We are home!
It was a long but uneventful trip up the San Joquin from Bakersfield on 99. We arrived home between rain showers around 3:30 pm.
Now time for some trip decompression, rest, and trip reflection.
Judy continues to improve, and it is great to be home!
Well, we are getting close. We are here in Bakersfield, CA and will head home tomorrow.
The decision today was to travel North from San Bernadino from I-10W, then West over Tehachapi to Bakersfield or continue on I-10/ I-210W/I-5N through the LA Basin over the Grapevine. There was still lingering weather to the north and high winds forecast in the high desert towards Tehachapi. We decided to do the Grapevine route recognizing traffic would be heavy but no wind/weather.
As predicted, lots of traffic, and trucks but we got through it all and arrived at our stop for the night in Bakersfield, the River Run RV Park where we have stayed numerous times.
Home tomorrow, a long drive up 99. The forecast is cold and raining. This will be complicated by being unable to park the RV in the driveway due to the driveway damage from the car fire incident on 4/5. We will get Judy in the house, unload as we can from the street, and park the RV at the fairgrounds for the weekend pending further action.
The road goes on forever and the party never ends - but hopefully we are almost there.
Another layover day. After the hard drive yesterday, we both needed a little down time before going over the hill to Bakersfield tomorrow.
Didn't do much today. Slept in a little and relaxed, Judy did her exercises, washed her hair and we ate in. Soup for lunch and a bag meal for dinner.
The RV Park is virtually deserted, not like most other times we have come through here during "snowbird season" in February-March-Early April. As mentioned, we are sort of in-between RV travel seasons right now. The snowbirds have gone home, the kids are still in school, and the old people - well you never know what they are up to, but not a lot of them are here right now.
The decision in the morning is what route to take. to Bakersfield. It is either North towards Victorville then West over the Tejon pass at Tehachapi or through the LA Basin and over the Grapevine on I-5. The Tejon route is longer but less traffic. The Grapevine is shorter but with LA traffic. A "Hobson's choice" weather being equal. Right now, both routes are forecasting dry roads. The wind however appears to be stronger going North with a pretty good crosswind component. Right now, I prefer traffic to wind, but we will see in the morning.
A nice evening at the Emerald Desert RV Park and early to bed.
Well, we are back in California. It was a very challenging drive today, but we are here at the Emerald Desert RV Park, in Palm Desert, CA. It is a really nice RV park and we have stayed here virtually every trip East and West and even some trips just to here,
Dinner tonight was takeout pizza from a favorite Italian restaurant just down the road from the RV park. SWtill very god.
We got an early start from the RV park in Eloy, AZ around 8:00 am. Made it around the loop around Phoeniz just fine, but then hit a major traffic delay just west of Phoenix. Heavy Westbound traffic on I-10 West was forced into two lane compressions due to road construction. It was stop and go for at least 45 minutes. When that cleared, the winds came up and we delt with a moderate crosswind all the way to Palm Desert. And the road on I-10 in Arizona is especially bad. Between bouncing around on the road and fighting the wind, it was a long day. Nevertheless, we are here and have a layover day tomorrow before going on to Bakersfield on Friday. The big decision for Friday travel will be either the Tejon Pass through Tehachapi or the LA basin and the Grapevine on I-5. Weather and wind will be the determining factors and a final decision will be made before leaving on Friday.
Judy continues to do well. She had a bit of a rough day with all the bouncing around but recovered after we arrived.
We are getting closer and are excited as we near home.
A long drive today over perhaps the portion of the trip West the most vulnerable to high winds and dust storms. Lots of open space with loose sandy soil. Warning signs in the most likely spots. Flashing warning signs, speed limit reduction signs, pull of the roadway, shut of the engine, turn off the vehicle lights, stay in the vehicle and keep buckled in. Scary stuff. Thankfully we have never experienced one of these zero visibility dust storms. Today was all good. Very little wind and open roads.
