Tag Archives: travel

Day 155 – Sunday – On to Lodi

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Actually, we exited Highway 99 at Lodi and drove over to Woodbridge where we checked in to the Lodi Elks Lodge RV Park. Yes, the Lodi Elks Lodge is located in Woodbridge. I was a little confused, too, but got over it.

We planned to stay two nights, but the weather north of us is getting pretty bad so we are changing plans. Chico was in our sites for day after tomorrow, but the weather report for tomorrow will dictate our path.

Other than getting to the Lodi Elks safely, stopping in Turlock for fuel, and getting our holding tanks dumped, nothing has happened. So, let me share some photos I took at the Merced Elks RV Park.

First, the park is situated on somewhere between 20 and 75 acres. That’s as close as I can get by just eyeballing it. It’s a huge piece of property. Max and I walked to the fence line where I took a picture toward the left …

Straight across to the RV’s …

and to the right down the fence line.

Just ahead of us in the last photo are a few olive trees loaded with olives. Sorry I didn’t get a closeup photo for you.

While standing there, just looking around, a little brown chihuahua came running for Max from across the field.

We don’t know what his name is but he and Max acted like they were long lost friends. Since they were both off leash, they took advantage and ran all over the place. I did my best to keep up and wound up over by the orange trees by the laundry room.

The orange trees, 5 of them, are on the other side of those buildings. You’ll just have to use your imagination.

Another photo I got a kick out of was this one …

He likes to spend time outside, so we tether him to the RV. Since we spent so much time in Tucson where he had to walk on similar color-coded rocks, he chose to lay on the cement pad for the power connection. I suspect the pad was nice and warm and much better than laying on the rocks.

I’m struggling for things to add to this, so I just better quit and call it a day.

I’m done. Time to watch another Hallmark movie.

See you tomorrow.

Day 154 – Saturday – It’s February!

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The Elk’s RV Park is about 4 miles from Merced and it’s very quiet out here in the country. I don’t know what used to reside on this property, but it’s surrounded by orchards of some sort and there are orange trees that are loaded and available to us to take what we want. I’ve tried a couple, and the oranges are very good. I’m saving a couple of them for Larry and Sue who led us to this park. Thanks.

Today we took a trip to the nearest Best Buy so I could get a couple of devices to solve a problem created by not closing the door on our Dish receiver. It’s pretty exciting when we do that because it falls out of the cabinet after the first bump in the road and dangles in front of my face. Driving down the highway with a Wally hanging in front of my face is tricky. You’d think seeing that open cabinet would be so easy to do, right? But, it’s escaped our view more than once. I’ll add that it hasn’t happened in a long while, but when it did, the external hard drive we use as the DVR reached the end of it’s short USB cord and broke the USB connecter on the receiver. There’s another port that still works fine, but we need two of them now. So, I purchased a USB hub to solve the problem. It’s plugged into the good port and the DVR and a Dish Wi-Fi fob is plugged into the HUB and there are two empty spots. Guess I’ll have to figure out what else I can attach, now.

Boring stuff, right? Sorry about that. I just have to report things. This one was serious because Diane had things recorded on the DVR that she wanted to watch. The Wi-Fi device is necessary for us to get NETFLIX on the Dish receiver. That’s what we’ve been using to binge watch the “White Collar” series. We’re on the last season right now. It’s been a fun trip and we’ll be sad to see it end because then we’ll have to find a new show.

The other device I got was another fob-like thing that plugs into my iPhone and iPad so I can capture all the photos on those devices. I don’t know how many photos are on my iPad, but there are over 62,000 on my phone. Ridiculous, I know, but that’s OK. I take lots of photos. Sometimes I even go back and look at some of them.

After I was done at Best Buy Diane drove us right back to the RV park without using the GPS. It was a test, and she passed it with flying colors. She’s very good at remembering routes and doesn’t get turned around like I do. That makes her the best navigator ever.

Gotta get to sleep now. Tomorrow is another grueling drive. We’re going to the Lodi Elks Lodge. It’s about 83 miles away so it’s going to take about 2 hours to get there. But we need to get fuel for the bus before we go. Should have filled up before leaving NAS Lemoore but we both forgot. With the fuel detour we should make it in 3-4 hours easy.

Just for fun, here’s an antique RV in the park.

See you tomorrow.

