January in California

We left Camp David on Tuesday, January 5. The temperature was 6C. People were dressed in coats, hats and mittens. It’s difficult to be happy about such temperatures but at least we weren’t shovelling it. After about 4 hours we stopped in Tallahassee, the capital of Florida. After we ate we went to a WalMart to pick up important supplies(red licorice). It was filled with young people buying everything in sight. I felt like(and probably was) the oldest person in the store(except for Richard!). The cashier told me this was the first day of the inter term at two colleges in the area. The eye candy was spectacular if you like twinks.
After staying the night at a lovely truck stop, we set out from Tallahassee early the next morning. The temperature was -8C. I applied extra sunsceen to prevent frost bite.
Today is Friday,Jan8. We have been travelling since Tuesday. We passed thru Mississippi, Louisiana and into Texas. The temperatures have been low. It has been as low as -6C. We ended up staying at campgrounds so we would be warm, and it would also be more comfortable for the dogs. I was amazed by the length of the bridges(low) we drove over in Louisiana and Texas (bayou country). Houston is a large city. We seemed to be driving thru if for at least at hour on a four or five lane highway(one way).
We spend Thursday night in Schulenburg. We had a hot meal at Frank’s Restaurant (80 years in business). That night the campground shut off the water at 8 pm to stop the water from freezing overnight.
We drove out of the flat areas of Texas into hillier terrain. The roads go through beautiful rock formations and cacti line part of the roadway. The speed limit is 80 mph or 125 km.****(Alert... we just drove through a patch of road that had snow along the roadside, not a lot, but its white and the temperature is -1C at one pm).
In New Mexico we stopped and stayed the night at Las Cruses. It is a beautiful city rimmed by mountains on the north-west. We travelled on to Arizona the next day.
The first thing we encountered was the beauty of the mountains in Az. Desert surrounded by mountain after mountain. Route 80 to Douglas was a lonely road thru the desert and the border patrol was in evidence everywhere, from trucks, vans and on horseback. We almost ended up in Mexico but turned off just in time at Walmart row...
That afternoon we registered at David’s Oasis for the week. We were the only travellers there. There were fulltimers or longtimers there. The place was dead. The pool was closed but their spa was still operating even though it was winter. We were very disillusioned at first and felt mislead by the ads for David’s Oasis. One pull shower and two bathrooms didn’t seem enough for such a campground. The next day we visited Old Bisbee, a former copper mining town, hippy colony and now tourist town build into the mountain. It was enchanting. Everyone should visit Bisbee sometime in their lifetime. We also visited Whitewater Wash Wildlife Refuge. We witnessed the flight and landing of thousands of gray cranes. The sky darkened as they arrived and their beautiful flight patterns kept us amazed for one or two hours. This is another Az. must see!
After six days we packed up and travelled towards the Az. border. That night we stayed in a RV park outside of Yuma.
Early the next day we crossed the border to California. Within the first half hour we passed through the most beautiful sand dunes I have ever seen. They were spectacular. We motored on to Desert Hot Springs.
We visited Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage and Cathedral City. This desert area is surrounded by beautiful mountains and hundreds of wind turbines. The area received 3-4 inches of rain, while we were there, surpassing the regular less than an inch yearly rainfall. Roads flooded in the area and sand blocked the local highways. It was interesting to watch plows push the wet sand off the roadways...BUT it wasn’t snow that had to be shovelled!!!
On Sunday we motored to San Capistrano to visited Richard’s friends Dan and Melinda and their four (rescued) standard poodles. After brunch we drove on the Pacific Coast Highway to Laguna Beach and walked the boardwalk along the ocean.
We went on the Palm Springs aerial tramway on Monday, Jan 25, up the Jacico mountain range. It was a spectacular view, sandy desert, desert cities, mountains and wind turbines turning in the wind.
After nine days we left Hot Desert Springs on Tuesday, Jan. 26/10. We travelled to Escondido where we booked into an RV park for three days.