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Day 5 (Cactus Forest)

A new day with all its possibilities and opportunities.

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Day 4 Cactus Forest

Waking to this. No words necessary

As I was prepping to run I thought "I'll have to force myself not to scream with joy when I step outside!". Joy for being in this beautiful place. Joy for being in our beautiful new-to-us 5th Wheel that so many months of work has gone into. Joy for running after sitting in the truck for 2 1/2 days. Joy for it being 40 degrees but so warm from dry and sun and pure blue sky that I needed no coat or gloves.

And then there was a delicious 1st desert breakfast. And then there was a great hike. And then there was a delicious 1st desert dinner. And then there was, of course, not enough power (after a day of sun the batteries went dead - this was preceded by a first of things going so well with electricity availability that I dried my hair and Bill used the microwave with just the batteries - no generator like all the other years). And, of course, Mr Genius Fix-It will figure it out.

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Day 3 (driving southwest)

Thank you Holloman Lake for once again being a fantastic place to sleep in between driving days. We stayed a week last year as our first stop and it was so perfect we used it as a driving day stop on the way home (2024 Day 2-11 and 69).

It's like magic to pull in in the dark and wake to the real deal mountains. It's as though they just popped up overnight.

Couldn't resist showing some of our scenery as we get into more and more desert landscape.

A 5th Wheel: Bill is so happy driving the truck instead of the rattling, banging not nice ride of the motorhomes. Long days driving, even in some wind, were a breeze😁 - no struggling to keep the motorhome on the road from every gust.

Change of Plans

Sure you'll be shocked to hear that as we were driving today to the planned location - Quartzite, we changed to the Cactus Forest north of Tucson (2024 Days 33-45). It occurred to us that this is the week of the Quartzite RV Show. This show is billed as the biggest one in the US. We were there in 2019 and it's a mob scene with people in 150,000+ RVs in a miniscule town. To go to the show that year it took us an hour to drive the 5 miles from where we had carved out a relatively private place. On the other hand, the area of the Cactus Forest we went to last year was not only unique, with more cactus than we'd ever seen in our desert travels, but really beautiful.

When we arrived for our first parking of the 5th Wheel in the desert, we went to the area we had loved (found last year while running). Last year less then a mile down the path turned into loose sand and there are few places at that point to turn around. So Bill sent Carolyn down the road running to see if there were any areas we could get in to (no people, hard sand, room). You may remember the last 3 years with a toad that Carolyn went off in that toad to find a place we'd like. Now, no toad, just feet and the desire to run. Each little area back behind cactus or Palo Verdes had an RV or a tent/car (don't think we're telling a crowd here - it was 6 campers over the course of 1/2 mile). When last year's perfect location (2024 Day 37-45) was coming up, and there was a van and a car visible off in the distance past it. It seemed bleak. But by certainly a miracle, there was no one in that area!!

Bill got the call, came down the path and we ended up parking in almost the same spot as last year! Fantastic! And now for our first evening in the desert.

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Day 2 (driving southwest)

Some years once we know what general direction we're going we know what roads we'll take to get to the warmth quickly. This year we have new things to consider:

- what will the low temp be while driving?

- where are there high winds?

- do we have a preference for our first non-driving-day stop?

Why are these things different this year?

- the switch to the 5th Wheel. It needs to be above freezing while we're driving as the water lines are on the outside and even if we turned the furnace way up the thermostat would keep turning it off as the thermometer inside reached temp (in the motorhome the lines were inside)

- "I'd love to drive an RV in the wind", said no one ever

- with a shorter number of days than usual this year we're going to skip areas that we'd listed to see, mostly in the far SE and SC of AZ

So this morning the final route (above freezing during the day, lowest wind possible, skip far SE AZ) was determined - we'll start in Quartzite for a few days and then go straight to the western edge of our trip. The rest of the time we'll move East in the public lands throughout the southern desert.