Day 152 – Thursday – Down Day

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No plans for today except to rest and get ready for the next leg of this journey. Even so, we did stuff. That consisted mainly of walking Max whenever he asked to go out, and we took a trip to the NEX and Commissary mainly just because we could. They are handy and we needed stuff, just like normal people.

Max got to walk on grass every time he went out which delights him. I know that’s true but he just acts like he always does when he goes outside. He knows he’s on the clock and will have to return inside in a while, so it’s imperative that he smell everything in sight as quickly as possible.

It was about midafternoon when we went to the NEX for some reason. I think the main objective was to visit the food court and get some lunch. They have only two choices which is the least we’ve encountered on other bases. Choices here on NAS Lemoore are Subway and Panda Express. We normally would have chosen Subway but for some reason we both took Panda Express for their orange chicken and noodles. It was really good. I also had shrimp, a thing I do whenever shrimp of any kind are available. Doesn’t matter how they’re cooked, I’ll eat them. Just ask Diane.

I just remembered that I had an agenda for visiting the NEX. I wanted to see if they had one of those gizmos that you can plug into an iPhone and capture all the photos so they can be transferred to another device. They didn’t have one, so I joined Diane as she shopped for size 6 clothes for an upcoming birthday. She loves it when I help in this manner because she values my input and likes me close by when she has a question. So, I stay near and help her in any way I can. I have to admit that sometimes she can get a little testy when I offer help she didn’t request. Yes, it may be hard for you to believe that she’d get upset with me for any reason, but she does.

It wasn’t long before Max texted me to come get him or he was going to crap in my shoe. He’s never done that, but the threat was enough to get us going. It was a surprise to get the text because neither of us knew he had a phone. I decided right then that i needed to grind his little toenails down more than normal to make it a little more difficult for him to text.

We got home, Max got his walk, and it was all good.

Now we rest and prepare for our trip tomorrow.

Be safe.

Oh, Wait! I forgot about Diane’s plant. She bought these things while we were in Tucson. I know there’s a post about our trip there. The tall skinny plane in the middle did not have that stalk with flowery things on top before we left. That was just around January 8. It must love living on the road because it’s grown about a foot. It’s done that almost on its own too. It gets soaked in water once a month. Amazing, right?

OK. That’s it.

Day 151 – Wednesday – NAS Lemoore

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We left Tehachapi bright and early this morning with NAS Lemoore in our crosshairs. Today’s drive was about 150 miles, a little longer than the norm, but doable. It was actually a nice trip watching the scenery change from brown to green.

Just before we pulled out of Mt. Valley RV Park, the airport people started launching gliders. I have proof.

The tow plane took the glider to the end of the mountain range before turning it loose. Once it was free it quickly disappeared from my view. Honestly, it disappeared prior to that because they were so far away, I could only guess at where they were.

Since I was driving, there are no other photos of this trip, but I have a doozy for you that I captured after we got checked in at Bldg. 951. After I paid for our stay, I encountered Diane and Max who were out for a little stroll on real grass. Diane stopped me and said I needed to look at what’s in front of the rear wheel. Being a good husband, I immediately went there and looked.

His head was flat, so I didn’t think I was in danger, but these things give me the creepies. I suppose it’s possible that I may have run over it with the front tire when I pulled up to the curb. Considering its location, I’m pretty sure it got a taste of the rear tire, too. I did not stop to look. Perhaps tomorrow we’ll drive over there and see if it’s gone. If it is I will be on the lookout because I’ll be sure it’s out looking for me.

Once we got connected on pad 06, I took Max for a walk in the dog park. He’s been here before so it’s no big deal for him, other than the fact he gets to do it without a leash.

That’s him behind the tree just to the left of the bench on the fence line. This is the big dog side of the park. We had to pretend he weights 26 lbs. or more because that’s the rule. No one was there to check, and we were alone, so I took a chance.

Max circumvented the fence line smelling pretty much everything in his path.

On the way back to the bus we stopped here.

He wasn’t impressed. He’s seen grass before but that doesn’t mean anything since he’s color blind. It does, however, smell different. So, of course, he went about sniffing as many blades of grass as he could before I convinced him to move on down the road.

When we got back to the RV some of Diane’s friends flew over and gave us a little show.

If she could, she’d swap me out for a fighter pilot in a heartbeat. Can’t say I blame her because it looks like fun. They earn more money, too.

This is a photo of the RV Park taken from the dog park. You can see our bus just to the left of the 5th wheel in the middle.

