Today was a frustrating day preparing for riding Mexico and making my way from Los Angeles to San Ysidro.
Los Angeles to San Ysidro
My goal today was to ride from Los Angeles to San Ysidro where I would spend a day preparing for my ride through Mexico. I had booked the Travelodge Motel there.
Office Depot
On the way I stopped off at Office Depot to look for a small case to put my original documents in for the border crossing. Mission accomplished.
Next was Best Buy. This is where things started to go off the rails.
Best Buy #1
I realized that I had left my point and shoot camera extra battery in the charger in Laughlin grrrrrrrrr. so I needed to buy a new battery and charger. I got the charger but it turned out that they don’t make stock the battery anymore because it is old.
While looking around I found a cable I had been looking for for awhile now to charge my computer from my Antigravity battery. To make sure it was the right cable I turned on my computer. Wouldn’t you know it had updates. And they took forever. Rather than wait I just closed my computer thinking it would all work and I could leave.
Radio Shack
Nope, radio Shack didn’t have the battery for my camera either. I should be able to get it on Amazon. But of course delivery would be an issue. Perhaps when I am home in January. In the meantime I will just have one battery.
Banks
Next stop was a bank to get $500 USD for the border crossing. I stopped at one bank and it said I didn’t have sufficient funds! What???!!! I went to another and the same thing. time to chill out at Starbucks.
Starbucks
At Starbucks I planned on Skyping with Canada Trust to see why I couldn’t withdraw money.
I don’t have a phone on this trip as the roaming charges are too much. My last trip I got an international SIM and used that. But on this trip I planned on just buying local SIMS along the way. Most of the calls I need to make are to 1-800 numbers so I can use Skype for this.
Anyways … when I opened my computer I had a message that said that I was disconnected and to use my last password. What???!!! I tried using my password and it wouldn’t work. I couldn’t get into my computer!!! I knew it had to do something with the update where I just closed my computer thinking it would take care of itself. Just what I needed.
Best Buy #2
So it was back to Best Buy to see if I could get my computer fixed now.
At the Geek Squad desk the technician said it would take 3 to 5 days to fix it!!! I explained that I was leaving for Mexico and couldn’t wait. He was nice enough to look at the error message and said that he thought if I connected to the internet it would work. So I connected the the Best Buy WiFi and sure enough it all worked!!! YAY!!!
Next was to Skype with Canada Trust to see why I can’t withdraw money. The recording said a 5 minute wait. 5 minutes turned into 20 🙁
Finally I got through. It turned out that when I made 2 withdraws a few days prior, $500 USD for emergency money and $500 USD to convert into pesos, I had basically reached my weekly withdrawal limit. I knew I had a daily one but was unaware there was a weekly one too. Luckily it was no problem to raise both limits.
Travelodge
After a short ride but a long day, it was nice to finally get to my motel.
Definitely learned a few lessons today.
My Route for September 28, 2016
