..................God Bless America!...........................

Home on the range...

We spent some delightful time and our warmest weather to date in Palm Springs, from there we made a brief stop in Colton for the 'good guys' at Colton Truck Terminal to make an adjustment with the exhaust system. A minor issue but since we were passing through the area and also because these guys know their stuff, we got it taken care of, and then continued on our way up through the 'high-desert' and into Tehachapi for the night and then the remaining couple of hours on into Visalia.

It was a good journey and a fun time, although the weather could have been a little warmer, but nevertheless, it was fun, interesting and enjoyable for all four of us.

Now, we are getting some of the 'other stuff' out of the way. I will kind of let this blog go into the idle mode for the next few weeks, but will check in randomly over time.

"The Sun-Belt Tour"................. Visalia, CA to furthest point - Key West, FL and return to Visalia
5 mos/ 3 wks/ 3 days
8,437 miles (coach)
2,255 miles (car)
1,088 gals/diesel fuel
84 gals/gasoline
15 states
18 Elks Lodge RV parks
...and lastly!! ... about 50 lbs of the nations best pulled-pork bbq (...o.k., maybe 50 lbs is a little high, but it sure seems darn close....and I am wishin' right now that I had a pound or two in front of me as I write this...)
And above all lotza and lotza FUN!!
Aloha ya'll!

Quartzsite was way down...P.S. is way warm...

I mentioned Quartzsite in my previous blog, and having passed through there earlier today, and having been there about three or four times before, it seemed rather apparent that the attendance is down this year. I think that one of the main reasons for this downturn is the severe storm that passed through Arizona about two-weeks ago and between the clocked 80 mph winds and the flooding rain, it all played pure havoc with this years Quartzsite events.

My personal guess is that there were between 80,000 and 100,000 (tops) encamped there this year. I also noticed that the "big tent" was not up, and from some other RVer's who were there, mentioned that the storm took it and many of the other tents and items with it and that they are probably located outside Albuquerque about now.

But hey, there is always next year, huh?

Once we crossed the Colorado River into the 'Golden State' (...or is it the 'red herring state' now), we cleared through the Border Patrol checkpoint and the CA Agriculture Inspection Station. Now I figure that if they concentrated half as much on the roads and rest areas here, they (and all of us) would be money ahead. Bu-t-t-t-t, aside from that, we're here in the Coachella Valley and it was about 82F today, which is real nice after a lot of cold and chilly weather.

Tomorrow, we spend some time with friends and then we will just play it by ear, if you will, as to our northward continuation of our journey. There is a forecast for increased possibility of rain coming into the Central California area tomorrow night, so not sure how that might play out with us over the next few days. We'll see....

Another journey just about wrapped up . . . .

It's been almost six months since we were in California, and a lot of miles under us ...again, but we are already planning for some of our future travels.

We left the snow and cold (24F) behind in Van Horn and West Texas, and it has been sunny, partly cloudy and a mite warmer - thank goodness!

We made our overnight stop in Tucson and we continue to be amazed at the expanding growth that the Tucson area is experiencing, especially the northwest area of Tucson around Marana, where malls, subdivisions and new I-10 over-pass bridges are, and have been, constructed. And speaking of I-10 construction, we gave a big "whoop-e-e-e!" coming through Tucson where the I-10 freeway has been under major reconstruction for the last six years, has now been completed and it is so nice to have it finished and a very nice job they did do on it. It makes coming through Tucson so much easier and more pleasing now.

And of course the Casa Grande area is expanding by leaps and bounds with many, many new malls, strip malls, housing tracts and large subdivisions make it an area that hardly resembles the 'old' Casa Grande.

Economics will have a big say in things, but with the growth of the greater Phoenix area, and particular that of Tempe, Chandler, Mesa, and Sacaton I can envision the continued growth south and the Casa Grande growth east and north to a point were they will likely join into a large megalopolis area with virtually no real open space between the two areas, in the next twenty/twenty-five years. But, it remains a very scenic area in the south/south central Arizona desert area.

The Apache Junction Elks Lodge is one of our favorites in this area to visit. There are many good Elks, good food, good hydration, and of course some good stories. And with the awesome view out the front window of our home here that has the beautiful Superstition Mountains is hard to beat in this area.

Tomorrow we continue to head west into what is generally billed as the "largest RV gathering in the world", at Quartzsite, Arizona located about 18 miles east of the Colorado River boundary of California, along I-10. In the winter there generally is about 200,000 RVer's there at this time of year. There is also sports, vacation, gem and mineral shows all wrapped around the RVer with many large RV dealers there with hundreds of units of every description and size to be sold. There are the large (blocks and blocks equivalent) flea market/swap meet, and of course the "big tent" which is like a very large circus tent (I would guess about 100,000 square feet) with all kinds of RV, camping, and recreation items, gadgets and electronics for every conceivable need and use. Needless to say, a very unique and interesting place. I love to turn on the CB (Ch-19) and listen to the truckers when they are coming through there on the Interstate with all kind of wonderment and amazement expressed by them. There is nothing else like it that we have ever seen or heard about. The 'largest' RVing event in the world? It would be very difficult to argue against that statement.

After Quartzsite, we will spend a day in the Palm Springs area, seeing some friends and doing a little visiting, and we will continue our journey North to Central California.

Looking forward to seeing our dear family and friends again, and of course our grandkids who have probably grown another inch or two by now. It will be good to see the old homestead once again, although I don't necessarily look forward to the doctor appointments, and other chores that will surely come up once we drop anchor.

Yikes! It's snowing. . .

Well we had a very nice stay at the Houston Elks RV Park. We celebrated Marilyn's 39th birthday (hee-hee-hee) with a few nice presents for her that I had picked up, and of course we had an excellent dinner at Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen. We both enjoyed the day.