As you can see, there’ plenty of room at the inn. Also, that tall fence on the left encompasses a golf driving range. Some of the balls wind up in the adjoining dog park so they became mine. I almost filled one of Max’s poop bags with them. Thankfully, it was brand new.

Next to park is the swimming pool that’s still full of water – it was 70 degrees here when we checked in. The pool has some nifty water slides, too.

I mentioned the temperature above. It was very pleasant when we got here, and we got to sit outside enjoying it for a bit. Later, it cooled down considerably. Not nearly as cold as it was in Tehachapi. It was 25 degrees this morning. I wisely left our water hose in its container and used the onboard fresh water instead.

Diane devoted her afternoon to doing our laundry. She noticed that I was almost out of underwear and figured it was time to get it done. I helped, when she let me.

The laundry is free, by the way. After the laundry was done, we took a trip to McDonald’s for a simple supper. It’s right across the street from the laundromat so we could have easily walked there, but Diane thought it would be more fun to use the drive thru. She got a fish sandwich, and I had a chicken sandwich. We both had milkshakes. It only cost us $27.00+. Not much of a bargain. Tomorrow I’m cooking.

We hope all is well with everyone.

Ciao.

Max says, “Hi”.

Day 150 – Tuesday – North to Tehachapi

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Tehachapi, California is only about 93 miles from Barstow and is the home of two of the largest wind farms in the country. I know that’s true because I believe everything I read on the internet. You can confirm this claim by checking the above link.

It is currently 0800s hours and the base bugle has alerted everyone that it’s time to get to work. Thinking about that made me realize that I don’t believe I’ve ever mentioned the bugle calls that echo off the buildings and hills surrounding every military base we’ve inhabited. It’s so routine that I never considered it interesting. For those of you who have never been on a military base when the bugler is at work, perhaps you might enjoy this bit of news.

The most common bugle calls are Reveille, Retreat, and Taps. These calls are broadcast electronically on the base so everyone can hear them. In a nutshell, reveille gets you up in the morning at sunrise, retreat signals sunset, and taps signals the end of the day at 2100 hours. Please check the link for specifics about each call, if you wish. It’s quite a tradition. One that’s hard to forget.

The drive to Tehachapi on Highway 58 was uneventful and we easily found our new campground. All we had to do was follow the instructions provided by our handy dandy GPS. It new exactly where to go.

It’s a small park and we were the 4th unit to arrive. We’ve been here a few hours now and only two other units have checked in. So, it’s almost like we’re here alone. There is no sewer, so I hooked up just the power (50 amp) and called it good. We found it interesting that there is a lot of snow all around us. The elevation is just under 4500 feet so I probably shouldn’t be surprised. We’re in a small valley and in the distance, on the snow-covered hills there are dozens of windmills spinning for our evening enjoyment. Not true, of course. They are spinning to churn out megawatts of power for the masses. I may have stated in a previous post that there are two wind farms in this area that are the largest in the country. As we got closer to our destination, the wind farm revealed itself.

We drove around in front of the farm you can see, then wound up going through farm to the other side.

Once we made it around the hill on our right, our campground was very close. When we got parked, the other side of the hill became the view from the RV.

I expanded the above photo so you can get a better look at the other side.

The dark strips running across the field are runways for an airport that’s off to the right. Just little planes. When we checked in, the young lady (London) who greeted us said to go all the way to the back, but don’t drive in the field because that’s our runway. So, I didn’t drive in the field. But, when I took Max for a walk out there after getting things settled, he promptly pooped demonstrating how unimpressed he is about snow. He’s seen snow before. Once. He wasn’t impressed the first time, either. I would love to find a snowbank big enough to toss him in and see how unimpressed that makes him. We talked about his ho hum response so far and think once he experiences it in his own back yard it will be more fun.

I’m sitting on the sofa facing the starboard windows and saw this as the sun was going down.

I know. It’s a little repetitious, but still worth another look.

Now we rest. We’re here just one night then it’s on to NAS Lemoore.

Cheers.

143 – Tuesday – Barstow, CA

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Here we are, level on a cement pad, safely tethered to power, sewer, and water at the Fam Camp on the Marine Corp Logistics Base Barstow. This facility is located just a little east of Barstow on I-40 (Route 66). Check the map here. There’s a ghost town a little further out of town that we plan to visit sometime during the week we plan to stay here.

Getting here was a breeze. As noted yesterday, I navigated the solution for allowing us to tow the car so we had each other to talk with. When Diane drove the car, however, she had the convenience of listening to satellite radio while all I had was the wind whistling on the driver’s window because I didn’t latch it. It was good to have company for the 2.5 hour trip, mostly uphill.

