Those 70ish Girls

We arrived in Williams, AZ late Friday afternoon and it was pouring down rain. The old route 66 runs down the town’s main Street and reminders of the Highway are prevalent. Our plan was to put the dogs in the Jeep and drive up to the South rim of the Grand Canyon on Saturday. The lady who checked us in, said the forecast was for more cold rain. Since neither of us had seen the Grand Canyon, we decided to stay 2 nights and hope for the best.

To say we were blown away is an understatement. The weather was perfect. It started to rain again as we left the Grand Canyon State Park, and it’s still raining. We’re grateful for both blessings.

We met and visited with several people who were from oversees, and of course, they all wanted to pet the dogs. One couple from England said they have a dog named Cindy that looks just like our Cyndie. The only distraction we had all day was that Sammie cried the whole time. We have no idea why she was upset.

This trip continues to be unbelievable…

I’ll let the pictures do the talking!!

 

 I think I should share a lesson we learned.

A few nights ago we were out visiting with friends and got back to the RV park later than we planned. We left the dogs in the motor home, so we were anxious to get back and take them for their walk. We pulled up to the gate…the locked gate…Kip looked at me and said, “So what’s the code?” The code was inside the RV in the packet of info we had received upon arriving. Panic struck! Kip got out of the car and said, “Just a minute,” and then disappeared into the darkness. After about 10 minutes, I started to get irritated. After a few minutes more, a man in a pickup pulled up to the gate and opened it for me. It closed behind me and I drove on to our spot. The dogs started barking, but I didn’t have a key to get in and Kip wasn’t there. Awhile later he came walking down the street. He told me he had walked around the entire fenced perimeter of the park, and every gate was padlocked. He then walked back to the front gate and found that I was gone. When I asked how he got in, he said that he tried the small gate beside the gate we needed the code for, and it was open…now who do you think had the right to be less than happy? Let’s not argue that. Whatever we get ourselves into, we only have each other to get ourselves out. Besides, it takes two to walk the dogs.

Just remember to take the gate code with you, and each of you should have keys to the RV.

I know this is long, but God forbid I have an unspoken thought.

We left San Dumas, CA on Tuesday and drove to Cathedral City, CA to see JoAnne Ferguson, her son Mike, and daughter LeeAnn. We even got to see BJ Connery. Lee wasn’t feeling well, so we missed seeing him. All were Kip’s good friends in Casper, WY and when Kip and I got married, they became my friends too. JoAnne and her husband George were in our wedding. Lee Connery was in the wedding too and BJ was in charge of the guest book. I think LeeAnn did something too.

We hadn’t spent time together for far too many years, but it was like they say. With really good friends, it doesn’t matter how long it’s been, it feels like yesterday. JoAnne lost George 17 years ago. He was on our minds and in our hearts as we enjoyed the two days we spent together.

As with everyone we’ve spent time with on this incredible journey, we hated to say good-bye. We’re already making plans to see each other again soon.

We made it! We’re here! We hit Los Angeles and six lane freeways and didn’t stop for anything. It’s a good thing it was Sunday. There was traffic enough.

Brother Bill and Liz took us all out for a steak dinner and was it ever good. I brought everyone’s leftovers home. What I’ll do is keep them in the refrigerator for a few days then throw them out. Well, at least I didn’t go off and leave the containers on the table.

Yesterday ( Monday), Gus took Kip and I out for a pancake breakfast at a cute little cafe in LaVern. Then we went to Trader Joes, (how do you spell uh oh?) We bought crackers, fruit, cheese, and a baguette. We wanted some healthy food. The cheesecake and apple pie were excellent choices for fruit and cheese.

Bill and Liz came over and we were enjoying a relaxing day, when all of a sudden the generator started up. The two little fans mounted up by the cab also came on. Imagine our surprise…there wasn’t anyone near the cab at the time…except the cat. I guess she thought walking over all the controls was the right thing to do. She spent the rest of the day hiding.

Later, we were feeling a little hungry, so we took Gus to Marie Calendars for dinner.

With every visit we’ve had, we love the hellos, but hate the goodbyes. Today, we head to Cathedral City to see more friends, then we head for home.

The traveler’s lesson for the day is: Don’t push the river, it flows. The point is to relax and enjoy yourselves and the right things will happen.

Also, bring your fat clothes and a lot of antacids.

