Arizona/Florida Trip - Day 21

We left the RV park at 8:45 am.  It was cloudy and still cool as we headed towards Tallahassee.  It began to drizzle and by the time we got there it was raining pretty hard.  We turned south about 30 miles east of Tallahassee and the rain gradually eased up until we were about 50 miles north of the Tampa area.  It started raining again (pretty hard) until we got to the RV park in Oldsmar about 4:30 pm (EST).

The park is very nice.  We have stayed here twice before and are very satisfied with the location and amenities.  Our first game is tomorrow so we will finish setting everything up tomorrow evening or Monday.

It is good to be here and we are looking forward to no RV driving for awhile.

Arizona/Florida Trip - Day 20

We’re in the Florida Panhandle tonight in the Florida Springs RV park in a small town called Bonifay.  It’s in the middle of the piney woods just off I-10, about 90 miles west of Tallahassee.  We didn’t explore the town but it appears to be home to a state correctional facility.

After a good driving day with not too much traffic, dry roads and little wind, we decided to drive another hour past our planned destination. The park where we are staying is not a destination resort.  It is fairly small and it appears most of the people in the park are long-term residents.  In fact after looking around, it appears we may be the only overnighters here tonight.

We had dinner at the café attached to the RV park office, the Roadrunner Café.  We actually had a pretty good meal.  There were a lot of locals eating here so it is apparently is a favorite local restaurant.

Tomorrow is our last day of RV travel for a while.  We should arrive tomorrow afternoon at the Bay Bayou RV Park in the Tampa area where we will be staying for the month of March.  The site we have reserved will not be available until Sunday, so we will be staying in a temporary site tomorrow night.  We are ready to “park it” for a while and are looking forward to our Florida vacation.

Day 20 Pictures

Arizona/Florida Trip - Day 19

We left the San Antonio RV park about 8:00 am and successfully navigated through San Antonio morning rush hour traffic to I-10.  We had a long trip today (415 miles), complicated by a 10-15 mph  crosswind out of the north.  It was another “two hands on the wheel” driving day, but we made it O.K. and arrived at the Bayou Wilderness RV Park in Lafayette, LA at 4:00 pm.  After resting a bit, we went to dinner at our favorite Cajun restaurant, Prejean’s, near the park.  We had another great meal there, heavy on the calories.  After dinner we picked-up a few supplies at a local grocery store and returned to the RV.  It is also cold here – low 40’s tonight, so we are not yet into warmer weather.

We will spend tomorrow night in the Florida panhandle, then drive to our destination in the Tampa/Clearwater, FL area on Saturday.  The weather forecast for the rest of the drive to Clearwaterlooks good, with clear skies and dry roads.

Day 19 Pictures

Arizona/Florida Trip - Day 18

It was cold in Ft. Stockton last night, but clear this morning (and still cold) when we got up at 6:00 am to prepare for our departure. After a very good dinner last night at the RV park restaurant, we decided to have breakfast there this morning.  I had the “cowboy breakfast” – biscuits and gravy, sausage and scrambled eggs.  Judy had the traditional bacon and eggs.  It was a hardy meal and enough to get us through to dinner.

We got on the road about 8:45 am and headed east on dry roads and under clear skies.  We had a quartering tailwind from the NW most of the way to San Antonio which meant “two hands on the wheel” driving.  We made good time until we got to San Antonio. I made the mistake of just putting the coordinates of Fort Sam Houston into the GPS.  It is a big base surrounded by residential and commercial development and as it worked out, the GPS took us to a closed gate on the other side of the base from where we needed to enter.  After getting directions from the base travel camp, we got back out on the freeway dodging a lot of traffic and construction. We finally arrived at the RV Park about 3:30 pm.  We had considered maybe going into town and see the Alamo and assorted attractions along the River Walk but decided we were too tired to do so.  It looks like a nice area to visit, but it will have to wait for another time.