Marilyn and I loaded up on books from Half Price Books in the Houston/Sugar Land area. We just love those stores!

We continued through San Antonio and into Kerrville where we stayed at the local Elks Lodge RV Park and joined some of the local folks in a very good dinner.

The next night we stayed outside of Sheffield, TX; and tonight we were planning on being in El Paso, but-t-t-t the weather had other plans. It was raining 'cats and dogs' (or is it armadillos and and rattlesnakes here in West Texas?), and then when we got about 40 miles from Van Horn, the rain turned into that cold-white-stuff. So being the prudent travellers that we are, we

got off of the Interstate and went into Van Horn this afternoon to spend the night and wait out the snow storm. Or as Marilyn so aptly put it, we decided that we would console ourselves with a steak dinner (afterall, there just happens to be a nice steak house next door).

Our intentions were to visit the El Paso Elks Lodge (a nice lodge and RV Park that sits up on a hill over-looking the city), but with our 'snow-diversion' it would appear that we will probably hold up at the Las Cruces Elks instead, to be followed by our almost annual visit to the Tucson Elks the following night.

Just hope that we can get out of Van Horn tomorrow morning, and the way that it has been snowing and continuing at this time with about three inches accumulated on the ground, we may just find ourselves spending some additional time in beautiful downtown Van Horn, Texas!

It may be white and cold outside, but it is sure toasty here inside, thank goodness.

Moving westward. . . .

Didn't make it to Red Bay, AL (Tiffin) as we had planned, due to bad weather (heavy rain, thunderstorms, hail, and all that 'mid-west' kind of stuff that we prefer to stay away from (far from) if at all possible. The forecasts did not look promising so we stayed south and came on into Houston, where we will spend Marilyn's birthday (she says its her '39th, plus or minus, with emphasis on the plus side) tomorrow here, before continuing on westward over I-10 to the west coast.

We figure loosely that we will likely be back at our western home-base in Visalia, California in about 10 days or so. We are beginning to look forward to our return back to Visalia, even if we do have a rather busy schedule (well, busy for us anyhow) when we return, including some west coast trips and rallies that are coming up over the next few months. And then we are making our pilgrimage back to Rapid City, South Dakota in May, so we do have a few things on tap, if you will.

Marilyn and I look forward to a fun day tomorrow with some shopping, a planned trip and of course, a great dinner tomorrow evening to celebrate 'her day'. It should be fun. (...now, if I can just keep her out of the Half Price Book store. They have great deals on books and since we both are avid readers, how can we refuse. I know that they must love to see us coming!...)

We will keep you loosely posted as we move westward...

Our love and best wishes to all ya'll out there who follow us on here. We do think of you all often.

The full circle tour of Florida, and then some. . . .

Well, we have now come full circle with out Florida tour, having come in at Pensacola a month-and-a-half ago and went down the Gulf Coast/West Coast side of Florida, across the Everglades, down to Key West, and then back up the Atlantic Coast/East Coast of the state to Jacksonville in the northeast corner where we picked up I-10 and then pointed ourselves west, completing the grand loop here at Pensacola. The weather was cooler than we had anticipated (and wanted), but other than that we had some beautiful sunny days and some nice warm days mixed in also. It was good to visit the "old homestead" and associated areas in south Florida. We find it to still be a nice state to visit and to tour. Florida has many of the same problems that much of the nation experience, especially in the sunbelt areas, and that is ever increasing growth, more commercialism, and increased automobile traffic. But then too, the beautiful blue/turquoise of the waters, the inlets, the Intracoastal Waterway, and the beaches are still there and still have that certain charm and warmth for folks like us who truly enjoy the ocean and all that entails.

One other interesting side-note that I will mention here is that, we have now traveled every single mile of Interstate Highway 10 from it's initial start in Santa Monica, California at the beach and CA-Hwy 1 (SR-1) to the very end and it's conclusion in Jacksonville, Florida at the I-95 intersection, downtown. That is roughly 2,454 miles. Much of it, especially the western half of I-10, and particularly the California stretch, we have traveled many, many times. It has been interesting to us to note the different topography, the varying flora and fauna, the climates, as well as the local foods all along the I-10 route, much as it has been for us with all the various other routes and locales that we have traveled through and visited.

Since we pretty much covered the sights, history and attractions in and around Pensacola on our 'in-bound' visit, we will not be repeating any of those visits on this journey through Pensacola.

The little blogs will probably become somewhat more infrequent and stretched out over time, but periodically from time to time I will be making an update and a note of those items of interest that we may encounter from time to time.

From here at Pensacola, we depart tomorrow morning and at Mobile, AL we take I-65 North to Decatur, AL then west on US-72 to Red Bay, AL. I have an inkling of curiosity to make a visit to one of the few family-owned and successful motorhome/motorcoach manufacturers in the U.S., Tiffin Motorhomes Inc., where the patriarch Bob Tiffin has his slogan, "Roughing It Smoothly". Yes, I still love to see things made, constructed, manufactured, and this is one that I have wanted to see. I have been through Monaco Coach (3 times) in Coburg (Eugene), OR, Fleetwood RV in Decatur, IN, Winnebago in Forest City, IA, and Newmar in Nappanee (Elkhart), IN

We received some heavy rain this afternoon, and it is still raining lightly with a forecast for it to continue through the night with thunderstorms into tomorrow. It may be wet out, but at least it is warm (currently 68F) and with a prediction of 74F tomorrow. We are looking for improved traveling weather tomorrow, but we'll see. Of course, the weather is always of concern, especially at this time of year, and we will be following the forecasts closely.

Seems that family and friends in California are getting hit quite hard with very heavy rains and high winds back out on the west coast, with rain and snow in higher elevations over the entire state. We do wish them all well and hope that they can keep their feet dry.