The drive today took us through cold and snow pile Kansas, which morphed into 60 degree, high winds, dust storm Kansas. No great pics there (unless you just want to see a brown blur). We saw many picturesque (minus the brown blur) small town squares but we took pics of those last year as we're on the same route so far (see 2024 Day 1).

After all day in the flat of Kansas and the Texas panhandle it was nice to start seeing some hills as we climbed in elevation in northern New Mexico. And then,

in central NM just in the last throws of the sunset, the mountain ranges started to show in the distance. And you know what that means! - we're arriving into the beautiful SW that we love!

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Day 1 (driving southwest)

Finally left at the world record time of only 4 hours after our estimated departure time (full disclosure - we were to leave 1 week ago so technically we left 1 week late 😜). Long story, but suffice it to say that we're thrilled to be on the road beginning the experience that creates the wonderful discoveries and pictures you read about last year and the 7 years before thet (scroll back for the memories, we just did). And extra thrilled because we're in our new to us 5th Wheel and diesel truck. So much work has gone into turning these 2 vehicles into our boondocking lifestyle. It's made us look forward to the time with even greater anticipation!

The only sadness is to be missing the 3rd member of our party. The loss of our beautiful Maddie since last year's trip does make for a big hole in the life we live on the road. Here's a tribute to the greatest traveling girl - she loved her life each and every place she ever went.

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Epilogue 2024

Miles

Motorhome drove - 3887

Toad drove - 1494

Carolyn & Maddie ran - 252 miles

Bill, Carolyn & Maddie hiked - 39 miles

Carolyn swam - 4 miles

Locations

Boondocking Sites - 1 lake (2x), 1 Wildlife Area, 1 event lot, 1 desert Nat'l Monument, 1 desert Wildlife Preserve, 1 desert Wildlife Refuge,  2 desert BLM areas (3 locations)

Wallydocking -  2 locations

We Visited - 3 couples (1 of them five times, 1 at a restaurant, 2 at their homes)

Special Sightseeing - 1 preserved town, 1 artisans' town, 1 historic town, 1 ranch (in Wildlife Preserve), 1 canyon (in Wildlife Refuge), 1 mine, 1 Natural Area, 1 concert

Coffee Shops - 18 (2 of them several times)

Airport - 1 (2x p/u & d/o)

Libraries for internet - 1 (after Starlink was Paused until next year)

Restaurants - 10

Grocery Stores - 11

Laundromats - 3 (plus 1 friend's house)

RV dumps - 5

Propane - 4

Carwashes - 5

Motorhome washes - 2

Look at all our 2024 pics here

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Day 71 (continue drive home & arrival)

Not much to show in the land of flat, so flat you feel like you can see to Canada.

Mullinville KS

How did we miss this 50 yards of M.T. Liggett's art lining his land on our way out in January? We were in a US54 detour, but not sure this was part of it. Hmmm.

All Through KS

It was so warm this Winter that the Pear trees and the Red Buds are in full bloom (normally mid April) along with the leaves starting to open.

Last Dutch Bros

Kansas Fires

Again with the smoke and multiple fires burning 100s of acres. We ran into it last year (see 2023 Day 69) and it happened coming home from Bill & Jen's one trip as well (the Colorado route is I70).

Sunset in Ft Scott

May not be the desert, but still pretty awe inspiring.

The Arrival

We talked about the re-entry this afternoon, Bill saying it's hard to believe we're going to be home and Carolyn saying let's sleep in the motorhome tonight. Last year we did it and the re-entry to the house seemed less shocking than the years before. Stay tuned for the Epilogue where we'll include our impressions of re-entry.

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Day 70 (continue drive home)

These are north east of Alamagordo and we had to have driven right by them both last year and this year. We both don't remember them to look like this. Is it because we're seeing them at a different time of day or from a different direction (this is becoming a theme!)

And here we thought it was a bummer to see same thing going home but.....

If it weren't for the Lake I could see myself living in the middle nowhere in this big open space where though the houses are so far apart you can only see them because the valley between all these mountain ranges is tens of miles wide.