Fort Sam Houston is the support base for Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC) and is a command comprised of ten separate organizations that provide inpatient care, outpatient care, advanced rehabilitative services and troop leadership.  At the center of the command is the hospital component, the San Antonio Military Medical Center (SAMMC). Surrounding SAMMC are five geographically separate Clinics: Fort Sam Houston Family Medicine Service Clinic, McWethy Troop Medical Clinic, Taylor Burk Clinic, Schertz Medical Home and the Corpus Christi Army Depot Occupational Health Clinic. Advanced rehabilitative services are also provided at the Center for the Intrepid, a unique facility that is at the cutting edge of Wounded Warrior care.

SAMMC is one of the Nation’s premier medical facilities, offering highly sophisticated medical care for service members, family members, civilians, and veterans. SAMMC is a 425-bed, state-of-the-art medical facility, playing a critical role in patient care, as well as taking care of Wounded Warriors in transition. The medical center is also the only stateside DOD Level I Trauma Center and receives more than 5,700 emergency room visits each month. Co-located on the BAMC campus is the world renowned Army Institute of Surgical Research, which operates the only DOD Burn Center — the Army Burn Center.

The RV park is very nice and well maintained.  We’ve stayed here before and it’s worth another visit - next time following more specific directions on how to get here.  We had cocktails and hors-d'oeuvres on the patio and dinner in the RV tonight.  Tomorrow we drive to Lafayette, LA.  The weather still looks good, clear skies and dry roads, but still a little windy and cool.

Day 18 Pictures

Arizona/Florida Trip - Day 17

We left Las Cruces, NM at 8:30 am under sunny skies with calm winds.  Morning rush hour through El Paso wasn’t too bad and we headed east towards Fort Stockton, TX.  The road was mostly deserted: us, the trucks, another RV here and there and a few fast moving cars and pick-ups.

We had to stop at a Border Patrol check point near a town called San Carlos, TX.  All vehicles had to stop – trucks in one lane, buses in another and cars and RVs in another one.  As you approach the check point, your vehicle is scanned by a variety of sensors of unknown purpose.  When stopped, you are asked by a Border patrol agent if you are a U.S. Citizen, after you say “yes” you are cleared to proceed.  He didn’t ask for our papers, but on other trips through this checkpoint we have seen people pulled over and their vehicle searched by multiple agents with dogs and heavy weapons.

Just past the town of Van Horn we began to experience fog and accumulations of heavy frost on the desert landscape.  The road remained dry and although visibility was reduced the trucks and fast movers continued to zoom by us at the posted speed limit of 80 mph (or more).  It was a strange sight and the vegetation and ground cover all looked like they had been flocked.

The fog and most of the frost was gone when we arrived at the RV park in Fort Stockton about 3:30 PM.  We lost an hour on the trip and are now in the CST zone.  It is overcast and cold here (29 degrees) but no wind.  There is a small restaurant at the RV park advertising slow-cooked pork rib dinners for tonight.  We are planning to go there for dinner.

We will drive to San Antonio tomorrow.  If we get there early enough we may try and visit the Alamo and have dinner on the River Walk.  We are staying at the Fort Sam Houston RV Park run by the U.S. Army.  The weather forecast for the rest of the way looks good at the moment with no rain predicted.

Day 17 Pictures

Arizona/Florida Trip - Day 16

We checked the weather down range this morning and decided to stay here another day.

Las Cruces is still under a high wind warning until 11:00 am and Fort Stockton, TX, our next destination, is experiencing freezing rain/sleet with a high of 34 degrees.  Weather there is not predicted to clear out until later tonight, so today definitely isn't a good travel day. The forecast  for the rest of the drive to Florida also looks better by waiting here today. The impact of the delay will be that we will not have an extra day in San Antonio as planned, but we should still get to Florida on Saturday.  We will visit San Antonio another time.

So, today we will R&R in Las Cruces with activities TBD.