It was our longest leg of the trip today (330 miles) and we made good time arriving in Eloy, AZ, just South o Phoenix. We also gained an hour as AZ is not on Daylight Saving Time. We are staying at a seniors RV park. We have stayed here before and it is a good overnight stopping point.
Our destination tomorrow is Palm Desert, CA. Back into CA with $4,00+ a gallon gas. We have been averaging from $2.97 to $3.50 a gallon all the way across country. Nothing higher even at the "last gas for 100 miles" stations in the middle of nowhere,
Judy continues to improve. She is a little stronger each day. She had a good night last night in the RV bed and mobility access is definitely improving. We are both anxious to get home but will continue to pace ourselves doing so.
A layover day in Las Cruces, NM today. We are pacing ourselves to give Judy as much rest as possible and time to recover in the RV as we head home.
It was a great day for her today. She was able to transition getting in and out of bed in the RV and use the RV bathroom. She still needs some assistance, but this is major progress for her. She will no longer need to sleep on the RV sofa and use a portable toilet. It will not be possible for her to shower in the RV due to the small space, but she is able to wash herself. I helped her wash her hair today, but she is close to doing that by herself. Still not a lot of energy, but she is doing her exercises, getting her appetite back, and is fully cognitive. Real progress.
I also did the laundry today in the RV park and picked up a few supplies to get us home.
It was take out Mexican food for dinner from our favorite restaurant just down the street. It was excellent as always.
An eventful day. We are on to Arizona tomorrow, Eloy, AZ, just South of Phoenix. A fairly long drive but the weather looks good, and all the RV equipment is working fine.
We got an early start today, getting on the road at 8:30 am.
It was a fairly easy drive. Very little wind, lots of straight open road, and not much traffic. I put it on cruise control and enjoyed the scenery. Actually, there wasn't much to look at that wasn't any different after the first 30 minutes of driving.
The first city/town we went through was Van Horn, TX. Besides a crossroads oasis town, it is known as the site (30 miles north) of Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin rocket launch site, where several high-priced celebrity sub-orbital rocket launches have occurred. The Van Horn site uses the "New Shepard" launch vehicle and will be the vehicle used for Blue Origins space tourism they plan to expand in the future. Blue Origin is an ambitious space exploration enterprise and hopes to be an active partner with the government in ongoing space exploration activities.
Just West of Van Horn we entered the Mountain Time Zone and went through the Border Patrol checkpoint near Sierra Blanca. West bound you just go the sensor gauntlet. Eastbound you are stopped and talk to a Border Patrol agent. They clearly seem to profile, and they always have dogs and handlers ready as needed. Trucks have a separate lane with different inspection protocols apparently.
The biggest challenge today was getting through El Paso at the Western border of Texas. Every time we have come through here there has been highway construction. This trip was no exception but getting through has been significantly improved. Since it is Sunday, traffic was a little less congested and we made it through without any delays. El Paso has certainly grown over the years and appears to be thriving.
We arrived in Las Cruces around 1:00 pm due to the time change and ease of travel today. We have a layover day here tomorrow at the La Hacienda RV Resort. We stay here every time we come this way.
Tomorrow will be laundry day and a getting few things from Walmart. Tomorrow night dinner will be take out from La Posada de Mesila. Our favorite Mexican restaurant anywhere,
Judy continues to make progress and she has expanded her mobility within the RV. She diligently does here exercises, even while travelling. I don't expect she will be able to exit/enter the RV without assistance before we get home, but we are not ruling it out. Her spirits remain high and wants to regain her previous strength and mobility as soon as possible but also realizes it is going to take some time.
We are still on track for returning home next Saturday, 5/6. No severe weather is forecast or anticipated.
It was a hard travel day today.
After the cold front came through last evening, it cooled down and the wind remained high on the backside of the front. Nevertheless, we headed out from the RV park around 9:00 am and continued our journey west. The skies were clear, and the wind was mostly a North-Northwest wind of around 20 mph with gusts. Our RV, even with towing our truck is still pretty light compared to larger and heavier vehicles and is susceptible to any crosswind component in the 20 mph and greater category. So, it was two hands on the wheel drive pretty much the whole way on our 240-mile drive to our destination tonight, Ft. Stockton Texas.
