California, Here We Are!!

We have arrived.  One of our main goals was to visit our children and especially our new granddaughter in California.  We finally arrived at Andrew's house in California on Monday of last week and were able to meet our beautiful new granddaughter, Luna.

We left Oklahoma City on Saturday, September 2, thus starting our slow dash across country.  When we started this journey we planned to drive about 300 miles per day.  As we got into the trip, Lynn began rebelling against sitting more than 5 to 6 hours per day when we were on the road.  (Truth be known, I didn't really like driving more than 5 or 6 hours either.)  So, we adjusted our goals and started planning on making 225-250 miles per day.  Because we were going along Interstate 40, we actually moved along pretty well and were able to stop by 2:00 to 3:00 pm each day.  This gave  us a chance to rest u\p a little at the end of each day.

One aspect of this part of our trip is that we were roughly following Route 66 which was the major route between Chicago and Los Angeles before the interstate highway system was built.  Now, in this area it is referred to as "Historic Route 66."  This was of particular interest to me because I grew up on Route 66 in Oklahoma.

The first night of our "dash" we stopped in Amarillo, Texas.  Here, we found the local mall which housed a cheapy cinema, which gave us a chance for a "Saturday Night Date".  You all know that I'm pretty thrifty so I was delighted to give Lynn dinner and a movie for a very small amount.  (Hotdogs at Sonic in the food court and the cheapy movie.  "Big spender.")

We moved on to Santa Rosa, New Mexico the next day.  Nothing memorable here except that it was the middle of the Labor Day weekend and traffic was pretty light.  Next stop was in Gallup, New Mexico.  We had originally planned to spend at least 2 nights at each stop but that went out the window when we realized how long it would take us to get to California.  After two one night stops we did stay 2 nights in Gallup.  This gave us a chance to explore the area a little.  While we were in the desert there is much beauty to be found there. God's creation never ceases to provide us with surprising wonders.

Seligman, Arizona was  our next stop, followed by Newberry Springs, California, and Tulare, California.  Seligman is allegedly the inspiration for the deserted little town in the movie "Cars."  During our stops on the desert we usually had little if any TV reception (no cable service) and little to see or do, so it felt good to get back into civilization at Tulare. We found a CVS and got our prescriptions up to date and a Wal Mart and did some grocery shopping.

On to Stockton, California, where we were surprised with our RV park in a rather up-scale location.  (It also had a sub-station of the sherriff's office right behind our parking spot.  Made us feel very secure.)  Again, we went looking for the local mall and found two malls, side by side.  We had a good walk in each, then enjoyed another cheap Saturday date (no movie this week.)

We have been picking our RV parks by location.  When we got close to Willits, California, we were still in the coastal hills, on Route 101, with nothing else around and our GPS was telling us we had arrived at our chosen location.  We made the turn off the highway and wound down this twisty, switch-back road for a mile and half and arrived at a really pleasant little valley.  The only problem was that we had absolutely no cell phone service and no TV.  We could do without the TV but since we planned to arrive at Andrew's the next day, we had to drive into Willits where we could get cell phone service.  I didn't tell Lynn but when I stepped into the laundry to check it out I saw a notice on the bulletin board to look out for rattlesnakes.  Had I told her, we probably would have been out of there in a flash.  Didn't see any though, so all was well.

Finally the big day was here.  We arrived at Andrew's house in McKinleyville, California after lunch and were greeted by Marjo, our daughter-in-law and our new granddaughter, Luna.  Andrew returned shortly after we arrived with our other granddaughter, Celsiana, who is nine years old now.  Andrew looked great and we couldn't believe how Celsiana had grown since we last saw her about a year ago.  Of course Luna is a beautiful baby and is always smiling and never cries.

We parked at Andrew's for a couple of days before finding a semi-permanent parking spot at a RV park in Trinidad, California, about 15 miles from McKinleyville.  It is close to the ocean and the little town is absolutely beautiful.  We are looking forward to begin exploring the area over the next few months.  We plan to be here until after Christmas, then on to Arizona for the remainder of the winter.

Our "dash" has ended and now we can rest for a while before continuing our journey.  We are looking forward to participating in the local Methodist church and possibly searching for places where we can volunteer our services and get to know this area better.

Don't forget to look at the pictures I've added.

That's it for now.