The south end of the beach at Hua Hin, Thailand.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Hua Hin, Thailand.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Maldives on March 23rd.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Potrero Chico (day 5)

It was pretty much a relaxing day today, although we did get some work done. It doesn’t start to get really hot until after lunch.

I used some new all purpose cleaner that Ruth had bought to try and get rid of the bugs on Sherman’s front end. It worked pretty good, but it still took quite a bit of rubbing. The end result is much better though. Ruth did a little bit of laundry by hand. It’s not bad to keep up with it if you do a little bit at a time. She lets some soak in a bucket with soap overnight and that seems to do a pretty good job.

We did end up using the pool in the afternoon. It sure is refreshing!

We had a little bit of an interesting night last night. Because it’s been so hot, we’ve actually been leaving the main side door open all night, with just the screen door closed. All of the windows are wide open anyway, so what’s the difference really? Besides, we are in a sort of a campground and there are people here in tents as well.

Anyhow, so we’re sleeping peacefully. But I wake up and hear some voices. I open my eyes and see flash lights through the front curtains. At the same time, I hear the screen door open, and someone on the entrance steps! Of course all of this happens in less than a second and I’m pretty groggy from just having woke up. Not really any time to think, so I jump our of bed making as much noise as possible and yelling. I get to the front door, and of course I can’t see a thing because there are flashlights shining in my eyes. By this point, whoever was coming in had backed down to the ground and I reached out and closed the screen door.

Then I realize it’s the military.

I breathed a big out loud sigh of relief that it was the good guys and you could tell they realized they had scared the crap out of me! None of them spoke English though. Who knows if the guy coming in simply thought it was empty, or what he was thinking. There was no knock that we heard or anybody asking for entry, but maybe that was what woke me up. No idea. In hindsight I think I’m lucky they didn’t shoot me when I came yelling!

The guy in charge just waved his arm and you could tell he was pretty much saying to him men to just leave us be.

There had been a military helicopter flying by a couple of times yesterday and perhaps they saw Sherman from up there and wondered what the deal was. Or maybe it was just a routine inspection of the area. Who knows. But I’m thinking we’ll sleep with the door closed and locked from now on!

We’re heading out this morning and we’ll do a couple of hours driving. We’re going to take a route around the city of Saltillo because that city is growing and there’s lots of road contruction. Not sure where we’ll end up tonight, but Chris gave us the location of a rancher along the way who let them stay in his apple orchard so I think we’ll check that out.

As the sun was coming up this morning

16 comments:

  1. I don't know about that visit, Maybe it's time to move farther south, seems to me if they took the time to send out a ground patrol, there must be some kind of activity they are looking for in that area, sounds a little scary to me. Locking the door is a good idea. We just worry about you two, Be safe out there. Sam & Donna.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm with Sam - time to move further south. I would have been petrified. And my door would have been shut. I don't care where we are or how warm it is. The door is shut. One of those paranoia things I have. Be safe and have a safe travel.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I guess Whisky did not hear them or she does not bark at noise in the night.

    Stay safe and lock the door.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hey guys that's quite a harrowing experience.
    That's where a Riggins or Sadie come in handy, they bark like crazy...only problem is its always worrisome someone would hurt them. I think I would have been up the rest of the night and outta there first thing when the sun came up. Keeping doors lockes is probably wise.
    Donna W.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I assume that they were checking out the RV. Perhaps with the door and windows all open it appeared abandoned. Scary for sure and what a way to wake up but it could have been the other guys. The only thing I would change had it been us would be to keep the door locked. I would be interested in hearing how WhisKey reacted when you started yelling. Do you think she scared them off?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Good idea to keep the door locked. We have an inside lock on our screen door that will slow people down somewhat and give a certain sense of security. It also keeps children from coming in or falling out by mistake.

    ReplyDelete
  7. This is exactly the reason why I will not travel south of the Border. I really want to as it is so beautiful along the coasts. Same issue with so many other countries.

    There is no way in the USA, Military or Police would have come in unannounced. Gang Banger or Thug Yes, but not an officer of any kind.

