California

After the second leg (of three) on our return home, we find ourselves in Twentynine Palms in the Mojave, CA high desert. Today was an interesting drive which, in part, took us both to areas of the high desert where we had yet to see, to wit: Lucerne and Johnson Valleys. It is quite the scenic drive with desolate areas, giant rock formations and the usual desert flora and fauna.

The campground here is at elevation 1730 MSL according to the GPS. We are experiencing warmer weather than that we had in Northern California, where fall has definitely become quite brisk. Here, the temperatures are forecast for between lows of high fifties and highs of low eighties. We expect much of the same when we arrive home tomorrow.

Our drive tomorrow will be through the rest of the California Outback, across the Colorado river at Earp, CA/Parker, AZ and continuing through the Arizona Outback the rest of the way home. Weather and traffic are not expected to be factors during the last leg home.

Tonight we’re camped in Bakersfield, California at the Orange Grove RV Park. The park is, literally, in an orange grove with spaces for RVs to park. Now that December is imminent, the warm weather parks fill up pretty fast. We were fortunate to get a space here and the park looks to be nearly full.

We had a great time over the last two weeks, camping and meeting with family. It’s a bittersweet thing to be heading home, but we’re already planning our next excursion to be with family again.

We’re going to be in the California High Desert tomorrow, stopping in Twentynine Palms overnight and then home on Saturday. In spite of having a lot of fun on the road and with family, we are looking forward to being home again and back into our retirement routine.

Pulled into Damsel’s Sister’s driveway to set up for a few days visit. This is less than full-on camping, since we are house guests except when we sleep in the RV.

There were other things on the agenda for the ladies, like shopping and getting manicures and haircuts in town. Us guys watched baseball and hung out while they were doing their thing.

We did take a side trip to the north SF Bay area to visit with a couple of the grandkids and their children, the “Greats.” The little girl was just nineteen days old, but Great Grandson Alex is two and a half and developing quite a personality. We enjoyed that part of the visit very much.

Well, we’re camped here in the Central California Valley, about 25 miles west of the Sequoia National Forest. It’s a nice little KOA park away from the highway in an industrial/residential/agricultural and recreational area. Yep – some of each.

We are relaxed and comfortable after a fairly challenging commute from the LA Basin through the Grapevine and up the California central valley. It goes without saying that there was traffic and partial blockage as we departed the basin. In the mountain passes, we struggled with gusty crosswinds which adds a new dimension to driving a nearly 36 foot “slab side” RV. Needless to say we were relieved to arrive safely at our destination and campsite for the evening.

Tomorrow will find us, God willing, at Damsel’s sister’s place up the road from here. We’re planning on spending several days there before heading back home via the long way through Nevada, Utah and Northern Arizona. There will be another “camping at” photo tomorrow or the next day.