Back in So Cal; Fun with family; Harvest Hosts continue to impress; The Grand Canyon is Grand; Charlie loves the snow; and shoveling snow takes on a whole new meaning when one does it on the roof of a motor home that is icy and VERY slippery!
This past week was officially the end of the first leg of Coach Addy’s Big Adventure. And what a time we have had! Over 4000 miles traveled and Coach Addy has been solid as a rock, without any issues (that were not user error) and has been the perfect vessel for our travels. Leg 1 of the trip was really about testing everything out and learning all that we could, so that when we venture out for Leg 2 and we get farther from home, we are better prepared. And wow, have we learned a lot! More about that later…let’s talk about the week.
We started the week by saying goodby to Phoenix, our home for the past 5 weeks and traveling to the Grand Canyon. What a beautiful ride into the Canyon, it had recently snowed, so there was a dusting of fresh powder everywhere you looked. We stayed inside the park and had a beautiful and large campsite. A bit too cold to actually sit outside, but beautiful nonetheless. We enjoyed drinks in the El Tovar Hotel lounge and a meal in the beautiful restaurant at the lodge. We even bought this nice lady a drink for her 62nd birthday. I felt badly that she was alone on her birthday., but she didn’t seem to mind. She had traveled alone from Prescott, AZ to purchase her lifetime senior pass for the National Parks. Yes, I will be purchasing this pass in June!
We enjoyed a beautiful sunset over the canyon, watching it snow about 6 inches and discovered that Charlie loved the snow. Check him out making his version of snow angels!
We were fortunate to see an elk in our campsite and I had the unfortunate job of climbing up on top of Coach Addie to shovel snow off of the slides, as they would not retract for our departure. Yes, we are on an adventure!
Not sure I want to repeat my performance on top of the coach, but I was pretty proud of myself when I finished.
We left the Grand Canyon on Friday and began making our way back to Southern California. We stayed at two awesome Harvest Hosts: The Desert Diamond Distillery in the famous Route 66 town of Kingman, AZ and The Slash X Ranch in Barstow. We met the nicest young couple, Jamie and Dave in the bar at Slash X Ranch. They drive in what I think is a renovated ambulance and are full time RVers, working remotely from the road. We so enjoyed hearing about their travels, experiences with Harvest Hosts and their future plans. Peder was making bread the next morning, so he made an extra loaf and we delivered it to them along with some butter from the Licon Dairy (a past Harvest Host stay). We headed over to the Slash X restaurant for a Giddy Up breakfast and when we returned to the Coach, Jamie and Dave had left us a lovely note and a jar of Lavender Rosemary Sea Salt from the Steel City Salt Company. Like I said, people are good!
We arrived at Bonelli Bluffs (an RV Park close to Glendora where my dad lives) on Saturday and it was sunny!! We actually were able to sit outside and even pulled out the BBQ! My dad and his girlfriend, along with my daughter, Jamie and her husband joined us for dinner-it’s nice to be back with family. Highlight of the night: playing Mexican Train Dominoes with Jamie and Brent, drinking a bottle of Peder’s 2015 Merlot and one of the last bottles of Peder’s Port. Thank you Jamie for finding these lost treasures in your cupboard and bringing them to share with us! What a treat! Cheers!
We leave tomorrow and will spend the next 3 weeks in the San Diego area: a week at William Heise park, a long weekend at Guajome State Park and even a few days at Herons’ House.
As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, the last 3 months have been incredible! I am so glad that we are seizing this moment in time and that we made the decision to go on this crazy adventure. Peder and I can’t believe all that we have done already and are so excited to see what Leg 2 will bring us!
LEG 1 Lessons Learned:
We have learned:
that we are very resilient and pretty good problem solvers: Lest we forget about the week that we lost the ability to connect the coach to shore power and we had to get VERY creative on ways to manage our electricity. My favorite “solution” was when we realized that we could run an extension cord from the pedestal through the bedroom window to get electricity to our refrigerator/freezer (which is one of the most important things to power). I say one of the most important, because if you know me, THE most important appliance is my hair dryer. So….this extension cord solution was a game changer for me, unplug the refrigerator and plug in the hair dryer! Momma was once again a happy camper!
that one doesn’t need as much stuff as you think you do. Simplicity and less is more is something that I hope I incorporate into my real life when this adventure is over.
that you need to take advantage of all that a place to offer. Be an active participant wherever you are-enjoy the local cuisine, the music, the tourist attractions, and talk to the local people.
that everywhere we go, people are good! This country is filled with hard working, kind hearted people who are just trying to live their best life. I think my favorite part of the trip, has by far been meeting so many wonderful people!
that we actually enjoy each other’s company and we don’t get on each other’s nerves like we thought might happen. In fact, we are thriving as a couple and have way more time and energy to focus on each other. We’ve settled into a nice routine and we are so grateful that we are able to enjoy this once in a lifetime adventure together.
LEG 1 Bummers
The weather! Rain, snow, ice, wind and not much sunshine! A big part of RVing is sitting outside your rig, enjoying the area and visiting with people as they walk by…that doesn’t get to happen in poor weather. I will definitely be looking forward to Spring and Summer weather!
Charlie getting attacked by the big dog in Phoenix!
Internet connectivity challenges. We seem to have overcome this challenge, but it is frustrating when your connection is slow or you aren’t even able to connect.
Not being able to see my family and friends as often as I am accustomed to. I am so glad that I knew myself well enough to know that I would need to “pop back home” every 6-8 weeks or so. Those trips back home keep me from getting homesick and also make it easier to be away for weeks at a time, as I know in just a few weeks I’ll be able to reconnect with everyone…and yes, get my hair cut and colored!
LEG 1 Highlights
Leaving Joshua Tree and heading to Texas-The adventure begins!
Moochdocking at Butch and Betina’s new house
The Texas Ice Storm
The Elk at The Grand Canyon
The Rodeo
Nascar Baby!
Padres and seeing the various Spring Training games and baseball stadiums
Taliesin West
Barleens’s Dinner and Variety Show
Harvest Host locations-especially the Licon Dairy
National Parks; White Sands was breathtaking
Food and Music everywhere we went, but especially in Texas
Changing our blocks to reflect our new location and/or event
Family and friends visiting us along the way
All of the great people that we have encountered everywhere we go
And so much more…I could go on and on…I am so glad that I have been keeping this blog as it is a great way to capture these memories.
I can't wait for the 2nd Leg of Coach Addy's big adventure to begin! We are heading East and North! So many National Parks, a train ride, and time with friends and family along the way. Life On the Great Open Road is so much more than I anticipated. As Peder says, I don't know what comes next, but I know it will be amazing!
I love the pictures! Reading your posts and following your adventure has Become my new favorite past time. We all miss you both!