Cool bumps

And then miles of beige again

Vaughn NM

We're fascinated by the small towns with a mile of abandoned commercial buildings. Even more fascinating is why are a few occupied and in good repair. This town is one of town after town like this along US54 but it at least has a story. It developed into a thriving town because it was at the intersection of 2 major railroads so and the beautiful depot is one of the old buildings in town that's been kept up. By the 1920s there were 900 residents. And even though the population now is 286 it still has its own school - a total of 60 students in all grades. Where do you get teachers for that? The houses we saw are pretty run down and in 2019 the students listed as doing well on state test was 35% (that's up from 2017 at 21%). So there isn't a large taxpayer base to pay for it. But as we were leaving town there was a brand new diner (the silver kind that's meant to look like the 1950s) and a new Travelodge. Why?

And then miles of beige again. Every so often in the middle of the beige is just the fireplace of a stone house. Or just a couple walls. When we see these likely houses from a long ago ranch we think of the family having dinner together, and sitting around the fireplace in the evening.

Thank you Santa Rosa library for your internet so I could run an executive group this afternoon. Our fabulous Starlink was set to start a new payment month last week the day we arrived at Jim & Wally's. And then Kim & Sheryl's and then drive straight home. The only thing that required more Internet than our phone could provide was this group facilitation - 2 hrs was not worth the cost of a whole month. So we reverted back to the last 2 years of driving to a library.

The Last Mountain

Bill said, "You better look now because that's the last mountain". After 2 1/2 months of mountains on all 4 sides this is the last. And it sure was a great one - rising out of the land like an ancient city.

We slept at the Liberal KS Walmart tonight. If Liberal KS sounds familiar to you it's because of our trip last year on the way home to Dorothy's House (see 2023 Day 69)

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Day 69 (start drive home)

We spent the morning doing some tasks for our friend Sheryl after she left for the hospital. Then we went to the hospital to see Kim in the early afternoon. We feel great to see his amazing progress after the docs gave up hope.

In the parking lot as we were about to start our drive home a man knocked on the door and asked for a jump. So here we are after the jump, in Tucson rush hour traffic starting our trip at 4pm. So us.

We both can't remember seeing this before but think we had to have driven this past it on I10 W going west more than once. Looked it up and it's the Dragoon Mountains. Maybe they don't look anything like this when you approach from the east?

All of a sudden came these!

Slept at Holloman Lake (see Days 2 - 11) because it's right off the road and I'm the dark we know where to go.

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Day 68 (drive to Tucson)

Past the Salton Sea (see 2019 trip there Day 28-30)

Through the smelly Imperial Valley (major food growing area for the US)

Then the Imperial Dunes (have had it in our list for several years - we will go next year now that we've seen it)

Now back in the land of Dutch Bros so our first one in a month

Then the always fascinating twists and turns near Dome Rd just east of Yuma. Why fascinating - this landscape only lasts a couple miles starting just outside the town of Yuma and couple miles of these cool hills later it's flat, flat, flat.

Sky in Oro Valley

What is this? And that streak of light you're seeing lasted for at least 15 min. We later learned it was the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket.

And we were there!

"What sort of day was it? A day like all days, filled with those events that alter and illuminate our times... all things are as they were then, except you were there." Walter Cronkite

Arrival at Kim & Sheryl's

It was so great after a month of phone reports to be able to celebrate in person with Sheryl the miraculous recovery this past week of Kim. So happy to be able to support them through the past month of severe illness (see Day 44)

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Day 65, 66, 67 (Jim & Wally's)

Cooler than usual for 2 days (we swam anyway - plus shopped to gather our imports to the Lake of Costco and Trader Joe's).

Sunny and a bit warmer for 2 days and we enjoyed the swimming even more.

Meals which are always better when cooked together. And each meal included lovely music and always stimulating conversation.

