The Great Adventure of 2013

Hello, again!
This blog has been on vacation for a long time, but now that it is time for us to go on "vacation" again (it's hard not to think of life itself as being a vacation when you are retired), it is time for the blog to return, all dressed up with a new look and feel.

This summer, we will be traveling through the southeast, up the east coast, and then back to the west. We no longer have the 40-foot motor home -- since we now have a shed to store things in (yes, we have already filled it), we don't need to carry everything we own. So we bought a smaller, gas-friendlier 28-foot Forest River Lexington, and are now adjusting to being kind to each other when we find ourselves trying to occupy the same space at the same time.

Our "kids" need to adjust, too -- they like to sit on the ledge of the slide, but this ceiling seems just a wee bit lower than what they have become accustomed to:

From left to right we have Maggie, Elwood, Sammy, and Jake. Yes, two of them are named after the Blues Brothers. Sammy, the other blue one, is probably jealous. He shouldn't be, though -- he is named after the extraordinary Yosemite Sam.

Jake and Sammy also like to sit on John's computer, backs to the mirror:


A couple of days ago we finished getting everything sorted, packed, and repacked, and finally left Jojoba Hills (in Southern California) for the Great Adventure of 2013. Our first night was spent in Yuma, where the dust and heat are annoying, but the sunsets and palms are beautiful:


For those familiar with I-8 near the California-Arizona border, you may be surprised to find out that the Border Patrol Check Points have been closed, and the stations are being dismantled. Border security continues, however -- "The Wall" hugs close to the highway here, and there is construction of what I think is a vehicle barrier. It is mile after mile of small, white, bike-rack-like barriers with a chain connecting them.




The desert in this part of the southwest is beautiful. It is nice to see lots of saguaros, cholla, and ocotillo again -- desert vegetation that, with the exception of a few ocotillo, is absent from Jojoba Hills. Before we left, I began taking an art class from the formidable Ilene Van Gossen. I committed to doing a sketch a day for 100 days, and I am currently at day 65. Here is one I did of the desert and its vegetation:


Now we are off to shop for the long list of things we forgot to bring, or didn't know we needed, or didn't re-check the list and just plain forgot to grab during the final, hectic packing moments. Some things never change!