    Just my opinion but I am not sure if the military there are the good guys as you said or not. Some are, some not.

    I sat on the edge of my seat reading that post and just confirmed I will not travel in my RV South of the Border. Besides there are so many incredible places in the USA To Travel that we have not seen yet.

    And Yes even here I keep my door locked, but not because of Military or Police.

    I know I don't know you guys but Please be careful down there. I think from reading previous posts that you have been there a few times in the past.

    Be Careful
    Mark

    ReplyDelete
  8. They meant no harm, doing their jobs. Could be that they knocked and you didn't hear them. I wouldn't worry about it. They have always been good to us.

    Have fun!

    chris

    www.livingboondockingmexico.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  9. Not a chance of us sleeping with the door unlocked. Helen would NEVER consent to camp in any form of soft sided camper and INSISTS that the door is closed, locked, and bolted. If this had happened to us, Helen would be on her way back to Florida with or without me. :)

    Paul

    ReplyDelete
  10. Wow scary! I wouldn't be leaving my door unlocked at any time, even in the US or Canada! Yikes.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi Kevin and Ruth - glad to have found your site! this is totally off topic but I just saw a comment you made on Croft's Mexico site (in Feb. 2010) about staying at Kathe's for free at Chetumal. $25 is steep for us too and so thought I would check on this place as we are heading down there this winter - first time. Our blog is www.alifemadesimple.blogspot.com. Thanks - you site is a valuable resource! Teresa

    ReplyDelete
  12. I imagine they were just doing their jobs and meant no harm. They probably knocked and you didn't hear them. Have a good drive today!
    Love Lindsey, Justin and Cameron
    p.s. Cameron will be half a year old tomorrow, crazy! He also can't wait to visit his Grandma and Grandpa in Mexico in January :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Your header picture is gorgeous. OMG...locks those doors! I can't believe they would just walk in without knocking! To scarey for my liking.
    Suggestion...We spray the front of the MH with Pledge or sometime similar to that before we take off. Once we arrive at our destination, Paul takes a dry rag and just wipes them off.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I'm pretty sure they knocked too. If no answer, the next step is to walk in and check things out. They were probably as nervous about going in there as you were about them going in. But probably a good idea to keep it locked at night, shows propriety. The military have always been polite to us. See you soon. Sal and Barb

    ReplyDelete
  15. Oooops! I meant proprietary,(ownership). Sorry. Anyway they just wanted to make sure no one was hurt, as it is unusual in Mexico to leave the doors open at night.

    ReplyDelete
  16. First off, we still feel safe here in Mexico, even after having this happen. By saying this I mean that it was the military that was checking us out, not the bad guys. This just proves that they are out there trying to keep things safe! They were investigating something that wasn't normal to them and wanted to make sure that there weren't problems. We admit, we weren't being smart about leaving the door open but we had been doing that for past several nights, really it is no different than the boys that were sleeping in their tents, other than we have our computers and camera with us, which really were the only things of value and even they are old.

    We have only left the door open in one other spot that I can think of over the 4 years of travelling and that was again somewhere that we felt was a safe spot. In the future this will not happen again, we have learnt a lesson here, never think anywhere is a safe place, you just never know!

    Many have asked what Whiskey's reaction was, unfortunately she is deaf and didn't hear them (I know some watch dog, but she used to be very good in this aspect). Things happened fast that we really can't remember if she did bark at them once Kevin started shouting for them too back off, but once he started talking to them she was quiet.

    Teresa Johannesma Wood...If you are going to be in the Chetumal area, then yes you should definitely contact Kathe about staying at her place. If you need any contact info for her don't hesitate to contact us and Kevin will pass the info on to you. Also thank you for stopping by and following along with us on our travels. We will definitely check out your blog. Safe travels to you.

    FULL-TIMERS...OCT. 17, 2009...Thanks for the suggestion about spraying the front of the motorhome with Pledge. If we find some down here in Mexico we will give that a try.

    Kevin and Ruth

    ReplyDelete

There are more comments on our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/TravelwithKevinAndRuth

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.