The uphill part, added to towing the car was an increased danger of the RV engine overheating. As it turned out, it wasn’t a problem. We went up and down a lot and the rig got along just fine. Jerrie is happy. I have new belief that replacing the leaking overflow tank will resolve the overheating problem for good. We may never know for sure because we hope to sell the RV when we get home and probably won’t be taking it on any more long trips. We’ll be taking short trips to the beach via other means.

There’s really not much to share about the trip to get here. Since I was driving the entire way, I couldn’t take photos. I think Diane may have taken one photo, but I haven’t seen it. I think I may have suggested that she take the shot, but don’t remember what it was. Oh wait. Here it is. It just magically showed up.

The reason for this photo is to let you know that 29 Palms has many, many barbers available along Adobe Dr., the road that takes you to the main gate at the base.

Max was happy for the short trip and we got to walk around a bit before dinner. Diane was the cook today and we had a pork loin, fresh beets, and baked potatoes. It was awesome. Should have taken a picture, right?

Oh, another thing we discovered is that the RV furnace works nicely. So far, the electric fireplace heater we have has been the only source of heat. Although it works Ok, it’s difficult to heat up the place when it’s 45 degrees inside, and 28 outside. We were a little leery about using it considering the dusty nature of our environment. We figured if it did work it would blow dust everywhere. That didn’t happen so that’s going to be my solution for the mornings. We’ve even agreed that we should have the furnace set to run at night to keep it from assuming the outside projected temps of 28 degrees. We figure 60 degrees at night is better for us than 45.

Right now it’s 1900 and we’re nice and warm inside. It’s 46 outside but will drop to around 27 tonight.

I’m sure talking about temperatures is very informative and entertaining for you. That’s a facetious statement so I think I’ll stop now before the hole gets any deeper.

I mentioned that Diane did our laundry yesterday. She does that once in a while. This time it was different because she had to compete with active-duty Marines to get a washer and dryer. She said the young male Marines were very accommodating, but the female Marines weren’t. She brought the clothes back all folded up, in the back of her car.

I can vouch for the willingness of young marines to help a young damsel in distress. When we stopped to get fuel before starting today’s journey, we were working at two pumps. Diane begged off reporting that she doesn’t refuel vehicles. The young man next to the bus immediately volunteered to get it going for her. She was pleased and grateful for his help. He was pleased, too.

See you tomorrow.

Day 140 – Saturday – Twentynine Palms

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I’ve been enlightened. Until recently, like two days ago, I plodded down a path where I believed that the base we are currently living on is a Marine Corps Air Station. I believed that in spite of the signage displayed at the base entrance was specifically Not MCAS but is MAGTFTC/MCAGCC. Digging a little deeper revealed that this base is the largest marine corps base in the world. Although I cannot find any information that this was, at one time, a MCAS, I will probably go to my grave believing I’m right.

Now, about Marines and integrity in general … it is our belief that pretty much everyone allowed on a military base (including us) are good people. I base this claim on one simple observation. At the base exchange, there are no shopping carts littering the parking lot. When the patrons are done with them, they put them in their proper place. I made it a point to look. As for including ourselves in with these stellar humans, we always put our carts away. Sometimes, off base, I put the carts near me away, also. It’s not difficult, and it’s the right thing to do.

OK. Enough of that.

Today we drove up Adobe Ave from the main gate to visit the 29 Palms Farmer’s Market.

It wasn’t hard to find because that’s where the traffic led us. We were able to find a parking spot close to the market so we wouldn’t have to carry our purchases very far.

In addition to many vegetable and fruit stands, there were also many craft displays. This one caught my eye. They are 3-D printed dragons mostly. The vendor said it takes 6-8 hours to print each one.

It’s like going to the fair in St. Helens where everyone brings out their best stuff for the public once a year. Here they do it every Saturday. How handy is that? We got some radishes, carrots, and beets. We also ate lunch at one of the many food vendors available. Sadly, I did not take any photos of what we ate but you can trust me when I tell you it was really good. We had a teriyaki chicken rice bowl. The rice was wrapped and cooked in seaweed which I tried, but I don’t recommend it. The chicken was awesome. Max got a taste, too. It was fun and all the people were very nice. That’s a plus.

