Home again....HOME again, Jiggidy jig........

Judy's trip back to the Sea:

Airport travel import rules 101:  In Eugene they said my co2 cartridges (to inflate our life vests) were contraband, but when I told the guy what they were for he went to talk to his BOSS and they let me take them...big whew!!!! THEN when I went thru the line where threy xray you and your carry ons they took my 2 tubs of margarine cause they said they are considered "Liquid" and there fore are banned in carry ons and it was too late for them to put them in my checked baggage that had already been loaded on the plane...there goes THAT $10 worth of food....yeah, like I'm going to hijack a plane with my margarine.....THEN landing in Portland they freaked out cause I had 4 carry on bags and you are only allowed 2---they asked me where I began my journey and who let me on with too many bags and I said Eugene airport and so PDX people were going to call Eugene and tell them they screwed up....but they let me keep my stuff....then in LA my plane was late and they had the wheel chair for me but would not stop at the bookstore that was holding the book I ordered cause they said I would miss my plane....When I arrived in Mexico, afraid that I was going to have to pay import fees on stuff for the boat---they looked at the solar panel charger and I showed them my import permit that I had already paid duty on but it didn't list anything "solar" and she kept telling me (in broken English) I needed to show her what on the import list the piece of equipment was for and the closest thing word-wise was the sonar.....so I showed her that and she let me go.....no problems...yeah! Then at another "station" they said they had to check my bags and again could care less about anything electronic or other "contraband---drugs?  Guns?  but on the declaration thingy it asked if you had any "meat" and wanting to be as honest as I can I marked "yes" but added on the form that I had beef jerky-dried and packaged.....so they took the pkg of beef jerky I showed them----then they went thru my carry on bag with the cheese and roast in it and they took my $20 COSTCO roast I wanted to cook for Jay.....I said :"you're taking my food?!?!?" and they said meat is prohibited and I told them I looked online about what can and cannot be brought into Mexico and they told me to go on some other site so I guess I was misinformed........then the guy kept looking at my 2 big blocks of cheese turning them over and over and I said "Oh, don't take my cheese, too!" and so they didn't--but he asked me if I had any other food and I said canned chilies and he said "show me" so I dug in my bag and as I grabbed the canned chilies another beef jerky bag fell out and they took that, too....then he looked at the can of chilies over and over like it was some kind of incindiary weapon or some such...then gave it back while I whined "I can't believe your taking my food!" and they let me go and I said to them "Please don't throw my meat away give it to the orphanage or someone so it does not go to waste....PLEASE!" and then I went and found Jay and was grousing about the meat and he and a friend laughed at me.....then I realized that I had asked Jesus to protect the electronic stuff for the boat so we wouldn't have to pay duty on it....and all my electronics for the boat repairs and etc. were never looked at but the solar charger which she was happy to call it a sonar and let me go.....I never asked God to protect my food....and since this is a very poor place for all I know there is a family in Loreto who were praying for food and God answered THEIR prayers too.....I am sure that with all that is in my mind and heart that those people in customs did NOT throw 2 pounds of packaged beef jerky away, nor would they toss a packaged $20 beef roast away....we then went and had lunch at Mexico Lindo's in Loreto and I ordered a big Margarita after having a glass of wine on the plane....so arrived at the boat feeling no pain..ha ha



Found out my new AT&T phone gets reception her---unlike the Verizon phone that the company assured me would give me coverage....unfortunately the only 2 calls I got were from Verizon about my "past due bill" which they created from the last billing cycle cause I had paid my last bill with them in fulll, which they acknowledged and at that same time I had changed to the $39 a month plan which was only good in Oregon so I never even used it the last month, basically and they sent me a bill for $303.....how can you get a bill for $303 in one months' time when you didn't even use the phone? I argued with them when I was in Portland and they even told me a name that was on the account was added as a person who had authority to change my plan that I had never even heard of.....and I told them someone must have stolen my ID cause they kept telling me I still had internet service and I had shut that off with Verizon 12 months ago......(although I DID have to call Verizon 3 times and talk to 3 different people who assured me they were turning it off and they really hadn't till the 4th time I called them)--but finally they quit charging me for it for 8 months and then tacked all the 8 months on from one billing cycle in which my total was $67 and I paid it off, to the new bill of $303.....over the last year I bet I've spent 24 hours trying to get Verizon to "fix" things that were wrong with my billing, service and phone and even asked them to have supervisors and managers call me all to no avail. So I give up...if I have to yell at them and spend another 2 hours at a time on the phone with them I will lose it and hate myself for cussing them out....they make me more insane than I am normally.....so I am done with them....yikes, I guess I wasn't quite done with them or I never would have written all this to anyone else!!!ha ha