I left Lopez on January 3rd. Headed straight down I-5 into Oregon. Stopped in Roseburg and noticed that my sewer hose was dangling, so I tied it up and found an RV place who did a quick repair (but in reality it failed again in 5 weeks – more details later). Met up with Patricia, an RV friend, at Valley of the Rogue State Park. We planned to cross the Siskiyou Pass on the 6th, and it was a breeze – road was clear, no ice or snow, no winds. We were across it by noon. I kept on going toward San Francisco and the next day I met up with Sarah and Tom in Davis for lunch, then had dinner with Carol and John in Oakland. After that I headed down the CA central valley to Bakersfield, then east through Barstow to Needles. I’ve stayed at the KOA in Needles before to prep for several weeks in the desert (emptied holding tanks, filled fresh water, did laundry, shopped for groceries, etc.). I was also able to get a mobile repair guy to come out and replace my power jack which had died several days before.

January 14th, I headed south into AZ. I stopped in Parker AZ to visit with Linda and Duane from Lopez, and arrived in Quartzsite in the afternoon. Got set up and visited with RV friends. The group I gathered with is Escapees Solos – RVers who travel solo – and I’ve been a member since 2016. It’s a great group of people from all over the US and Canada. The rally started on Friday, the 16th and went thru Friday the 24th. There is a lot of activity in Quartzsite every January – the Big Tent RV show, rocks and gems, lots of art and creations for sale. They say 500,000 or more RV’s come to Quartzsite every year! The rally plans some outings and dinners and experts who talk about RVs and RVing.