The blog production here is hardly a punctual affair. When I get the urge, it happens.
It's been a while since the last, but there is good reason.
After many years of talking about it, we booked the tickets & flew to Phoenix, Az, USA. en route to Algodones, Mexico.
For us it was a flight of necessity.
We need our teeth fixed and the small town of Algodones has risen to become the saviour of the dentally challenged who are also suffering from financial cramp.
Almost all who walk across the line are doing so as a result of a personal recommendation from someone they know.
The attraction is simple.
Saving money and getting good dental treatment, which in Canada, the U.K; Germany, and the U.S. is a total contradiction. It ain't going to happen.
We are late model boomers, riding the tail of the baby boom years after WWII; we reaped the benefits of the latest medical technology which included a state run dental programme for every citizen of the U.K.
The British are renown for their bad teeth, it must be genetic, dietary or whatever, but we are a nation with bad knashers and the governments of those years decided to do something about it.
Every school kid was subject to regular dental check-ups and at the first sight of a cavity the Amalgam was laid in for the good of the nation.
It was wonderful.
By my 16th birthday my molars were totally silver, filled with amalgam to last a lifetime.
The leaching of the aluminium and other alloys and metals in the fillings was never discussed, considered a small risk issue compared to the work days that would not be lost to our employers due to dental related illness in the nations workforce.
We might be toxic, but we were efficient.
As the years went by, the cost of dental care skyrocketed and the state reduced it's dental offerings, opting to charge fees for and eliminate some procedure coverage.
We now have a mouth full of fillings that are failing fast and facing a very different reality as to how we are going to deal with them.
In my own case, a failing tooth resulted in a serious heart infection which almost ended my run.
We had to do something, but the cost of the work required was staggering.
For several years Alberta has failed to produce any dental cost guidelines, preferring to leave it to the individual dentist to set their own fee schedules.
The result has been price gouging like we have never seen and a reduction in dental care for those who do not have dental insurance, which has itself reduced the amount it will fund each year.
As a good friend once pointed out, if you ain't got money, you ain't got health.
We are small scale farmers by profession, and times are pretty tough.
It has been standard fare to eliminate any unnecessary personal spending for the good of the farm.
The dentist was one of the casualties and although we thought we were doing pretty good with our flossing and brushing after every meal, there was no doubt that we had reached the end of the rope.
A few of our friends had ventured to Algodones for dental care and we therefore had an introduction and some guidance to all that lay before us south of the line.
We purchased an ageing motor home in Phoenix (another story in itself) and headed west for Yuma.
In truth, we went right through Yuma and just across the state line into Winterhaven, California.
There is a small road turning off the highway with a simple sign "Mexico".
The Algodones road is actually the entrance to the Quechan Indians Casino as we are now on Indian lands and a busy little road it is..
Once past the casino entrance the road winds down the hill across the All American Canal and heads south for about 1/2 a mile or so to the fence.
There may be many things said of our native brothers and one for sure is that they are an enterprising bunch.
With the border within a stones throw, the Indians have opened a campground, "Sleepy Hollow", as a base camp for folks just like us to park our little home from home for the duration of our treatments. Rather modest, but quite sufficient.
They have also built a massive and beautifully paved parking lot for the day trippers to park in total security, a few feet from the gate into Mexico.
There is a substantial hill at the campground, complete with the stars & stripes flying on top, which we ascended to survey the sights on the other side of the fence.
When I say fence, it is just that, painted white railings at the crossing, but rusty orange sheet steel panels elsewhere and standing about 10 feet tall with the standard issue barbed/razor wire atop.
Rather unimpressive, Algodones is just another small border town with it's typical Mexican brand of building design, or lack of it, coupled with the stark contrast of shiny modern store-front type developments for the dentists, doctors, pharmacists, optometrists and all the other professional services that have found a home here.
The Colorado river winds it's way down the east side of town and the irrigated fields of green stretch away to the south.
We try to visually reason what is where in the town, but soon abandon the idea and leg-it back down the hill to our sanctuary on wheels, drawing a lonesome comfort from the small Canadian and British flags we attached to the front, now flapping with indifference in the warm evening wind.
Tomorrow, all will be revealed.