4:00 pm

As the weather improved and the wind died down, we decided to talk a walk to a nearby Cracker Barrel Restaurant for lunch.  The restaurant was visible just across the freeway but we wisely decided to not climb the fence and dash across.  So, we walked to the underpass down the street and on to the restaurant for a pleasant lunch.  We noticed a Walmart next door so we also picked-up a few supplies before heading back to the RV.  All-in-all, we had probably a 1/2 mile walk.

We will have shrimp and pasta for dinner tonight in the RV, go to bed early and get on the road early in the morning.

Day 16 Pictures

Arizona/Florida Trip - Day 15

We left the RV Park on time this morning and after filling-up with gas we were on the road by 8:30 am.  Traffic was light through Phoenix and we followed the GPS instructions to leave I-10 and head east on US Highways 60/70 traveling north of Tucson. We hoped we were avoiding death by GPS, but decided to give it a try.  After crossing through some mountain passes with spectacular views (at least that what Judy said as I was watching the road), the road flattened out across high desert landscape. We traveled through hardscrabble little towns, both inside and out of part the Apache reservation we passed through and copper mining areas along the way that did not appear to be very active.  A common theme we have seen in our desert travels is that people just leave their “stuff” out back when they are through with it.  I guess they have few options to dispose of it so the result is an amazing amount of junk, clutter and trash just about everywhere around their houses and outbuildings.

We intersected I-10 at Lordsburg, NM and continued East.  The wind started to pick up and it became a bit of a battle as we approached Las Cruces.  We arrived at the RV park about 4:30 pm and settled in for the night.

The forecast doesn’t look good for tomorrow.  There is a cold front passing through the local area tonight with winds of 20–40 mph forecast into tomorrow.  Our planned destination tomorrow of Fort Stockton, TX is forecast to have freezing rain and sleet into tomorrow night. We’ll see how it all looks in the morning and maybe stay here tomorrow and skip our planned extra day in San Antonio.

No pictures today.

Arizona/Florida Trip - Day 14

We slept in for a while and after getting gas and a Starbucks mocha, we headed back to Phoenix by way of Cottonwood, a small town southwest of Sedona and a center of copper mining near the old mining town of Jerome.  Just outside of town is another national monument called Tuzigoote, so we decided to stop and visit.

Tuzigoot (the Apache word for “Crooked Water”) is the remnant of a Southern Sinagua pueblo built between 1100 and 1300 AD.  It sits on the summit of a long ridge rising about 120 feet above the Verde Valley.  The original pueblo was two stories high in places, with 87-ground floor rooms.  There were few exterior doors and entry was through roof openings and external ladders.  The village began as a small cluster of rooms inhabited by around 50 people for 100 years. The population doubled around 1200 then doubled again.  The site was also abandoned around 1400 when the Southern Sinagua began their migration.

After visiting the site and the excellent National Park visitor center, we headed back to Phoenix and the RV resort.  When we got back we had a late lunch at the resort golf course club house then began breaking camp for our departure for Florida tomorrow morning.  Our goal for tomorrow is Las Cruces, NM.

We had a great time in Arizona and are now looking forward to Florida.  We are behind on posting pictures and will catch up as we can heading East across fly-over country.

Day 14 Pictures

Arizona/Florida Trip - Day 13

We drove up to Sedona as planned this morning on I-17 towards Flagstaff.  It is a two hour trip but we stopped about 20 miles south of Sedona to visit a Native American archaeological site maintained as a national monument by the National Park Service.

The site is the Montezuma Castle National Monument, a five-story, 20 room cliff dwelling built by the Southern Sinagua, who flourished in the Verde Valley for thousands of years as hunters and gatherers.  The dwelling was built sometime between 1100 and 1300 AD and occupies a cliff recess 100 feet above the ground.  Early settlers marveled at the structure and assumed that is was Aztec in origin, hence the name Montezuma’s Castle.

