California Here We Come

California Here We Come!

YAY! We did it!!! A pair of traveling locavores at the Pacific Ocean.

When we left Florida in June our main focus was getting to California. We took the southern route because we wanted to spend a good bit of time in New Orleans. And also because we wanted to avoid frigid weather and snow. After living in South Florida for 38 years we needed to gradually reacclimatize to the temperatures of 4 seasons. We weren’t thrilled with the Albuquerque nights that were below freezing. It even snowed one night while we were there. Fortunately we didn’t have to drive in the snow.

California Here We Come as we pass water towers along the highway in Yuma AZ.

Water Towers in Yuma Arizona

A blue sign on the highway welcoming us to California.

At long last we are welcomed to California!

California Here We Come as we pass desert sand dunes seem through an RV window.

Desert dunes as seen through the passenger window aboard Ladybug

Originally we had planned on stopping for a couple of nights in Yuma AZ on our way to San Diego. But that plan changed when we heard it was a very bad Covid hot spot. So we stayed a couple of days longer in Mesa. Our thinking was we would stop and sleep at a rest stop halfway. Instead we ended up driving straight through from Mesa to San Diego. It was a long drive with steep mountainous ups and downs. Good ole Ladybug kept chugging away. Even if there were times Steve thought we wouldn’t make it to the crests. I had to keep assuring him that we were still in forward motion.

California Here We Come as we pass a bunch of white windmills along the highway.

A huge wind farm along our route from Mesa AZ to San Diego CA

California Here We Come as we pass a mountain on the highway.

Mountain pass along our route to San Diego

Even if we were going very slowly we still managed to get through those mountains. Yes. It would have been an easier ride if we had a diesel pusher. But we don’t. Ladybug has a gas engine and that is, pretty much, her only flaw. She looks awesome inside and out. And she has more storage than any other RV that we looked at. The price was right. And we were able to transform the interior into our home. We love the lifestyle and we love our home!!!

California Here We Come, mountain with bright yellow snow cap created as the sun set.

The sun was just starting to set and cast a bright yellow light on the mountain’s snow cap. So cool!

California Here We Come, sun setting behind the mountains and creating a colorful sky.

The start of a glorious sunset in Southern California

California Here We Come, cars on a highway with the setting sun creating a multicolored sky.

Just loved this vibrantly hued sunset!

We arrived at the Santa Fe RV Resort in San Diego at around 7:30PM exhausted after driving almost 400 miles. We were a day earlier than our reservation. Luckily the manager came back to the park and found a spot for us for the night. We moved to our reserved site the next day. And parked across from us was a young couple that had been at the same park as us way back in Chesapeake! It really is a very small world.

California Here We Come, inside a tunnel with lots of cars.

As we got close to San Diego we had to go through a check point. It was the first one for us.

California Here We Come, a man putting a state sticker on a map of America.

Hooray! We are finally able to put California on our map.

Phew. We really did it!!! We had dreamed and talked about RVing across this gorgeous country of our for so long. It had finally become a reality. We were ready to see if California lived up to our expectations. So, I guess, now instead of California Here We Come, it should really be California Here We Are!