Back on the Road
~Wednesday, January 11, 2023~
Officially Back on the Road
Day 942 (Travel Day)
Up until 4:00 a.m. putting the finishing touches on staging my mom’s home, I cringed when that alarm went off at 7:00 a.m. Yesterday was quite the packed day between errands for Sadie, returns of things we didn’t want or need for staging and making sure my mom was in good shape before we hit the road. Just wish we had more quality time to spend together rather than being so filled with tasks. But it had to get done. I must say, these past few months, I’ve relished in longer showers (though still conserving), drinking coffee and wine from something other than a Yeti, and simply, having more space.
By 8:00 a.m. it was time to say goodbye with lots of hugs and well wishes for new beginnings in 2023. The next time we see each other, my mom will be in packing/moving mode.
After the 5-minute drive to the storage facility, it was nice to see Billie Jean again and must say it felt strange to see the inside again. This has been our home for 2-½ years and must admit that I missed it. I think Sadie felt at peace and at “home” being back in her cocoon. Maybe she thinks of the trailer as an oversized doghouse?!! Moving from place to place in homes she wasn’t familiar with gave her a little anxiety I think…something we’d never seen before.
It was nice to see everything the way we left it, though Jeff thinks we may have a small leak at the skylight over our shower. Now if you’re going to have a leak, what better place to have it, right? We still have a huge list of projects that we hoped to get done these past few months, but just didn’t have the time for. Much of it can wait until we find our new home, so it’s all good. We’ll do what we can in the interim. All we needed was a little air in the tires and putting things away properly for the drive, and we were on the road by 9:00 a.m.
The drive went pretty smooth being that we dodged the nasty weather that California’s had as of late. But, we did encounter high winds before our plans to go over The Grapevine on Highway 5. About 20 miles before, the Cal-Trans sign recommended that all trucks and trailers detour to Highway 58 east, to avoid the higher winds at the summit. Playing it safe would only add about 20 minutes to our drive…..no biggee. At least it gave us gorgeous views of the Tahachapees.
We’d never seen them so clear before. It was pretty cool that Hank turned over 80,000 miles. And he just keeps on truckin’!
We knew at this time of year with it getting dark so early, that trying to find a boondocking site at Joshua Tree at night, was not such a good idea. So after 550 miles and 12 hours of being in the car, we decided to stop in Coachella, CA for the night at a casino parking lot called Spotlight 29 Casino. At least we would have only a 4 to 5 hour drive tomorrow. It turned out to be a great decision. Well lit, taking comfort in having a slew of other RVer’s and truckers around us, it was the perfect place to hunker down for the night. 😴