Surprise!!! We're Home!!!

I'll Be Home for Christmas

I don't know who thought we could stay away at Christmas. Was it you? It probably never was us. And it sure wasn't Doug because he offered to fly us home.  But that was way too easy, so on Saturday, December 8, we packed the jeep with several things that we felt were superfluous for our journey and battened down the RV. Sunday morning we emptied the frig into a plug-in cooler. Then we parked the RV in the storage area at Wilderness Lakes RV Resort in Menifee, CA and hit the road. 

Western California, Palm Springs Area 

  We found windmills again in western California. I think this is the San Gorgonio Pass. Here is a link to Wikipedia about the wind farm. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Gorgonio_Pass_Wind_Farm  Among many other things it says there are over 3,000 windmills.  And they were all sizes. Some looked older than others. Ken Hoffman, our friend who visited us in San Diego, had told us about windmills that were built in the 80s and I think we found them here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here is Ken with some old guy in Old Town San Diego, back in November.

 

People Have Died From Stupidity

After leaving the Palm Springs/Palm Desert Area we pretty much headed into real desert. Every 30 miles or so we might have seen a little oasis town, but they were few and far between. And that is when we started really watching the gas in our tank. We passed several abandoned gas stations on this long, long undulating road. And at one point we passed a station that appeared to have gas...at over $4 a gallon. Anybody know Thrifty Sue? Well she was in charge of using Gas Buddy to find gas, calculate distances and compare that to the number of miles our car said we had before empty. Can I just say, technology is a wonderful thing. But it can kill stupid people. Long story, short, we cruised into Needles on fumes. But we didn't pay $4 a gallon. $3.95, maybe, but not $4. This pattern continued across the country, but never again did we cut it this close. And I'm bragging here, Thrifty Sue saved us a bunch of money. She may have cost us a few years in stress, but I'll bet we have that $5 to leave the kids. I may have discovered a flaw in my plan.

 

 

First Night: Flagstaff, Arizona

We checked into the Hampton Inn and had a lovely night, except for Larry's 2 a.m. trip to the car to unplug the cooler for fear the battery would die. (This little story could fit in the last subheading.) It was about 15 degrees and he had to leave a warm bed. Don't tell him, and God knows he will never read this, he is pretty tough sometimes. When we left Flagstaff the next morning the temperature was 12 degrees F. And we had to stop for gas before we left town. Again with the Stupidity subheading. I'm thinking of changing the name of this post.

 

Albuquerque: City, Huge City, In a Bowl

 

One of the more interesting things we saw was Albuquerque. As we traveled across New Mexico, we were able to track our altitude on the GPS. As we traveled to Albuquerque, I think we were as high as 7,000 feet and then suddenly, lying in this huge bowl of land in between mountains was Albuquerque. It was like we drove over the lip of the bowl and there was a huge city.

 

These pics were made with my cell phone from a moving car, but you get the idea.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It took us four days and three nights to get to Knoxville. And it was so worth the effort. I can say that because I only drove about a hundred of the nearly 2200 miles. But this country is so huge and so different from what you believe if you have never driven through the southwest. The hills, the deserts, the reservations, the animals...they all were a continual source of amazement for us.


I have more info about Memphis, Arkansas, trains, trucks, my grandkids. I know I will see you back. Ha.