I left Lopez Island on January 5th, it was quite a challenge to get the house winterized and pack everything into the trailer. We made it onto the 12:55 ferry and the first night stayed at the Angel of the Wings Casino near Arlington. Continued to drive south and by the 7th we arrived at Mosier OR to visit Kristen McNall. I’ve known her since she was 10 years old and I was very close to her parents, Carl and Milan. We had a great visit – with no end of things to talk about, even though we are a generation apart. It took several days to drive through Oregon and I found an RV spot in Phoenix OR (yes, that’s its name) near Talent OR where Robin and Mike Vanderford live. I know Robin from the time I worked at Pacific Telephone in San Francisco, late 70’s to early 80’s. Robin took me on a tour around Talent to view the devastation from fires in 2020. Over 2600 homes were destroyed from Ashland to Medford. Their house was spared but just across the street whole blocks were wiped out. I was watching the weather and wanted to cross the Siskiyous on I-5, but there was lots of rain, snow and wind and the pass was not open for a few days. Finally, the road was clear, even though there was plenty of snow along the roadside. I left around noon to give the temps a chance to warm up and I made it to Redding for the night.

My next goal was to stop in the Bay Area to visit old friends there. I parked at Sarah Pattison’s house in Davis and we had a lovely evening together. Others didn’t make it due to prior plans and sudden illness. Sarah’s husband Tom was there when we got back from dinner, so I got to visit with him too.

I still had a long way to go to Quartzsite AZ. My first night I stayed at the Fresno Fairgrounds. It was a magical place, made me feel like I was in Disneyland! I stayed in the central valley for the milder temps and we stayed in Barstow where I was able to do laundry. Our last stop before Q was at River Island AZ State Park near the Parker Dam. Arrived in Quartzsite on Jan. 16th and joined up with the Escapees SOLOS group. We made it in time for the rally, which started on the 17th.

The trip down was a little rough: traveled south thru rain and snow, pass closures, winds, etc. and was also dealing with RV problems: no hot water, and a few days into the trip the refrigerator stopped working, I just kept going, figured I’d deal with those things when I got to Q.

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