Today is Sunday. We left San Juan Batista Saturday morning and took Highway 101 South to San Louie Obispo, (near Pismos Beach), where we spent the night. This morning we traveled through Santa Barbara and made our way through Los Angeles to San Dumas. We’re here to spend some time with my brother Bill, my sister-in-law Liz, and our much loved step-father Gus.

Today being Sunday, we felt it appropriate to share these photos. We saw farm crops surrounded by mountains which were barren, rocky or speckeled with trees. The ocean was a beautiful blue. It’s very clear that this land and sea were touched by God…

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We woke up in Auburn,CA and went to bed in San Juan Bautista. Yesterday was the 6th night and day where we set up and tore down every day. We put over 1000 miles behind us, but it was frustrating because there were so many places we would have loved to stop. We pushed on knowing we could do anything, but not everything.

We passed by Sacramento and saw the Air Force Base and the Sacramento River. I took pictures out the RV window. I feel cheated!! Other than getting out to walk the dogs and stopping at Camping World, we trucked down the road. By the way, highway 80 is in great need of repairs.

This kind of boring isn’t it? I know that I yawned all the way through it.

We eventually got on 680 then on to the 101 closing in on San Juan Bautista.

We’re excited about the next few days…San Juan Bautista and the whole area is beautiful. They grow garlic and cherries here and the orchards are awesome. Cherries are out of season, but there’s plenty of garlic. The air smells like garlic. The RV park is beautiful and we get to stay until Saturday. That morning, we’re going to take the 101 South where we’ll see more beautiful country like Pismo beach and Santa Barbara. I think we’ll spend the night somewhere around there too.

Tomorrow we get to spend time with my cousin and good friend Valerie, and her husband Ken. We’re going out…you heard me out!! For Mexican food.

The photo below is of the Sacramento River.

I see fun, family, and many great photo opportunities in our future 😁

The lady who runs GPS isn’t always right. Good navigator/trip planner that I am, I made a reservation for last night at the Goldon RV Park in Auburn, CA. I put the park name in my GPS and we were on our way. As we approached our destination, we noticed that the road seemed pretty narrow. Too late we realized we were at Goldon retirement mobile HOME park and had no idea how we were going to get out of there. It took an older gentlemen and his elderly mother to figure out a way. You can’t back up when you’re driving a 38′ RV and towing a Jeep. We eventually made it through the maze, but it was a harrowing experience.

Two of our previous lessons came into play here…trust the GPS lady, but verify..and..You can have your moment, which we both did, then get over it, which we did.

I’m beat right now so I’m going to blog whatever day this is in the morning.

Thanks for your interest and comments. We even have a few followers. We’re really having fun traveling and blogging.

 

We finally got out of Nevada and into California! We saw a lot of God’s country along the way. It seems like every state we’ve travelled through also has some of what appears to be God forsaken country. California is the 9th state counting Texas where we have made an appearance. We challenged all of you to name all 9 and we don’t have a correct answer yet. We haven’t been to Utah Heidi, but good guess😊.

We can’t believe all of the beautiful weather we have had virtually the whole trip. This time of year appears to have been a good choice.

Here is some history for you:

Between Winnemucca, NV and Auburn, CA there are lots of reminders of what the emigrents who traveled west to California suffered. The California Trail was deadly. Settlers traveled through what is called the 40 mile desert. It consists of barren, alkali wasteland. It took some a month to cross it. They had no water except what they could carry. Remember, they were bringing cattle and horses plus mules to pull the wagons. There have been 1081 Human graves found and over 3000 mules and horses died along the trail.

Not long after we passed through the high desert, we came to Donner Pass which is a mountain pass West of Truckee, CA. The pass has a well known and macabre history. It’s a place where George Donner and his party got stuck in the winter of 1847. They found the pass clogged with new fallen snow up to six feet deep. They were stuck there. Purportedly, they were reduced to cannibalism to survive the winter, only half of the original group reached California the following year.

We saw some of the Tahoe National Forrest, the Truckee River (both beautiful,) and Emigrents Gap, which was another area that was difficult to get through.

I was so engrossed in reading the hysterical markers as Kip calls them, I didn’t get as many photos as I should have.

It was another great day! When my brother and I were children, and our family got to do something special, Dad used to say, “I wonder what the poor people are doing today.”😯

What an unforgettable experience we are having!