Adjacent to the main dwelling is a badly deteriorated dwelling along the cliff base called Castle A.  This dwelling was also once a five-story structure with about 45 rooms.  Occupants found reliable water in a nearby creek and fertile land on the adjacent terrace. The sites were abandoned around 1400 AD for unknown reasons when the Sinagua migrated out of the area.

The site, designated as one of the first national monuments, has now been saved from further destruction and protected along with nearby sites Montezuma Wells and Tuzigoot.  The visitors’ center displays are very informative and a 1/3 mile loop trail provides excellent views of the structure and the surrounding area.  Entry into the dwelling is no longer permitted.

We then went into Sedona and had an excellent lunch at a Mexican Restaurant in an upscale shopping area called Tlaquepaque, modeled after a Spanish shopping plaza.  After lunch we walked around the complex, visiting the many high-end art and jewelry stores and boutiques. Then, after a refreshing Irish coffee at a restaurant in the complex, we checked into our hotel.

 After resting, we had a late dinner at an Italian restaurant in town and retired for the night.

Day 13 Pictures

Arizona/Florida Trip - Day 12

We went back to the Musical Instrument Museum to see the exhibits we had missed on our last four trips to the place.  We took our time visiting all of the areas and experienced the music of all the different cultures in the world, a heritage of music, dance and musical instruments reflecting their unique cultural and religious experiences and interactions with others throughout their history.

The museum closed at 5:00 pm and we had a few hours to kill before the concert we were attending that evening at the museum.  We went to a nearby Costco for an inexplicably hard-to-find item in the local grocery stores (5 oz paper cups).  Costco had them, so now all is well with our disposable paper cup supplies.  We lingered a bit too long in Costco and so had a rushed dinner at a nearby Whole Foods, then went back to the museum for the concert.

We weren't sure what we were getting into at the concert, but it looked interesting and it fit our schedule.  The concert was performed by The Nations Beat and Cha Wa Carnival Caravan, a combination group exploring common musical themes.  Nations Beat is a Brazilian group, heavy on percussion and amplified acoustic guitars with a female lead singer.  Cha Wa is a New Orleans duo, the lead singer in Mardi Gras Indian costume; his partner playing drums. The two groups explored common percussion themes alternating between Brazilian and New Orleans music.  As a grand finale they brought out a local high school percussion group (very good) and lead the audience in a Brazilian Carnival march around the auditorium.  It isn't every day you get to see a Brazilian/New Orleans Fusion band backed by a high school percussion group.  A CD would not do it justice.  You had to be there.

Tomorrow we are going up to Sedona for a dose of red rock scenery, spiritual vortexes, and a visit to Native American ruins along the way.  We are staying the night in Sedona and coming back to the RV Park on Saturday.

Day 12 Pictures

Arizona/Florida Trip - Day 11

We signed up for a guided tour today of the Sonora Desert and a wildlife rehabilitation center.

The tour company, Pink Adventure Tours, picked us up in a cute pink Mercedes van, and after picking up another woman from New Jersey at a nearby hotel, we drove into the McDowell Mountains east of town.

Our first stop was at the McDowell Sonoran Preserve.  The preserve is essentially a desert park maintained by the City of Scottsdale.  It is a huge area with lots of hiking, equestrian and mountain bike trails.  It is well maintained and our .4 mile loop trail had excellent examples of desert flora and fauna.  Our guide and driver, Amanda, was very knowledgeable and provided a lot of information about the area and its desert environment.

Our next stop was a wildlife rehabilitation center that is privately owned and only open to tour groups.  The center was founded by a local woman and has since grown into a foundation that is the center for rehabilitation of animals, mostly indigenous to the local area.

The animals at the center have either been abused and/or are unsuitable for release back into the wild and will have to spend the rest of their lives either here or at a similar facility.  We saw raptors, including horned owls, Harris Hawks and Red Tail Hawks.  Animals included Mexican Grey Wolves, coyotes, bobcats, red and grey foxes, javalinas, deer, and mountain lions.  It was a very interesting tour and we learned a lot of new things as well getting a refresher course in desert lore that we had learned about in other desert tours and did not immediately remember.  That’s the beauty of traveling as you get older, you get to learn a lot of new things again.