After leaving the market, we wandered around town to see some of the murals painted on the buildings. There are a bunch of them, but I’ll only share a few of them with you. If you want to see them all, you’ll just have to plan a trip to 29 Palms.

Here is the description that you can see on the far fight of this one.

I think you get the idea. The artwork is amazing and many of the murals share historical information.

On the way back to the base, we took the road to the main gate and drove eight by Twighlight Dunes RV Park.

That’s our bus on the left.

This is the Marine who deemed us worthy of entering the base.

There’s no laundry facilities in the park, but there is a laundromat in the building where we gassed up Diane’s car. We peeked in and discovered it’s a popular place for Marines stationed here. Diane figured it won’t be so during the week. It’s convenient, too, because the machines accept credit cards, instead of quarters.

I was tasked to wash the bus windows. so I got busy at one point in time and did 3 of them. That means I’ll probably be done with all of them in a couple of weeks. Oh, wait! We’ll be traveling so it will take a lot longer. I suppose I should have washed them in Tucson. I suspect It was suggested, more than once, that I do that, but the timing was never right. Besides, it was dusty down there, so why bother. They will get done eventually.

Diane went to the commissary and exchange when we got back but Max and I stayed home and didn’t do anything. We just hung out. I sat in a chair in front of the bus where the breeze wasn’t blowing so I could stay a little bit warm, and Max could watch folks who happened to be walking past. He’s a real dog watcher.

That’s it.

Day 139 – Friday – Palm Springs

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Today we took a trip off the base to visit Palm Springs. We stayed there for a couple of weeks years ago and found that we really like the city and the people. So, we were looking forward to visiting again.

We were concerned about smoke blowing in from the LA area and as we started down the road into the Palm Springs area, we could see it. Diane’s health was our primary concern for this trip, and we monitored each other as we got lower into the valley where Palm Springs lives. Good so far. No sign of smoke yet.

The closer we got, the more evident it was that the smoke had indeed made it to the city. At this point, however, we could not smell it, so we kept going.

The road took us north of the hundreds of wind turbines that cover a lot of acreage west of town, then took us down the middle of the array to the main road into town. All of the turbines were turning full blast, faster than we’ve seen them turn at other wind farms. You can see where the strong winds created havoc along the foothills which isn’t a good thing because much of Palm Springs is in that area.

We almost made it to the center of town before the smoke became heavy enough that we decided to turn around and head back “home”. The above photo looks OK, but the smell was in the air and Diane’s lungs started objecting. It was time to vacate the area. We stopped first, however, to let Max leave his markers. It was the right thing to do. It was a 3-hour round trip so we couldn’t just turn around and leave without doing something in town. No photos, of course because although he’s not shy about PIP*, he’s very concerned about his on-line image. I honor that as best as I can.

Going back up to Twentynine Palms was a relief as the air cleared quickly, but we could see the smoke being blown over the mountains to the west. The wind was blowing very hard from the west, just like the news folks said it would.

Heading for the hills the air looked much better.

We thought about stopping for a sandwich somewhere but decided to just go back to the bus and cook something. Then we got routed to the main gate which meant we would have to drive right by Carl’s Jr. on our way to Twilight Dunes. Stopping for another hamburger just seemed like the right thing to do, so we stopped. Turns out we really like their food.

We took our food home and had a good late lunch. Max had his, too. Before eating mine, I diced about 1/2 a pound of his new favorite refrigerator food. He still did his prairie dog trick for a couple of French fries, but he finished off all his food.

It was good to be back in the clean air but there was a moment when we were reminded that maybe we should have left Diane at home. Thankfully, she got past a coughing spell quickly.

Now I must quit before I get in trouble. Again.

*Poop In Public

Day 136 – Tuesday – MCAS Twenty-nine Palms, CA

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We vacated Quartzsite early this morning and headed west to California. Our next stop was the Marine Corp Air Station at Twenty-nine Palms. When we pulled out of our RV park, a left turn would take us to Parker on Highway 95 and a right turn would take us to I-10. Diane’s GPS had her turn left, and mine had me turn right so we got separated in the first 2 minutes of today’s trip. Diane thought I was going to follow her, but the RV GPS is a trucker’s Garmin that computes routes based on the size of our RV. That’s why I turned right. It was a risky move on my part and caused considerable anguish for a while.

We both stopped within a few minutes and started calling each other to find out what to do. We eventually reconnected before getting free of Quartzsite and got headed the same direction.

