WRITTEN January 2, 2022

(** BETA VERSION! This is our first post, so apologies in advance if things aren’t perfect! We’re learning… a LOT! **)

We left Chico and have been on the road since Dec 25 (we got a ROAD TRIP for Christmas!). On our way to 70 degree weather (more on that shortly!), we staged our trip to include Harvest Host guest stays, mini-reunions and visits with old friends, only resorting to RV parks when the weather forced us to seek refuge!

Taking Hwy 99 south, we spent our first night out at Harvest Host The Links at Riverlands Golf Course on Dec 25 and had a mini but traditional Christmas dinner including a Costco roast chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans and cranberries (two kinds!), followed by Pumpkin and Pecan Pie with whipped cream! It was chilly out but we stayed cozy with the help of our Mr Buddy propane heater.

We got to stay at our FAVORITE boondocking spot, at Chapel Hill in Palm Desert with Buford Crites, and enjoyed some quality time with Connor Limont and Jason Logan, Dec 27-29. While there, we got our COVID boosters (Pfizer, in case you’re wondering, and Janine had a pretty good reaction this time around, but Mike sailed on through with just a sore arm for a day), huge thanks to Connor for helping make that happen! We also got in a few bike rides, which was great since we hadn’t been riding much in the wind-up to getting on the road, and it is always fun to ride with Jason! …and then there was all that PIE to digest! Did I mention it was pretty cold in Palm Desert? Like 67 high and 42 low… giving us a chance to practice our boondock skills. Oh, and there was some night-time rain, wind and daytime fog/overcast. Felt a lot like Chico in December!

From Palm Desert it was just a short hop on the 10 east to Scottsdale for an impromptu visit with Bob and Ann Stenz, where we got to pack our overnight bags (and the cats) and stay in a real house (actually Bob’s parent’s house that they now own) in Scottsdale AZ, from Dec 29-31. We didn’t waste any time, heading out immediately on the 29th on a road bike tour of all Bob’s old haunts from elementary school through college, ending in the dark (we brought lights) in Old Town Scottsdale. We had a great meal at the Scottsdale standard, Los Olivos Mexican Patio and after a margarita, we were OUT! On the 30th they took us out to McDowell Mountain Regional Park for some really fun, not technical, mostly singletrack riding on gravel and hardtail bikes. This time we finished just at dark, due to a flat tire issue on Janine’s part. Then we ate a LOT of hot dogs from Portillo’s (Bob’s fave)… which was better than you might think! Just an awesome day! The sun came out here and there, but again, cooler and mostly overcast. Made for some dramatic photos, though!

We got up at the crack of dawn on New Year’s Eve and headed further east on 10 toward old friends Kathleen and Mitch Clinton (who we haven’t seen in literally 10 years), near Silver City NM with a bit of trepidation as the forecast was getting a bit grim. Since they live at about 5800 ft elevation, a few miles down a dirt road (with seasonal water crossings!) with a narrow, rough driveway, it was a no-brainer to book our first night at an RV Park, Mountain Spirits RV Park in Mimbres, NM, just 15 minutes drive from their house.

We arrived late (but still in daylight!) due to some unexpected trouble with the trailer – the bearings on one of the four wheels had worked loose and Mike noticed it was getting a wobble. On New Year’s Eve. At 1pm! We found a truck and RV repair place in the next town, they were working on it in 15 minutes, and we were back on the road in less than an hour!!! INCREDIBLE! We still have some additional work to do on it long-term, but we are roadworthy for the time being… more on that later. From the AZ/NM border, we headed northeast on “Blue Highways” (smaller roads worth exploring!) to Silver City and beyond, to our destination. Again, cold, wet and windy! Another theme for the trip? Let’s hope not!

We enjoyed a delightful dinner (New Mexican Pork Stew (Hey Mitch, do you give out recipes??) and salad that Mitch made, and Kathleen’s award-winning – for reals! Pumpkin Pie! We contributed whipped cream and enthusiasm…!) and appropriately low-key NYC New Years’ celebration with Kathleen and Mitch. Kathleen and Janine had margaritas (Hmmm, this could become a theme…!?) and Mike and Mitch did some scotch whiskey tasting (both agreed that Oban was the winner!). During dinner (and after just hearing about the fires in Louisville CO…), we were all shocked to experience a thunder and lightning storm, up close and personal, with hail, sleet and rain… oh MY!

The weather stayed mostly above freezing and we made it back to our RV Park safe and sound if a bit damp and cold. The temerature outside hovered around freezing, the rain came and went all night, and the wind surprised us regularly with big gusts. The trailer was a rockin’ but it wasn’t us!!!

New Years’ Day morning, the temperatures started to drop and the rain started turning to sleet, so we gulped down some coffee, turned tail and headed down (from 5800 ft!) out of the storm, and back to I10 for one last ‘segment’ before heading south on more Blue Highways toward Big Bend National Park in TX. Any hope of our plan to boondock at the Marfa Lights Viewing Area (yes, it’s a thing!) were dashed by forecast lows of 11 degrees, way beyond our boondock limits. We had some thoughts of just plowing on through south to Big Bend but those were quickly abandoned with a wind advisory for all central-south NM and far-west TX (basically our whole route). What to do? We quickly revised plans and found another RV park in Van Horn TX, our ‘jumping-off’ spot from I10, and managed to survive the crazy wind gusts for about 3 hours, with a couple stops to ‘batten down the hatches’ on the trailer and prevent some of the side panels from ripping off!

Today, January 2, we had a delightfully uneventful, sunny, not windy drive from Van Horn TX to Terlingua TX, right at the gateway to Big Bend. We stopped for some quick shopping at the Prada Storefront (just kidding, it’s ART!) in Marfa, saw a blimp en-route, and did some actual grocery shopping in the town of Alpine. Since it looked like one more night of sub-32 degree weather, we got another RV Park night at BJ’s RV Park in Terlingua – Electricity! Heat! Water! Dump Station! SHOWERS!!! Oh, the delight. And tomorrow… we head out into Big Bend territory! Not sure if we will have internet again before next Saturday. Stay tuned!