We got back to the RV after dark, cooked a tri-tip on the grill, had some excellent Sonoma red wine, and went to bed much later than normal.

Tomorrow, we will go back to the Musical Instrument Museum to see the exhibits we missed before and a concert there tomorrow night.  Friday, we drive up to Sedona for an overnight trip without the RV, come back to Phoenix on Saturday, and leave on Sunday for Florida.  The adventure continues.

Day 11 Pictures

Arizona/Florida Trip - Day 10

Not much to report today.  We slept in again and relaxed in the morning.  I worked on some paperwork that doesn’t go away while you are on vacation and Judy was reading a book.  After lunch in the RV we went to the local Safeway to get a few things then relaxed again until it was time for cocktails and dinner.  Dinner was spaghetti with sausage and a salad.  The weather remains outstanding and we are enjoying a little bit of early summer in the desert.

We are going on a desert adventure tour tomorrow afternoon so we may have a little more to report.

Day 10 Pictures

Arizona/Florida Trip - Day-9

We didn’t make any firm plans for today, so we slept in, had a late breakfast, and decided to go over to Scottsdale and visit the Scottsdale Celebration of Fine Arts.

The Celebration of Fine Arts is essentially an artists’ gallery where over 100 artists from all over the country have booths and workshops set-up with an extensive collection of their works on display and for sale.  The art includes a wide variety of paintings, sculptures, and other artistic works of art in a variety of mediums and styles.  The venue is a rectangular series of event tents open in the middle with outside sculpture on display. There is also a restaurant at the site where we had a light lunch.

The artists displaying their works were world class artists, their art and different styles would not appeal to everyone but they all had something in common – they were very expensive.  We had fun looking at all the art work but didn’t see anything we were willing to pay upwards $3000 + for.  I guess Scottsdale is the perfect venue for a high-end art gallery as they have been doing this every January – March for the last 25 years.

There is nothing on the schedule for tomorrow so we’ll see what happens.

Pictures were not allowed inside the gallery, so we only have a few pictures of the outside area.

Day 9 Pictures

Arizona/Florida Trip - Day 8

Today was an R&R day.  It was time again to sleep in, do the laundry and get the blog up-to-date.

The highlight of the day was to figure out how to work the new high-tech washing machines and dryers. This was a significant challenge for us over 55 types but we managed to succeed.  The new concept in laundromats is "no quarters".  Now, you put a $5.00 bill into a machine and it gives you a card with $3.00 of laundry machine credit.  You then insert the card into the washing machine/dryer and it deducts the cost of the wash/dry from your card and starts the washer/dryer. To add more money to the card, you insert the card back into the machine then insert $5.00, $10.00, or $20.00 bills to load up the card.  This appears to be more efficient for the laundromat and could be coming to a laundromat near you in the not-so-distant future.

No pictures today and tomorrow's plans are still TBD. 

Arizona/Florida Trip - Day 7

Our friends the Aungers recommended we tour the Arizona Biltmore Hotel Resort near downtown Phoenix.  The resort gives tours three times a week so we signed-up for the tour scheduled for today. 

Here is an excerpt from the Biltmore’ history listed on their web site:

“The Arizona Biltmore is a living architectural masterpiece, showcasing the seminal influence of America’s most heralded architect, Frank Lloyd Wright. As the consulting architect, Wright collaborated with a former student, Albert Chase McArthur. Wright’s dramatic style and imprimatur are embedded throughout the resort’s design. The Biltmore was erected entirely of “Biltmore Block,” a variation on a textile block first used by Wright to construct private homes. The pre-cast blocks were made from desert sand on-site and created in 34 different geometric patterns inspired by the trunk of a palm tree.

