JELLO

There is a saying that says: "RV plans should be written in JELLO, always with a bit of wiggle room."

I had the next month all planned, with several reservations made, and the ultimate destination of the Albuquerque Balloon Festival arranged with a spot at the Escapee group. Then on Saturday, while eating a yummy smoked rib, I felt what seemed like I had bitten into the bone instead of the meat. I removed part of what I was chewing with a discrete use of the napkin and swallowed the rest. But then to my dismay, I discovered one of my front teeth was gone! It wasn't in the napkin!

I felt no discomfort. The tooth wasn't anchored in my gum. It was part of a very expensive construction my Santa Cruz Mountain dentist put in a few years ago. The tooth next to it is a crown on one of my own roots, and the missing tooth was attached to it. I guess it could be described as a one tooth bridge.

What to do? I had a six tooth bridge done on my lower front teeth a few years ago and the price tag was close to $6000. I don't really want to replace my top four if I can avoid it, and the three crowns are left look pretty good. I think I need an implant.

I checked the price of implants on the internet. Of course it depends on where you go, but the web said $1500 was the low end, and that $4000 was the average US cost for an implant.  We have had OK results with Sani Dental in Los Algodones in Baja, Mexico. I checked their prices. They charge $750 for a simple implant and $150 for a CT scan. So we are on our way to Mexico on Thursday.

Personally, I wanted to wait until after the Balloon Festival, and stop there on our way to San Diego. But Craig wants it taken care of right away, so we are going to pull some high mileage days and blast our way south. I canceled the reservations I had. All were no problem except for the one state park. When you make a state park reservation there is usually a small non-refundable reservation fee. Then there is another fee if you change or cancel. Thus I had to blow off $36 to the state of Colorado. Oh well, such is life. We will be burning $500 in fuel that we could have saved if we waited until after Albuquerque. What's $36 more in the big picture?

I feel like our bank account has sprung a big leak! We also paid the full 3 year premium on our extended warranty this month, and are due for a full round of annual services on the Alfa. But then, all this adds up to less than a mortgage, home and earthquake insurance, and property taxes.

Full time RV living is still an economical way to live. I probably would have lost that tooth in our sticks and bricks home too!

I still have a couple of stories to tell about our time here at Custer State Park, which I will probably do while Craig drives. I do my share of the driving too, and we trade off frequently so neither of us gets too tired. 

Think of us zooming across the western USA.