Pacific Trip Summary

We started with two dates on the calendar: picking up our new trailer in British Columbia and Barbara’s Community Bible Study training in Colorado Springs. Then we built our trip around these, coming up with this route.

The cool thing about this plan is that it covered the rest of the Pacific coast. (We already did the Pacific Northwest in 2014.)  And we got to see some things on our wish-to-see list – like Crater Lake National Park,

the southern Oregon coast,

the redwoods,

the California coast,

and Joshua Tree National Park.

In addition, we tried to squeeze in fun things on the way there and back.

Yep! We drove quite a few miles – 9281 miles, to be exact. Some miles looked like this.

image from the web

We saw the sign above at 5am in the dark in Twentynine Palms CA.

Other miles looked like this.

We primarily hiked, but did so many other activities including visiting with special people in our lives.

It was great to pick up a new trailer – our home away from home – our vacation home 

     by the ocean, 

     in the forest, 

     in the mountains, 

     at National Parks, 

     near family & friends…

Thanks for following us along on our journey. 😊

NM, CO, KS, OH – Friends & Family

We visited friends and family along the way home. Wish we could have even squeezed in longer visits and a few other people, but we hope to return.

Bill’s cousins (on his Mom’s side), Darcy and Melissa, warmly welcomed us to Albuquerque, New Mexico. They invited us to park our trailer right in their driveway and to share in a delicious meal. It was great to spend some time with them.

Then in Denver we visited Bill’s cousin (on his Dad’s side), Shari. It was great to meet her daughter Becky’s family and connect. They took us out to a cool restaurant in a former church. We had the choir loft to ourselves.

The waitress took our order on a tablet. It was the first time we saw a restaurant that uses Toast - a management platform for restaurants and the company where our daughter, Kate, now works.

We only had several days to get from Barbara’s training in Colorado to a different training in Massachusetts, but managed to fit in a few more visits.

In Kansas City we saw Malcolm and Mary Ann. It’s always great to see these friends that go back to Bill’s Vanderbilt days.

We had an ultra quick visit with Bill’s parents and sister in Dayton, but Bill managed to set up their computer for remote access.

We were glad to be neighbors (although for less than 24 hours) with our friends Tom & Karen. They are fulltime RVers who volunteer in the National Parks often doing living history. Here they are at their home in 2018 period dress.

And we saw Bill’s brother and wife conveniently in the same town near Columbus where Tom & Karen were camping. It was a whirlwind trip, but good to catch up with friends & family.

Colorado – Colorado Springs

After Joshua Tree National Park we headed west to Albuquerque and then north to Colorado Springs. Our campsite on the side of Cheyenne Mountain looked down on Colorado Springs…

and looked up at the old NORAD bunker and the top of Cheyenne Mountain.

We were in Colorado Springs for Barbara to attend training for a new position with Community Bible Study. Before training, we visited Garden of the Gods. The forecast looked great, so we were surprised to find this when we arrived.

We caught a snow squall just as we arrived at the visitor center. With diminished visibility outside, we dawdled inside.

Lucky for us, it stopped snowing just as we started to walk around the rock formations.

And then it cleared up.

Then Barbara spent several days at the Cheyenne Mountain Resort where she attended Community Bible Study Training. Here are the women who trained with Barbara from the Northeast Region.

The hotel had a nice view of Cheyenne Mountain. Bill and the trailer were on the left side of the mountain. Bill hiked in the state park while Barbara attended the training.

California – Joshua Tree

Our last stop in California was Joshua Tree National Park – a park that preserves and highlights desert ecosystems. Bill reserved a campsite in the heart of the park at Jumbo Rocks.

We explored the park on several short hiking trails and saw LOTS of Joshua Trees. (It isn’t really a tree, but that’s what they are called).

Our first trail took us to a great viewpoint.

As it was Halloween it only seemed appropriate to stop at these places.

Here’s Skull Rock.

We saw petroglyphs.

We got an expansive 360-degree view at Keys View (5185 ft) where it was so windy we couldn’t stand straight and had to hold glasses on.

We drove a ways through barren land – no greenery, no Joshua trees, no trees at all - then all the sudden came upon lots of Cholla Cactus. We walked the short trail through the Cholla Cactus Garden.

It was interesting and fun to explore this environment that is very different from our area.

This ends the sightseeing part of our trip, but we still have visits with friends and family, Community Bible Study Training, and a long drive home.

Hard to believe, but this is our 200th post. Thanks for following us along on some or all of our adventures. :-)