The drive across West Texas between San Antonio and here is mostly rolling hills and few towns except for a couple of I-10 Interstate truck stop locations, no people and very few cows. Just us, the semi-trucks and pickup trucks zooming by, often in excess of the 80-mph speed limit.
We are staying at the Ft Stockton RV Park tonight. We have stayed here almost every time we have come this way, both East and West. It is a nice, nothing fancy, overnight stop in the middle of West Texas. There is a cafe in the park, but we ate in tonight. We had a frozen bag meal. I cooked it, served it, did the dishes and cleaned up afterwards. I have significantly expanded my household skills on this trip.
Judy had a hard day riding sideways on the sofa as the RV bounced around on less-than-ideal road conditions and swaying from side to side fighting the wind. She did well despite it all. Her appetite is returning, and she even had a small glass of wine with dinner. Leg strength, stability, and more energy remain her major rehab goals.
We continue West tomorrow to Las Cruces, NM, another familiar stop on our way East and West. We will stay two nights at the Hacienda RV Resort and on our layover day, do laundry, a little shopping for supplies at Walmart and Mexican food of course at our favorite restaurant there. It will necessarily be takeout this year. Thats O.K. it will still be good.
Rest and Recuperation in Kerrville ,TX today. We are pacing ourselves on our return trip and taking it easy as Judy recovers. She continues to do well and make progress towards her recovery.
We just relaxed in the RV today. Judy worked on her exercises, and I didn't do much except help her and work on some paperwork issues.
It was a nice day here until around 4:00 pm. Another front came through and we had some rain and high winds. We missed the heavy stuff again and it is clearing this evening. The wind is forecast to subside overnight. I hope so, so our trip tomorrow to Ft. Stockton, TX doesn't become a burden. We have been fortunate with the travel weather so far and hope it continues. From here, it really starts to feel we are back in the West.
One day at a time as we get closer to home.
We had a lot of heavy weather come through last night. It was a pretty good front that dumped lots of rain, thunder and lightning sometime after midnight and lasted a long time. It was all close, but thankfully no hail. When we woke up in the morning it was still raining but the thunder and lightning had moved on to the East and South.
By the time we were ready to leave at 9:30 am, the rain had stopped. There was standing water in the RV park, but nothing significant. So, we headed out, despite a traffic report on the local TV station that reported an overturned semi on I-10 W in downtown Houston. In the best of times, getting through Houston is never easy, we knew any kind of incident would impact travel. Sure, enough approaching the incident, traffic was backed up big time. Despite most of the mess being cleaned up, two lanes were closed, and we had about a 20-minute delay getting through.
The rest of the trip towards San Antonio, after getting through Houston (that seems to go on forever) under cloudy skies was uneventful. As we approached San Antonio, there was a lot of road construction and heavy traffic. San Antonio used to be an easy transit, but no more. It is now a very busy city with lots of traffic.
Also had another stop at a Buc-ees, Their peach muffins are hard to resist, so we got a few to keep the hoarders from getting them all.
Anyway, we got through it all and arrived at our stop for tonight in Kerrville, TX, about a hour NW of San Antonio. We are staying at a very nice RV Park, the Buckhorn Lake Resort.
It was a fairly short drive today (200 miles) to our stop for the night just East of Houston. We have stayed here at the Houston East RV Park several times before. It is a nice park and a good place to rest up before continuing through Houston and San Antonio to our next stop tomorrow n Kerrville, TX.
It was a low energy day for Judy today. She slept most of the way here and didn't feel up to doing all of her exercises. It still looks like it is going to be a fairly lengthy recovery, but we are managing the return trip O.K. so far and she is doing well, considering all she has gone through. Her appetite is improving, and her spirits remain strong,
Weather remains good. It is sunny and mild here today and looking ahead, no problems forecast as least as far as New Mexico. Of course, things can quickly change, and we will react accordingly if needed.
