Yeah, this worked out pretty well. At the end of the last post, the plan was to drive through a cold front to avoid cold weather. That worked out great. We started out from San Antonio first thing in the morning, at about 7 a.m. with a temperature of 38F. Temps went down to below freezing as we drove through sleet and blowing flurries. We didn’t see above freezing temperatures until afternoon sometime in maybe New Mexico. By the time we reached our destination for that day, Tucson, the high there had been in the upper 60’s and we checked in late under mild evening conditions. All that to say, it’s nice to avoid cold if possible.

Tucson KOA is another with which I’ve been reluctantly impressed. I love our solar and battery setup and I enjoy living “off the hook” and at state or national park campgrounds, but there’s something to be said for a nice campground with hookups. KOA in particular. Like Cracker Barrel, you can be pretty sure of what you’re going to find. I like the small touches, the signage, the general condition of things. I’m a convert. Tucson’s was just a single night on our way to friends but it served as a nice port in the storm. We might return on our way back even. Thing is, we took maybe one photo, not worth posting.

Then a short drive to Phoenix, to the “oasis” of our trip. Our friends’ backyard. It’s such a choice spot on the earth. There was a gate through which we could drive the rig and a level spot right at the pool. Heaven. We home-based there for a few days and checked off a bucket list item, the Barrett-Jackson auto auction in Scottsdale. Immense and worth experiencing versus watching it on tv. We ate a a couple of cool places, hiked a little, saw a weird artsy-fartsy artists commune/compound type deal, spent time with our good-est boy friend, Finley. Ideal, I mean Ideal, weather. We were already planning to loop back to this friendly oasis, but after this first visit, we are preparing to fully wear out our welcome the second time around. “Get outta our yard!”, we’ll hear them exclaim as we drive off into the sunset…

From Phoenix to San Diego and the first of a few of our longer stays. Fun stop for most of a week with again, great weather. I remember enjoying Catalina Island as a kid, so I’ve wanted to take Vicki there. We did a day trip over. We went to the Scripps Aquarium, strolled the La Jolla Cove area, biked out on Coronado, and I got to see some of my good friends. Went on a lovely hike with a pal and afterward, ate an entire huge Italian sub. My friend was, I think, both impressed and concerned.

And now, as of the writing of this post, we’re in Borrego Springs, CA. Near Palm Springs. This is one of the main reasons for heading out this way. We’re helping Dad get moved into a new place here, so I get to assemble furniture and do fixit stuff. It’s neat because the 55+ community where he lives has a resort RV campground. Very convenient and comfortable. It’s called the “Roadrunner Club” and there was a roadrunner, so there’s that. And bold coyotes. We’ll be here for the better part of a week. Gonna be chilly though for a couple of days, down in the 60’s. Not sure how we’ll handle that. Ooh, on the way here from SD we did stop at Julian Pie Company and got pies. Lovely caramel apple Dutch pies.

That brings us up to speed as of February 1st. Wow, almost a full month on the road. I can tell you, it’s flown by. Weird to summarize the last couple of weeks’ travel so quickly and post only these few pictures when there are so many of so many great experiences and places. It really is an incredible feeling to head out across our great country with no firm agenda or timeline. Our rig is good, we’re good. We do miss all of you back home and even though we have a while yet that we think we’ll be out and about, it is nice to think about being back home, seeing folks and doing house projects and chores and such. But not for another month or more. Too cold and icy grossness still. Yuck. Sorry, if you’re back home I just said it’s gross where you are. No, wait, not sorry. It is gross and cold and that’s just how it is and I stand by that.