4? We have wondered about what we will do during our 6 month hiatus next spring. I think we can go 6 months without insurance without getting penalized but haven’t checked into it yet.
This graph (https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BzKozPsCUAA0yHC.png:largeshows) shows the countries where people live longer for less money so the answer to the cost of health insurance is to travel in any country in the world except the US 🙁
Whoops! bad link. Let’s try again: https://ufhealth.org/sites/default/files/media/healthSpending.jpg
The exchange you reported having with Ouest kinda reminds me of an exchange between my father and mt then 7 year old kid sister Barbara:
Barbara – Daddy?
Dad – Yes?
Barbara – Do you know that apple pie in the refrigerator?
Dad – Why no, we’ve never been properly introduced.
Barbara – Oh DADDY!!! You know what I mean!!
Dad (with a twinkle in his eye) – Do I?
Barbara opens up her mouth, then closes it and dashes out of Dad’s bedroom. Barbara comes back about 30 seconds later holding the apple pie.
Barbara – Apple pie, meet Daddy. Daddy, meet apple pie. Now, Daddy, do you know the apple pie?
Dad – Yes, I guess I do.
Barbara – Fine, will you put a piece of it in my lunch for school?
Dad – Yes.
Game, set, and match…
one thumbs up!
CORA!!!!