The Arizona Biltmore welcomed its first guests in 1929. The much-heralded opening was expanded from one day to three days to accommodate the long lists of high society partygoers. According to the press, it was to be the party of the decade, in Arizona and beyond. Invitees felt very privileged as attendance was requested by personal invitation only.

Chicago chewing gum magnate William Wrigley, Jr. became the sole owner and built the resort’s first swimming pool; The Catalina Pool. The historic pool is renowned as Marilyn Monroe’s favorite pool, and the site where the famed song composer Irving Berlin penned many tunes, including “White Christmas.”

Additional information about the history of the resort can be found at their website at:

 Arizona Biltmore History

The tour began at 10:00 am and lasted almost two hours. The place truly is exquisite and would be a great place to stay for an extended hotel resort vacation. Prices vary from high to very high and most guests do bring baggage with them.  The tour guide did say the rates are a lot cheaper in July.

After an excellent lunch at the hotel we visited the Wrigley mansion next door on an adjoining hilltop.  When Wrigley owned the hotel, he lived in the mansion.  After several ownership changes the mansion is now privately owned by an heir of the Hormel family (It’s a long story).

After returning to the RV park, we had grilled hot dogs for dinner and went to bed at a reasonable hour.


Day 7 Pictures 

Arizona/Florida Trip - Day 6

We went back to Scottsdale today to visit Butterfly Wonderland.  This facility is located on Native American tribal land and is the first attraction to open in a huge planned complex of tourist attractions that will eventually include an aquarium, an IMAX theater, a Ripley’s Believe-It-or-Not, something called the Arizona Experience, and over 16 retail shops and restaurants.

Visiting a butterfly wonderland sounds boring but it was pretty interesting.  You start off watching a 3-D movie about butterfly migration called ”Flight of the Butterflies" that was very well done.  Next, you visit displays of butterflies hatching in various stages of the process in the Butterfly Emergence Gallery. The main attraction however is going into a huge butterfly conservatory.  It is a glass-enclosed atrium that is home to thousands of butterflies in a lush tropical environment with waterfalls and a Koi pond.

After the conservatory, we visited a small aquarium and desert critter exhibit on the way out.  They were O.K. and something else for the kids to do after seeing the butterflies.

We then drove over to Sun City Grand, the newest Del Webb Sun City development about 4 miles from our RV park.  We met  friends Rich and Sylvia Aunger and his sister Carole at their house for drinks, then dinner out at a great Mexican restaurant we visited during our last visit with the Aungers in 2013. After dinner and a guided tour of the Sun City community, we went back to the RV and retired for the evening.

Day 6 Pictures

Arizona/Florida Trip - Day 5

We headed over to the Musical Instrument Museum in Scottsdale today.  We had visited the museum on our previous trips to Arizona and did not see it all.  It is a marvelous place, with exhibits of musical instruments along with music and videos from all over the world.  The museum is organized by geographical region, including countries in Europe, Asia, United States and Canada, Latin America, Africa, etc.   Each exhibit has a number of instruments indigenous to that particular country along with signs describing the instruments and their history and use. As you approach each section you also hear excerpts of music from that country through earphones you are given when you enter the museum as well as watch a flat screen video of the people playing the music.  Each musical video clip runs about 15 seconds or so and each exhibit will have around 2-5 selections which run on a continuous loop.

There are also other exhibits, some permanent and others that are specially prepared and run for a designated amount of time.  The special exhibit this time was about drums and how they are used, and have been used, in virtually every recorded civilization.  The permanent exhibits include an orientation gallery, mechanical music gallery, artist gallery and tickets for an experience gallery.  They also have a Steinway grand piano in the lobby for the public to play if they wish to do so.  We heard several people playing and they were very good.

We had an excellent lunch at the museum and tried to get tickets for a concert at the theater in the museum that evening (Marcia Ball).  No luck, as they were sold out and there was no movement on the waiting list.  Again, we still did not see all the exhibits so we are coming back next Thursday to finish up and see another concert at the theater for which we did get tickets.

