We finally left California after almost two months in this State. It IS a large State, after all. We crossed the border into northern CA on October 27, 2017, and didn’t leave CA until January 23, 2018. One of the main reasons we made this trip to begin with was to visit Rob’s mother in southern CA, and also visit with other relatives and long-time friends. We did that, spending half the month in Long Beach, CA. One month ago, we’d just arrived in Long Beach & were beginning a very busy schedule of visits. EVERYONE, it was so nice to see you! But after two weeks in the infamous southern CA traffic in an extremely busy City, we were ready to move on. As we left the Los Angeles area, we already missed our friends & relatives, but breathed a sigh of relief as we left busy freeways and drove into the desert. This time spent in the eastern part of southern CA, in the desert, was a surprise to both of us. Expecting it to be hot, dry, and boring, it was lovely and we enjoyed, once again, spending all day at National Wildlife Refuges and camping off-road at BLM land without all the amenities. Clean air abounds. Quiet, what a concept. In winter, the weather was perfect for us. For us, temperature-wise, any other time of year would’ve been unbearable. We plan to do more traveling throughout the deserts of NM, AZ, NV, and CA in a winter in the future. We travelled 1,124 miles in the RV last month, lots more miles if we add what we travelled in the car, too. We stayed at 7 different campgrounds in CA, AZ, and UT. The scenery we’ve more recently encountered in northern Arizona & southern Utah may be the best we’ve ever seen so far. Cannot wait till next month!