A real Mexican breakfast at a Mexican (not a Mexican American) restaurant followed by a weekly street fair

Then went a home art show - a woman they know from Tai Chi (and instructor) is also an artist. Not only did we see so many interesting mediums (canvases and paper with all kinds of treatments, pottery, jewelry) but got a description of how she does them and heard about her childhood in Hiroshima before becoming a US citizen. She also plays golf, teaches a stretch class, has the most unique gardens (filled with her pottery) and has more energy than most people (she is not young).

And we went to a Killer Queen concert (a Queen tribute band) at one of the many, many large casinos in the Coachella Valley.

Maddie says, again, "Thank you for a stimulating and relaxing time dear friends".

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Day 64 (Drive to Cathedral City)

Love this every year as we start our drive to Cathedral City (not the cars...the fuzzy mountains and flower lined highway)

Time to Cityfy

b4 ⤵️

Part 1 ⬇️

Part 2 ⬇️

The car (sorry no pic - there was no one to take it - Bill washing the car and Carolyn doing Saturday cleaning inside)

Super windy drive - tough for the driver and the gas mileage but also the view

And all of a sudden there's the Coachella Valley spread out beneath us

We know you can't see it - we can't either as the dust from high winds is almost obscuring the view. We just know because our minds fill in the picture . Even still, we both agree that this is our favorite part of the trip to friends Jim and Wally's. See 2023 Day 61 for what we thought then was dust-filled air, but this year is worse.

Arrival is Jim & Wally's

Always such a joy to arrive at their beautiful, relaxing home!

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Day 63 (Last minute decision to  drive to Quartzite)

A plan hatched while running - tomorrow we leave for Cathedral City (in the Coachella Valley) to visit friends' Jim & Wally. What if we just left today after brunch and drove to Quartzite? Why would we drive 30 miles now instead of just driving it tomorrow with the other 180 miles? 2 reasons - #1 it's going to take 45 minutes just to get from where we're camped to the road and then another 25 min to get to Quartzite. Plus we're stopping there to go to our favorite grocery store in a tent (see 2023 Day 61 and 2019 Day 47). So by going today we can cut off 2 hrs from our time tomorrow, getting to sunny Palm Springs area earlier. And why do that? - reason #2 it's cold and windy here and in Quartzite today and tomorrow so let's get closer to the warmth.

After the grocery we set off to check out the land along Plamosa Rd which had been recommended by the people with the lost dog (see Day 55)

No reason to look for a really good place as we're only staying until after breakfast so we just pulled off the road. And now we're sure we should never stay by a road - car lights, sirens from Quartzite all night. Running I already see how far away we could go right here and there are many more miles along Plamosa to try.

But even in a not good area for us for camping we found beautiful sunset and sunrise and fabulous flowering Creosote and who knows what that white filly flower is.

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Day 62 (KOFA)

And the Spring bloom just keeps on coming (especially love the Prickly Pear magenta, and look at the literally hundreds of buds - wish we were going to be here until next week when it will be fabulous!)

You saw the sunrise so you should see the sunset-

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Day 60 & 61 (KOFA)

The Usual

Running, breakfast, dinner each day.

The Unusual

One night a campfire at Annamarie and David's site (sorry, too dark for pic).

The next afternoon a text from them with the pictures (click on the pic on right and enlarge to see step better) title - New Friend, and the words - "Gave us quite the fright. We were all outside dogs lazing, me and David reading when we heard rattle rattle. We moved pretty quick. It was about a foot away from Diana."

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Day 59 (KOFA)

We simply wanted to follow the road we could see from where we parked. When we got there we learned that once on the single path trail we could hike to see a canyon with California Fan Palms. Except for a couple hours at midday this canyon is dark.

Some botanists theorize that the trees gradually spread into this canyon and other protected niches as the climate warmed to desert conditions. Another theory is that the trees may have been spread from other palm groves by birds or coyotes carrying seeds in their digestive tracts.

We prepared a wonderful grill dinner with Annamarie, David, Fidel and Diana from BC. But by the time we were ready to serve it was so dark we decided to eat in the motorhome. Wish we'd taken pictures of the floor solid with 3 dogs!