So, after a visit to the gift shop, we went into Scottsdale, had a great dinner at an Italian restaurant, and drove back to the RV after a long but enjoyable day.

Day 5 Pictures

Arizona/Florida Trip - Day 4

It was another leisurely day.  We slept in again, finished our site set-up and checked out the facilities in the resort.  They have an extensive list of things you can do and participate in like most large and inclusive snowbird resorts throughout the Southwest and Florida.  The resort also includes an 18-hole golf course that is open to the public, so it has a separate club house and restaurant. We had lunch at the restaurant patio while listening to the awards ceremony for the resident women’s golf tournament. 

The park is very pretty and well maintained.  The staff are nice, many of whom are seasonal residents working part time to help pay for expenses. The park is also restricted to people 55+, so there are a lot of “spring chickens” walking around, riding bicycles and driving their golf carts around the park.

I also honed my “shade tree mechanic” skills, changing a burnt-out headlight in the truck.  You can actually just remove the light and replace it without taking off the entire front quarter panel and having to buy a $300 complete headlight assembly.

After cocktails under the awning we cooked steaks on the grill and retired early.


Day 4 Pictures

Arizona/Florida Trip - Day 3

We slept in today and set up things around the site. Later on in the morning we decided to drive over to Luke AFB and get a few supplies from the BX and Commissary.

The base is only about 4 miles away in the SW part of town.  When it was first established, it was "out in the desert" with not much around the surrounding area.  As the Phoenix area continued to expand, the base is now almost surrounded by development of one kind or another.  It is a fighter base, home to several F-16 units which conduct operational and training missions.  The RV park is actually near enough to the base to hear the airplanes taking off starting around 8:00 am and continuing throughout the day during the week.

We had lunch at the base (excellent Greek food), did our shopping, got gas ($1.96 a gallon) and returned to the RV park and relaxed for the rest of the day and evening.

Day 3 Pictures

Arizona/Florida Trip - Day 2

We left the Bakersfield RV park on the Kern River (now completely dry) around 8:30 am under clear skies, bright sun and no wind and headed for the Tejon Pass and Palm Desert. When we arrived there around 1:00 pm, we decided to drive on to Phoenix and made it here by 7:30 pm.  It was a long drive, but we were glad to get here a day early.

Our destination, El Mirage RV and Golf Resort, looks great (we think, since we arrived here in the dark). We'll check it out while we are here, and maybe even play pickle ball and bingo with the snow birds.  We will be here until February 22 when we continue on to FL.

Tomorrow is an R&R day while we run some errands and plan what we want to do while we are here.  The weather looks good and we are into summer clothes already.

We'll also catch up with some pictures as we get organized.

Day 2 Pictures

Arizona/Florida Trip - Day 1

After a hectic Saturday, we are getting a late start on our trip to Arizona and Florida.  It is raining hard at the moment and travel may be a little problematic, so we may not make our Day-1 goal of Bakersfield.

Monday AM

We got on the road about noon and drove down 99 in heavy rain. There were way too many people driving much too fast for conditions, without their headlights on in a lot of cases and still weaving in-and-out without turn signals.  We hugged the right lane and tried to stay out of everyone's way.  We saw at least a have dozen spin-outs and accidents.

The rain finally eased-up around Merced and we had partly cloudy skies and occasional light showers, but windy, until we got to Fresno.  Lunch was in the RV behind a gas station in Chowchlila. We finally arrived at the RV park in Bakersfield along the Kern River around 8:00 pm, had a light dinner and went to bed.

We are going to take the Tehachapi route to Palm Desert today.  The weather looks good, no rain, with a forecast of 87 degrees and sunny in Palm Desert.  All the equipment in the RV is working well and the truck tows just fine. We did notice we have a headlight out in the truck which we will deal with when we get to Phoenix.

Day 1 Pictures