A layover day today. Slept in a little and some more rest for Judy. Also, Judy had several rounds of her PT exercises today. She continues to make slow progress.
Still a quiet RV park. Not too many people here and it seems we have the park all to ourselves.
We left Pensacola around 9:00 am this morning. That is a fairly early start for us today even with dealing with our modified travel arrangements to facilitate Judy's travel requirements.
Judy had a pretty good travel day, on motion pills, she slept a lot on the sofa just behind the RV cab. We made good time despite heavy traffic in Mobile and Baton Rouge and arrived at our destination RV park in Breaux Bridge, LA around 3:00 pm. Actually, travelled through 4 states today (FL, AL, MS and LA).
We have stayed here before most recently on our trip East. It has been rebranded as Camp Margaritaville RV Resort. It is a large destination resort with lots of things to do for families and others. Right now, the park is virtually empty. It is after the snowbirds have left, spring break is over and summer vacations have not yet started.
Our next stop on Wednesday is just East of Houston.
On the road.
We left Tifton, GA this morning around 10:00 am and headed southwest on US 319 towards Tallassee, FL It is a good highway that travels through rural Southern Georgia. Lots of ag land, mostly fallow right now, small towns with a couple of gas stations, a Dollar General, and at least one or two Baptist churches. Since today is Sunday, there were a lot of cars parked in the church lots. We saw some really poor housing situations as well as some impressive larger houses/plantations along the way. Not a Confederate flag in sight but lots of American flags in the yards of houses we passed.
After entering Florida just North of Tallahassee and turning right as we entered the city on to I-10W, we headed toward Pensacola, FL, our stop for the night. It was almost a perfect travel day, driving wise. Clear skies, dry roads, no wind, light traffic and no construction delays. We will be on I-10W most of the way home.
We were concerned how Judy would be able to effectively travel as she recovers from her bout with pneumonia. She remains weak with limited mobility and strength. Her throat is still a little raspy but does not have any respiratory symptoms or any cognitive limitations. Consequently, we have modified our RV travel arrangements somewhat. Since Judy cannot easily get in and out of the front seat of the RV, she decided to travel sitting/laying down on the sofa just behind the front cab. It worked pretty well but she reacted a little to the normal bouncing around of the RV, After taking a motion sickness pill, she was a lot better. Likewise, bathroom stops cannot be made while the RV is moving.
Nevertheless, we safely arrived in Pensacola around 3:00 pm local after gaining an hour entering the Central Time Zone. It is a nice RV park, just off of I-10W near the many things to do in the Pensacola area. We have done most of them on previous trips with great memories but will not be doing so again this time.
Our next stop tomorrow will be near Lafayette, LA (Breaux Bridge). We are staying there for two nights. We will be taking our time going home and expect to arrive on Saturday, May 6th if everything goes well.
It is great to be finally heading home.
Leaving for home tomorrow. First stop Pensacola, Fl.
We are ready. Judy doing well in recovery.
Updates to follow. No side trips, just careful travel home making Judy comfortable along the way.
We are continuing to work on Judy's ability to getting around in the RV as she recovers. We have made a few facility adjustments to accommodate her strength and mobility limitations right now. It is going to be a slow full recovery and our goal is to get home safely as soon as possible while making the trip as a comfortable as possible for her.
Pending her status and progress, the plan is to stay here another day and leave for home on Sunday. One day at a time.
Discharged today and back in the RV. Still very week and no leg strength. Some difficulty in walking and standing. Also low energy.
More improvement for Judy today. Looks like another 2-3 days before discharge. Then depending on Judy's ability to travel, we will plan and begin our trip home. We are ready,
Here are a few pictures of the hospital where she is staying. A very nice medical center, modern and fully staffed. I have no complaints about her care. We were lucky to be able to access this level of medical care while on the road.
A lot of progress for Judy today and she has been moved from ICU to the ward.
We may be getting close to discharge. She still needs a little more strength and mobility, Looks like the pneumonia is essential resolved.
We will have a better idea tomorrow re: discharge benchmarks after talking to the doctor,
