December End

December

It’s a Wrap

Started out December still in Desert Hot Springs and had plans to move over to the coast (Ricon) until California shut down and our reservations were cancelled. Good thing we were already established in the Catalina RV and Hot Spring resort because if you weren’t already in a place you can’t get in.  Made good use of our stay here as there were a lot of good hiking and we met Bob and Tamera for 6 feet apart cocktails. Right after Thanksgiving we noticed that RV’s started to decorate for Christmas. On nightly walks more and more rigs were lite up, so of course I had to put a wreath on Wanda!

Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean Beach

We did it…went from the Atlantic Coast to the Pacific Coast this year. If you look closely, we could not have picked a colder day to go to the ocean, but we were determined to get there no matter.

PCT

Pacific Coast Trail

Another milestone was hit as one of the hikes was also on the Pacific Coast Trail. That means we have also hiked the Appalachia (AT) and the Pacific Coast (PCT) Trails. So, pats on our backs!!!

The best laid plans never materialize – just rambling here…

Time for us to start to make the move homeward and we decided to head for Texas with stops along the way. Thought was to get to Texas, then leave Wanda in storage while we headed up to Colorado till February then return and pick up the 2021 Adventure. The best laid plans never materialize.

First stop was an overnighter, turning into most of the next day, at Dome BLM Recreational, Quartzite AZ (December 7-8). Found the perfect spot in the early afternoon of 12/7 and set up camp. Noticed that one of the legs on the landing gear (front leg that stabilize and hold up front end) didn’t want to retract. No problem as we jimmied it down, thinking it was just stuck with sand. Had a nice night, with a fire and great pizza from Silly Ales and the night had a warm breeze. Lots of stars and it was DARK. Got up, leisured around and went about packing up to move again and WHAT????? Flat Tire! Really flat, flat, flat.

OK, call AAA and wait 3 hours for tow truck (sign on truck said TOE Truck – wondered if it was a mistake or just clever). That done, ready to hit road, but the landing gear won’t go up. Takes us another hour to get it high enough so we can move on.

Flat

I can’t believe that I didn’t take pictures of Cindy/Harry and Judi/Ken. Sorry folks, you will have to take my word for it that both looked TERRIFIC

Met Up with Anthem Neighbors who moved on…and they look great!

Cindy and Harry

Cindy and Harry are Anthem friends who lived down the block on Somerset. They too were one of the 1^st to move into Anthem way back when. They since have moved several times but we still keep in touch. Since we are in Phoenix for a while, we saw them a couple of times – which is never enough.

Judi and Ken

Another Anthem friends who up and moved to Wickenburg – a good ole cowboy town (per Ken) and when we drove thru it, that is exactly what it looked like. While we were at Cindy and Harry’s they came over for a spell. Both are golfing a lot, and love Wickenburg as it fits their needs for now (according to Judi).

Burro in camp More Burros West Coast sunset

Last Week of the Adventure

Finally pull into Lake Pleasant Regional Park AZ late in the afternoon and have to go thru the same jimmy process to get the leg down in order to disconnect from truck. Next day we called around for RV repair, get a hold of a place who (thru Facetime) walks us through what the problem may be and how to fix. Easy peasy – as a bolt has broken off and all we have to do is get another bolt, replace and should be good to go. Not so fast!! As we inspect farther, turns out the bolt broke off and half of it is still in slot, we can’t get it out. Call back to RV repair and they will come out Monday which they did and it was a ½ hour to drill out the bolt piece and get Wanda all fixed up.

Time has run out on us to head for Texas, weather is great here, lots to do so we decide to chuck Texas and stay in the Phoenix area. Lots to hike and some very interesting sights to see in the Phoenix area including Burros right in the campground (again) and usually saw one on every hike

Time to Go Home

Wanda Stored in Phoenix

We stayed at Lake Pleasant Regional Park until the 17^th of December. Found a spot in Phoenix to store Wanda, got ‘er all packed up and tucked away until we return. Hit the road late and only got to Flagstaff where we found a room at Little America Hotel (what a place!). Then on Friday drove 12 hours and 700 plus miles back to Boulder. Hit a lot of snow along I70 and of course it was dark. I was a nervous wreck and ate about 3 Tumms. Pulled in around 8 and it felt good to be home. Amy has the house decorated for Christmas so nicely that it felt like a Hallmark Moment.

2020 – It’s a Wrap

We have:

• Traveled coast to coast and swam (or dipped a toe) in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
• Been within 5 miles of both the northern and southern borders
• Changed the oil in the truck 4 times
• Had 2 tire blow outs on Wanda
• Had 1 flat tire on Wanda
• Replaced faulty switch that lifts the nose of Wanda up and down (actually I think we wore the switch out because we just can’t figure out up and down)
• Repaired the landing gear (legs on front of Wanda that hold nose up) because bolt broke
• Ran over 2 sets of chalks (these are put in front and back of wheels to keep Wanda from rolling when parked). I forgot to remove them when we started to move from site.
• Left water pressure gauge at a campground
• Left our pooper hose connector in drain and pulled out of campsite – thank goodness it was not connected to Wanda and waste tank was closed.
• Watched more stuff fly out of our truck bed when rolling down the road – guess we really didn’t need it.
• Crushed one of the safety triangles that we put out when we had a blow-out. Actually, someone came too close to Wanda and ran over it.
• Ty didn’t go to hospital once this year – no stitches required although he bumped his head at least once a week.
• Stayed in 47 campgrounds
• Dry camped 3 times
• Tent camped once and never again
• Walmart camped only 3 times
• Stayed overnight at CrackerBarrel once
• 6 or so nights in truck stops – lost count.
• Saw at least 6 black bears, one was momma with 3 cubs, maybe a bobcat sighting but we were not sure
• Countless Eagles flew over, saw Roadrunners, which really do seem to only run across the road, Quails all in a row, a skunk that liked it under Wanda
• Attack by hummingbirds in AZ when Ty was doing something outside underneath feeder. Those little creatures are ferocious and protect their food source.
• Watched so many episodes of GRIT that have even watched reruns of the reruns.
• Listened to 31 audiobooks while driving. Got caught up in the Spencer Quinn’s Chet the Dog series – humorous and easy listening. Educated by Tara Westover was our number 1; we talked about it for days.
• Visited Elkhart IN 4 times for same repair to Wanda – not going any further into it than that.
• Drove by state capitals of the states we were in since they are closed for visits due to covid. New York was by far the most impressive and New Hampshire the plainest.
• Hiked portions of the Appalachia and Pacific Rim Trails
• Met up with a lot of friends some before the covid disaster and some after so mask were in order.
• Watched a very large mouse or rat? Run thru the camper when putting out slides. That creature was hiding under one of slides and when the other one started to retract, that thing ran so fast and probably jumped out the hole before it sealed up. Never saw it again.
• Vacationed with family in Michigan which I think is the highlight of whole year.
• Silver Cholla (Cylindropuntia echinocarpa) or as we like to call it the Teddy Bear we voted our favorite cactus

We can honestly say that we have made lemonade out of the 2020 covid lemon year and it turned out to be another Great Adventure!

We wonder where 2021 will take us as we are not done yet and we hope you will journey on with us.

This is Us 2020 Favorite sighting teddy bear