The road was long and mostly straight all the way to Highway 177 where we turned right and headed north to Highway 62. Had we both turned left from the Quartzsite RV Park, and driven to Parker, we would have turned left on Highway 62 and arrived at the corner of Highway 177 and Highway 62 fifteen minutes sooner.

Highway 177 was very straight also, and I could see how the road slowly climbed on the other side of the valley. It was about a 20-mile stretch, straight as an arrow. If the wind hadn’t been blowing so hard, I probably could have taken a short nap or two.

Once on Highway 62 Diane took the lead and got us to Twenty-nine Palms at 1311 (1:11 pm) and drove on base about 1331. The park is adjacent to some of the base housing and is pretty nice. We’re in space 72 next to the only dog area which is handy. Max was more than ecstatic to have grass to run on for the first time since September. His little toes have got calluses from walking on rocks and asphalt all that time. Poor little guy probably couldn’t tell how soft the grass really is because of his crusty feet.

Each parking space has a small Tuff Shed and a carport. So, we have a place to park the car our of the sun and we can empty the car and all the basement cubbies into the shed just for fun. I could also install a rack to hang clothes and use the shed as a closet.

Our supper was from Wendy’s which is on the base. Back in the Bone Yard they had Burger King. After the Wendy’s meal we learned that it has BK beaten for flavor.

I don’t know if I mentioned that Diane lost one of her favorite earrings on Luke AFB. We searched everywhere for it but it just wasn’t there. So, guess what! She found it here in California. Isn’t that amazing? She was pretty happy, as was I.

Getting the bus into its assigned parking space involved a lot of bouncing around because of the curbs we had to cross. This caused a great deal of commotion with everything that wasn’t tied down inside the coach. It was just nature’s way of shaking things up to get everything on the same level, and filling spaces that needed filling. It was very annoying but nothing broke, which is amazing. It was a very noisy process. Amongst the tosseled items were many containers of various spices that escaped from one of the overhead cupboards. Two of the small ones saved themselves from the terrifying fall by hanging on to the shelf and allowing the cupboard door to hold them in place until they could be rescued. Boy, were they lucky.

I took a few photos of the trip but none of them were interesting. Just a bunch of cars, trucks, and lots of desert. So, I looked back a couple of days and found this one of Diane sewing up Max’s favorite toy, a long green worm. She’s done this a few times. He finally wound up destroying the first one and I was happy to find an exact replacement which he adopted right away. It’s his favorite, as you can tell as he waits patiently for Diane to finish so he can commence destruction once again.

This day is done.

Day 135 – Monday – Quartzsite, AZ

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Getting ready to vacate Luke AFB was a snap because I disconnected everything except electricity. That allowed us to get on the road in record time. We even stopped to fill the bus with fuel before leaving the base. We were going to pull the car once we find a place to do so after leaving the base.

Diane took off using the GPS and I followed with the Garmin. I think we made it almost two miles before we got separated due to a misleading interpretation of one of our GPS setups. It took us about an hour to reunite at exit 121 on I-10 West. That’s where I finally tried to connect the car to the bus and discovered a problem that will require us to drive both rigs all day tomorrow. That’s unfortunate but fixable. Just need time and patience and a stop for longer than one night like we’re doing at Quartzsite. So, the fix will happen at Twenty-Nine Palms.

So, after over an hour of driving aimlessly around Phoenix, we finally got aimed west on I-10. The drive was just fine until we got within 11 miles of Quartzsite where road crews were busy putting a new layer of paving on the west bound lanes of I-10. For about 20 miles the traffic, which included about 1700 semi-trucks, were slowed to two lanes of traffic going between 2-5 mph. Many times, we had to stop for random periods of time. Making it worse, at the end where the equipment was working, the lanes were trimmed to 1 right at a very long entrance filled with more trucks. So, we went from 3 lanes to 1 lane. It wasn’t difficult since it was all done in slow motion.

Once past the heavy equipment, the lanes opened up and we were off like bullets all the way to Exit 19 where Quartzsite lives. It was only 3-4 miles from where we got to speed up after the slow down.

But, we made it safely and got checked in and parked.

At this point in time, we’ve had dinner and we’re winding down watching all the horrendous fire reports knowing that we’re driving right toward it. We have a plan, however. If we encounter smoke, we’re going up through Nevada. If the smoke reaches that far, we’ll head for Utah. One way or another, we’ll get home safely.

To recap, the trip today should have taken us between 2-3 hours. Instead, it took us 6 hours.