Anza Borrego Desert 2017

The Anza Borrego Desert has been our "go to" place for many years, usually arriving mid-December and staying through the holidays and most of January.  This year is no different, however, the weather has been a challenge.  We've had every thing from howling, sand blasting wind to rain and very few days of sunny, warm, be outside kind of days. Even the spectacular sunsets have been few and far between but here are a few noteworthy exceptions:

With the rain comes the greening of the desert floor.

Now is when we really miss our Jeep Wrangler and all the off road trips we've taken in past years. Our Toyota RAV 4 is 4-wheel drive but not Jeep 4-wheel drive!! Its low clearance and small tires are very limiting to where we can go.  But there are still a few possibilities like 17 Palms Oasis and Fonts Point:

About every 10 days we drive up to the State Park to dump tanks and refill with water.

Every year we revisit the Brecedo sculptures on display around town:

With the temps near freezing we are not surprised to see a dusting of snow on our surrounding mountains.

Sadly our Wave 6 propane catalytic heater died so we're having to order a new one.  Our only other heat source is a small electric heater and since we're boondocking we'd have to run the generator in order to use it.

Another challenge to traveling is being able to find a salon for a decent hair cut.  I recently had mine cut and now it's so spiky it looks like a bird on my head.  I'll not post pictures of this one!

Otherwise, all is well.  We're not sure if we'll head to Quartzsite or check out the boondocking on Ogilby Road near Yuma when we leave here next week after receiving our heater and some mail that is being forwarded.  We thought we might like to see the big RV show but don't like all the crowds, so we might just hunker down on Ogilby Road for awhile.

21 Years of full-time RVing

Yep, this year marks our 21st anniversary of living and traveling full-time in a motorhome.  We've had two, a 91 Dolphin MH and the Country Coach we have now, purchased in 2001. Those first few years we did a lot of driving, trying to cram as many locations as possible in a period of a few days.  It was nothing for us to drive cross-country a couple of times a year.

In 1995 we had two grandchildren born, Daniel in Sun Valley, Idaho and Noelle in Redwood City, CA.  We were there for both!  Oh the joys of being mobile!

One of our bucket list locations was Zion National Park. The photo below was take on a walk along the Virgin river toward the Narrows. We stayed in the national park campgound, enjoyed summer days, barbecued dinners, and lots of walks.  We always put our awning up before we go in for the evening....accept for one night.  The day was balmy, no wind.  Not good as it turns out!

About 1 a.m. in the early morning hours we had a loud knock on our door.  It was the park ranger saying we had to evacuate immediately.  There had been a landslide and the Virgin River was rapidly reaching flood level.  We had a mess outside to put away, especially the awning put. We filed in with a bunch of other campers and followed the ranger up to higher ground.  The next day we found out the hotel was isolated by the slide and patrons were stranded.  Supplies were rapidly running out.

  Our cozy campsite at Zion before all hell broke loose.  Notice all the stuff that had to be put away at 1 a.m. when the ranger told us we had to evacuate,

What follows in a series of old photos taken from road trips we visited in the first few years. The pics should provide a lot of laughs.

At Arches National Park

At Capitol Reef, we think.  

At Bryce Canyon National Park

At Mount Rushmore

At Devil's Tower

Crater Lake

Campeche, MX

Admiring the electric in Campeche, MX

Howard climbs to the top of the Mayan ruins at Chichen Itsa

I however, did not make it to the top.  Too steep and scary!

Sunset cruise at Acapulco, MX

Rafting the Salmon River in Idaho with Bill and Carol

At Glacier National Park

Tunnels at Custer State Park, in South Dakota

Mount Rushmore

Hot springs by the Rio Grande, Big Bend NP

Hiking at Big Bend

The marina in Victoria,  British Columbia

Native dances in downtown Vancouver, BC

Liard River Hot Springs BC, on the road to Alaska

The London Bridge at Lake Havasu, Arizona

This is enough for now!  I will continue to work toward the present in future issues.  Many thanks to daughter, Terri, who spent a lot of time going through boxes of old photos and scanning them.

Our current location is the Elks Lodge in Port Townsend, very nice for $20 per night. We will be allowed to leave the motorhome here when we go on our cruise to Alaska on July 23rd.

Our final week in Tucson then on the road again~~~

Our month at Bar J RV park passed quickly.  All of our "fix its" got fixed. Many fine happy hours and dinners were enjoyed with Rodger and Sharon.  We even did a little sightseeing along the way.

Just south of Tucson and near the I-19 freeway to Nogales is the beautiful San Xavier Mission.  We haven't visited in years and a lot of renovation has taken place.

We did more laundry.  The washing machines are free and drying in the warm, dry (very dry) breeze makes for great smelling sheets.

We got in a couple of hikes at Tucson Mountain Park.  The views are spectacular and the cacti are pre-bloom but buds are popping out on the cholla and prickly pear.

We enjoyed many spectacular sunsets....

Today, Monday leap day, we packed up and moved on.  We are in such a quandary over an itinerary and how far east we want to go.  The whole idea is that with fuel prices so low we should plan a year of driving across country to Florida.  However the weather gets iffy the further east we go and the desert dryness is begging for a little humidity.  We've just decided to take one day at a time, reserving the right to make a U-turn whenever things aren't going our way.

A good day's drive took us from Tucson to Deming, and the Escapees Dream Catcher RV park, but just for one night. Tomorrow we hope to make it to Alpine, TX for a few days.  Need to get both vehicles inspected once we get to Texas, I need a haircut in the worse way, and there's a super restaurant we want to revisit and report on.

Current location, Alpine, TX; waiting for mail to catch up with us.  Then on to Big Bend NP!

Marina madness; Anacortes, WA

Leaving Port Townsend we took the ferry via Whidhey Island to Anacortes, WA on Fidalgo Island, part of the San Juan Islands group.

Approaching Whidbey Island through very dirty wind shield

Some visual aid

Once again we are drawn to another boating facility,  Cap Sante Marina, centrally located for easy walks to town and great walking trails. Once again, as in Port Townsend, we did no major sight-seeing as in year's past.  No ferry to San Juan Island and Friday Harbor though you can read of past visits HERE.  We just lived normally with our usual schedule, a few projects here and there, walks/runs, Farmers Markets, eating good both in local restaurants and at our little casa mobile, and visiting with friends who migrate to this part of the country during late Summer to early Fall. I should mention that although there are devastating fires burning in WA, OR, and CA we are smoke free with temps in the mid 70s to 80.  I think we had one day of light rain in both Port Townsend and Anacortes.

Though the parking facilities contain no hookups for the approx. 20 sites and are nothing fancy just grass with dividers , it's the view and town that keeps us coming back.  Here is our view at the marina.

And from an overlook above~~

Cap Sante Marina from above overlook

Oil tankers waiting to load/unload

At Washington Park

Around the town:

Murals tell the town's history

Old paddle wheeler now a museum

Psychedelic espresso

Couldn't resist this sign

You Betcha

Big ship building town

Howard enjoying an old car show

More murals

Chess play for real!

We are now behind and playing catch-up!  We currently are heading into Canada's Shuswap area to visit friends, Dan and Heather, we met last winter in Anza Borrego.  But first there was a stop in Bellingham to catch-up with our old friend, and amiga we met in Mexico many years ago.

While spending our week in Canada we won't have internet unless we're fortunate to have wifi like we have now, at the Brookside RV Park, in Cache Creek, BC.