Last day of our trip

Today we'll be driving home.  We're about 5 hours' drive away from Montpelier, in Hungry Mother State Park.  We've spent the past two nights here, and it's been wonderful.  Yesterday the skies finally cleared, and it was sunny and cool.  We took a 5.7 mile hike around the lake, which wore Ranger out.  Because campground B was totally booked for the weekend, we had to move to Camp Burson for the second night, and it was---if anything---even nicer than the first night. 

On the early morning walk with Ranger, I saw indigo buntings and Baltimore orioles.

Lots of unpacking and cleaning ahead, but for now, I'm going to enjoy a second cup of coffee in this beautiful place.

A campfire at last

We're back in Virginia, though not yet home. Instead, we're spending a few days in the mountains, enjoying the cool temperatures and-----finally-----lack of rain.  After 7 weeks traveling, last night was our first campfire.  There have always been burn bans (because of drought) or high temps (making a fire rather unwanted) or no fire-ring or no firewood.  So here at Hungry Mother State Park, we made our first fire, and we sat outside late enjoying it.

We'll do some hiking today, then move to another section of the park for overnight. (All the sites here in campground B were reserved for the weekend.)  Then it's home.....and lots of unpacking and cleaning up to do!

Rain----A bit of drying----and more rain

Since leaving Tim's, we seem to have been tracking along with a weather system with lots of heavy clouds and rain.  We went through some strong storms from Illinois, through Kentucky, and into Tennessee.  So we decided to wait it out for a day, staying put and hoping the rain moves through ahead of us.  Today was spent at Cedars of Lebanon State Park, east of Nashville.  With steady rain all morning, we caught up on some work, reading, and bill-paying.  We were able to get out for awhile in early afternoon, walking around the park a bit, including a short hiking path where this photo was taken.  All here is very green and lush----they've had a LOT of rain this spring.  Dan had time to grill our dinner early, in advance of the next round of rain which has just let up a little.  Tomorrow we'll head east again, probably with a stop in the western part of Virginia for the night.

Back East again

We crossed the full-to-the-brim Mississippi River this afternoon near Quincy, Illinois, so we are officially back in the East..  I've been away from the computer for much of the weekend, while we visited (brother-in-law) Tim and Pam in Marion, IA.

After having the RV serviced in Forest City, IA, we visited Pilot Knob State Park, about 3 miles east of town, and returned to Forest City on Friday morning to take the tour of the Winnebago factory.

It was really quite interesting to watch all those RV's being made, including all those lovely Itasca Navions!  I left there convinced that we had made a good choice with ours.

The drive to Tim's took much of Friday afternoon, and we spent the next three nights in his driveway.  Kak drove down from Madison and Erin came from River Falls, so we had a great family gathering, fueled with lots of good food. (THANKS, PAM!!)  It's hard to believe how fast all the little ones are growing, especially Reiley who is distinguishing herself with her performances in archery competitions.  Erin was kind enough to give several of us much-needed haircuts.

We awoke on Monday to thunder and steady rain. We considered options, including simply heading home directly, but decided to go with the plan to head into Kentucky and Tennessee.  So far, it's working out;.  Although we went through heavy cloud cover in Iowa, it became less and less intense as we neared St. Louis, and there wasn't any actual rain all day.  At this point, we're just taking it a day at a time.  It's really no fun to camp out in the rain, so if the weather does not cooperate, we'll head for VA.  If it's good, we should be home next Sunday or Monday. 

Hanging out with all the other Winnebagos/Itascas

We're "camping" this evening in the parking lot of Lichtsinn's RV sales and service in Forest City, Iowa.  We're the little guy in the foreground of the photo.  We're scheduled for the 10K routine maintenance at 7:30 tomorrow morning, plus they'll install a back-up camera. 

If they finish early enough tomorrow, we may take the tour at the Winnebago factory, where our little RV was "born".  Then it's off to visit Tim in Marion, IA.  Iowa is green and lush after all that time in the desert, but welcome back mosquitoes and flies!

Iowa

In the past few days we have gone from the red dust of New Mexico to the mountains of Colorado, across the seemingly endless grass of Nebraska----and now we're in Iowa.  Specifically we're at Prairie Rose State Park in the western part of the state.  We thought we'd lose the wind which was so prevalent in the desert, but we woke up this morning to....more wind!  Still it's nice to see green grass again.  Today we head for Forest City, IA, where the RV will have its first maintenance and will have a back-up camera installed.

