After nearly 18 months of not traveling, we are back at it! For two years we summered in Vermont and traveled the south in the winter. Not a bad gig! Then came Covid. The south was particularly hard hit so our sons convinced us to stay in Vermont last winter. Loved spending so much time with our granddaughter Genevieve, but not a fan of the dark and cold Vermont winters.
Wish we could say the pandemic is “over” but we are vaccinated and self contained so we are headed back out. Follow along!
2021 sees us still in our home state of Vermont! We finished up our travels in May after locking down in California for 2 months and spent the summer at our house at Lake Carmi. Covid made our summer different than other years but Vermont has had relatively low virus rates so we were able to enjoy the summer with precautions. As fall approached and we were planning to head south, our sons expressed their concern for our safety. Florida and maybe California were not looking like places we wanted to be. Our house in Lake Carmi is not winterized so we rented a house in Grand Isle for the winter. (the owner is spending the winter on his boat in the Florida Keys) In the midst of this pandemic, we are glad we chose to stay north. Our granddaughter lives 5 minutes away so that makes the cold weather much more bearable!
So what of our travels? We are planning to take two month trip in May and June west to Yellowstone and the Utah National parks but only if we have our vaccines by then. Stayed tuned to see what happens next! Hopefully we will be back on the road soon. Stay safe!
It is April 20 and we are still in California. Our original plan was to leave here on April 1 and head to Zion and Bryce and Best Friends Animal sanctuary in Utah then drive through Colorado. As we realized that early April is still cold and snowy in Utah, we came up with Plan B. Leave here on April 2 then a week in Palm Springs then head East with a few days in Sedona, Santa Fe, and St Louis. Sounded good until the virus came along! Now we are on Plan C! Plan C has us leaving on April 27 and driving home with no fun stops along the way. Not many RV parks are open to one night stands from California so we are planning on lots of overnights in parking lots with as little contact with people as possible we will be fully stocked with food and water so our only necessary stops are truck stops for diesel. Hopefully we will only be on the road 7-8 nights then we we’ll be in Vermont. Our son is going to have camp opened and provisioned so we can park the rig, and head to camp for our 14 day quarantine.
Plans change so we change with them! Aguanga is a beautiful spot to be stuck! We are thinking of heading back here next March to see all the things we couldn’t see this time. Namely the 40 plus wineries in the Temecula Valley that have all been closed Maybe later in April head to Utah and Colorado. We’ll see…plans change!
A taste of Aguanga! Enjoy!
Haven’t posted in quite awhile. Feels like we don’t do anything interesting when we are in one place for very long. Currently we are in Aguanga, California which is pretty remote. We have extended our stay here until May 1 to comply with stay at home orders.
We are at Rancho California which is a nice park located on a golf course. We don’t golf but we love overlooking the third green and its pond and fountain. We are about 20 miles from Temecula which is known for its wineries . All of the cool things to do are closed so there isn’t a lot to do. We have a beautiful view from outback sitting area which is a saving grace. ( except for this week when it rained everyday!)
Deb made face masks for us and our immediate family, Derick continues to work half time and we watched Tiger King on Netflix. ( you can’t make up that stuff. The nation now knows who Joe Exotic is!)
Before you fell sorry for us, enjoy some pics of our temporary digs! Stay safe!
Last year we traveled to the Grand Canyon then turned around and headed back East. This year Deb wanted to go as far west as we could and see the Pacific!
From Yuma we drove to the Imperial Valley Desert Museum and spent the night in their parking lot. It was a nice little museum and the parking lot was spacious , but the wind was CRAZY! Kept the slides in all night and the noise! Not sure if they were the Santa Anna winds but the thought of that wind fueling a brush fire was terrifying!
We happily left the museum and headed to Carlsbad, California on the coast north of San Diego. Stayed at Paradise By The Sea RV park right in town and a short walk to the beach. It was perfect!
We took the train to San Diego for a day and went to Del Mar to have lunch with a friend of Deb’s from high school. So glad Facebook helped them to reconnect!
Hated to leave The beach but we are heading East for the first time since we left Florida! We are spending the month of March in the Temecula Valley, northeast of San Diego. More to come!
Our last stop in Arizona is Yuma. This is our last push south, after this we start heading north. Since it is a border town to Mexico we can’t get any further south without a passport.
Yuma is decent size city and is a big agricultural area. There are miles of vegetable fields, citrus orchards and we even saw fields filled with sheep. (Apparently the sheep are there to fertilize the fields and get rotated around)
We spent one night at a Farm/restaurant/antique center. They sell to big retailers and even Trader Joes. Got fresh cauliflower off the truck, had some great BBQ and had an amazing sunset.
Spent two more nights at an Escapees RV Park before heading to California.
Deb kept referring to this park as Picachu Peak but it is in fact Picacho Peak. No longer sounds like anime. This a state park and we have had good luck with Arizona State Parks so let’s try another.
Lots of cacti, nice pull through site but only electrical hook ups. We came with a full water tank and empty septic so two nights is no problem. This is their busy season so glad we planned ahead. Apparently camping in the desert in the hot Arizona summer is not popular.
Nice spot, beautiful sunsets!
Off to Yuma!
One state closer to the end of our journey west! Arizona promises much warmer temperatures (finally) and three new places to visit!
First stop is Tombstone. An old west town that is famous for Wyatt Earp, Doc Holiday and the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. It now boosts shops, restaurants and a lot for people dressed up like gunslingers. It was Vigilante weekend so there were even more gunslingers than normal.
We also went to Kartchner Canyon State Park and took a tour of the cavern. Having just been to the famous Carlsbad Caverns it hard not to compare! They are very concerned with protecting the cave so no cell phones or cameras were allowed in the caves. The ranger who led the tour was very knowledgeable and very funny! The cave is a constant 72° and 98% humidity, our glasses even fogged up. The part of the caverns we went on is not open during the summer because of a large nursing colony of bats! Glad they winter in Mexico.
It was a very nice state park. Next stop is another state park, Picacho Peak State Park.
After our trip to the caverns, we had a snow day. It snowed lightly but it accumulated!
Luckily the snow melted before we left to go to Las Cruces,(in N Mexico just north of El Paso). We went this way so we could visit White Sands National Park.
We took the Jeep and drove the 55 miles to get there. Passed White Sands Missile base and not anything else!
White Sands has just been elevated from a national monument to a national park. It is 275 square miles of white sand dunes that were created by the wind breaking up gypsum deposits about 1,000 years ago. There is an eight mile drive through the dunes and you can stop along the way and walk around. You can even buy a saucer sled and slide down!
Next stop, Tombstone, Arizona.
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