Out of the red rocks and dust, into Colorado

After a drive through northern New Mexico, flat and windy (and literally "where the deer and the antelope play"), we landed in Colorado Springs at Cheyenne Mountain State Park.  How refreshing to see real clouds in a blue sky (not just the overcast of wildfire smoke) and green trees and grass!  The campground is brand new and wonderfully planned out, but.......no dogs allowed on any trails!  Poor Ranger.  We're here only overnight, however, and will be moving on to Nebraska today. 

Santa Fe! I love it!

For a number of reasons, we decided to forfeit our second night (reserved) at Cochiti Lake and we went on to Santa Fe, which is one of my favorite cities.  We toured (with Ranger, who behaved admirably) and then had a great lunch (chiles rellenos).  We're spending the night at the Santa Fe KOA, which is one of the dirtiest KOA's we've seen----not in the sense of the facilities themselves, but there is red dust everywhere.  No one could believe that Ranger was once a white dog.  We've laid Mexican blankets over the carpets and outside the door in hopes of keeping some of it out of the RV.  Meanwhile, it's cooling off nicely and we'll get a good night's sleep before heading into Colorado.

Last night's sleep was interrupted at 2 am by a windstorm that caused us to bring in the slide and close everything up while we huddled in our bed and tried to get back to sleep in the uproar. 

Swallows, swifts, and SMOKE!

We crossed from Arizona into New Mexico along I-40, with the Wallows wildfire to our south.  Beyond the spectacular views of cliffs and buttes, there was a haze of smoke.  Our campsite at Bluewater Lake State Park, west of Gallop, was not affected by the fire, but in the evening, there was quite an overcast which gave the sunset a weird color. 

Today we passed through Albuquerque and have stopped at Conchiti Lake, which has a campground run by US Army Corps of Engineers.  We had hoped to hike tomorrow at Tent Rocks National Monument, but they have imposed a ban on dogs in the park, so that's out.  Instead, we'll head for a day in Santa Fe (not too shabby!) and an overnight just east of the city.

Arizona again

The drive from Needles to our next stop was one of contrasts.  From the flat dry desert in SE California, we continued through desert, but with increasingly striking rock formations and increasing elevation.  By Flagstaff, the high elevation resulted in grass and trees----GREEN!---and cool temperatures.  Nice if we could have stayed there, but......We continued on, traveling south through Sedona.  There's a great drop-off in elevation on the way into town, and we stopped at a vista point to have lunch and take a break.  Sedona itself is beautiful, nice shops and fancy resorts surrounded by red rock formations.  Continuing south, we stopped at Dead Horse Ranch State Park, which brought us back into desert, but with rolling hills.  Our site is out in the open, dry with desert-type plants, but we took a hike this morning that took us along the Verde River where there were cottonwood trees and much-appreciated shade. 

Crossing the Mojave

Yesterday we crossed California, heading east along I-40 from Barstow (a town that seems to lack charm totally and has the worst Walmart I have ever seen).  Much of the afternoon was spent crossing the desert, making for a long trip with little to look at.  We stopped for the night in Needles, along the Colorado River, very near the Arizona state line.  The KOA was all gravel, but had some landscaping that provided privacy, and I enjoyed their pool on the hot afternoon.  We had dinner with a couple from Quebec who had travelled down the US East Coast, then across the southwest, and are heading for the Pacific coast.  Sylvie insisted that she spoke little English, but we managed to have a good conversation anyway!

Visit in San Jose

We spent the weekend in San Jose, visiting Mike and Joanne Dorgan.  It was a good visit, despite the incessant rain---very unusual at this time of year.  We enjoyed a delicious meal at a Vietnamese restaurant on Saturday night and stocked up on veggies at the San Jose farmers' market on Sunday. 

Ranger behaved quite well during the visit and especially enjoyed running free in the fenced backyard.  He settled nicely into their kitchen on the rainy day and he found Joanne quite amusing, with her squeals and dog play.

On our way to the desert again----spending the night in Bakersfield, CA, heading for Needles.  We enjoyed grilled chicken  with Joanne's special marinade this evening----THANKS, Joanne!

LA and northward

How does anyone deal with the traffic and freeways of Los Angeles on an everyday basis?  Dan was able to get us through on Thursday, though it was not pleasant!  From LA, we headed up 101, following the coast and being treated to beautiful views of the Pacific.  We stopped for the night in San Luis Obispo.

This regional park (El Chorro) had an off-leash dog area and hiking trails, so we spent time yesterday exploring before heading north to visit Mike Dorgan in San Jose.  Strangely enough for this time of year, it has been raining steadily here, but we slept well with the sound of raindrops on the RV roof.