Sunday
;
Sunny and very warm. Joanne cooked Sweet & Sour Chicken in the
Sun Oven today.
Joanne
did spring cleaning today. I slowly did “prepare for departure”
chores. AND … filed our income tax returns. This
is the earliest I have ever filed our annual income tax returns.
Monday
;
Sunny
and hot. Joanne cooked Chicken Cacciatore in the Sun Oven today.
I had a bit of a lazy day
today. Joanne did not. She spent the afternoon on a final groceries
and supplies shopping trip before we leave here on Friday. I cleaned
and polished shoes. I read … and napped. I did some trip
planning. I did some departure preparations. I took a propane tank
for refilling.
Tonight I prepared a “thinking
of you” card for a neighbour / friend who is in the last few days
of life, dying of lung cancer.
Tuesday
;
Overcast
and very warm.
Late this morning we took the
minivan to the storage yard and brought the truck and camper to our
yard. We put the minivan into storage until our return in 7 ½
months. I removed the minivan’s battery. We put tire covers over
the tires. And we put a new car cover on the minivan. It seems to
be better quality than the one we had for Obie, our previous winter
car.
Joanne
spent most of the afternoon moving non-perishable
food
and other items from the trailer into the camper. I worked on
preparing the truck and camper for the long journey home. In the
evening I retrieved month end banking statements and investment
updates.
Watching the daily “bad
news” at 6 PM on American networks is really dragging me down !
Wednesday
;
Sunny
and hot.
We continue our departure
preparations. That’s more work for Joanne than me. She has been
moving everything in all of the trailer cupboards, trailer fridge,
and shed fridge to the camper. And considering how much extra we’re
transporting this year to accommodate our two week quarantine period
upon arrival at
home … ! I’ve prepared the car, the yard, the
shed, the Arizona room, and the camper.
In the evening, after a
wonderful supper of ( Mexican recipe ) Mole Chicken we watched
Survivor and Transplant.
Thursday
;
Sunny
and hot.
Well … it’s time to go
home !
Up
until about a week ago, there were no coronavirus cases in Yuma. Now
there are about half a dozen and obviously many more to come. This
area is now at the bottom of the upside of the curve, while British
Columbia has already passed over the apex of the curve and is on the
downside of the curve. The number of cases in
BC is
diminishing. Yes, yes … it’s time to go home !
Plus
… the politics of the coronavirus here are just too bizarre to try
to explain,
at all levels ; federal, state, and community. In our RV park
community, the residents are just beginning
to contemplate
the possibility
that this is not
just a Democrat hoax ! And at the state level … Arizona has
declared golf courses
to be an essential service, to allow them to remain open ! ! ! And
at the federal level … well … you’ve seen the newscasts, no
doubt !
< sigh > Yes, yes …
it’s time to go home !
I
always did have good timing, n’est-ce pas ? HA
HA HA
!
We
spent the day continuing
to prepare
to depart tomorrow.
As before, Joanne had more work to do than I did. In addition to
preparing for departure I trimmed my beard, sharpened knives, picked
up a refilled propane tank, walked a couple of laps around the dog
park, searched and searched and searched and finally found our lost
Canadian cell phone … < sigh >.
Friday
; Yuma to Lone Tree Road BLM campground near Lake Havasu City,
Arizona
Sunny and hot.
We
finished our departure preparations and left Kofa Ko-op about 1:30
PM. We returned our Internet modem / router to Beamspeed, then went
to Fry’s for a final grocery shopping trip. We had a very late
lunch in Fry’s parking lot, and left Yuma around 3 PM heading north
on Hwy. 95. Our minimum destination for today was Quartzsite. We
arrived at the Hi Jolly BLM boondocking campground at 5 PM. We
immediately went for a long, brisk walk across the desert, about a
mile out and a mile back, deciding it was too early to stop for the
night.
We left Hi Jolly campground at
5 PM continuing north on Hwy. 95. Through Parker and onwards to Lake
Havasu City. In Lake Havasu City we stopped at a Bank of America ATM
and deposited a cheque. About ten miles north of Lake Havasu City we
stopped at the Lone Tree Road BLM boondocking campground for the
night, arriving there at 7:20 PM, just at dusk. It was dark within
ten minutes of our arrival. We had a late, light supper at 9 PM.
Day
1 of the Hurry Up & Get Home trip. We usually travel
at a much slower pace than this trip is going to be !
Shortly
before leaving Kofa Ko-op we had a visit from Allen and Cathy, the
original rescuers of Buddy / Hela / Carlos / Kirby the cat. They
brought us a lovely “thank you” gift for rescuing Carlos ( the
second time, after the Humane Society dumped him back in our RV park
! ) and housing him in our Arizona room and caring for him until our
friend Carol Mae found an adopter for him. How
thoughtful ! AND …
it’s a great gift for “foodies” like us ; a gift package of
exotic spice mixes.
Saturday
; Lake Havasu City, Arizona via California and Nevada to Utah I-15
MM 88 Rest Area
Sunny
and hot in Arizona, California, and Nevada,
becoming windy
and cold
in Utah.
WHEW
… that was a LOT
of miles today ! We made a decision fairly early in the day to alter
our planned route home. We added miles, but because our route
revisions are all on Interstate freeways we will be able to travel at
a much higher speed. For example, instead of travelling through the
remote high desert of Nevada on Hwy. 93 at 55 MPH we will travel
across Utah on Interstate 15 and Interstate 84 at 75 MPH.
We
left the Lone Tree Road BLM boondocking campground around 11:15
AM this morning continuing north on Arizona Hwy. 95 until it reached
Interstate 40 where we stopped at Love’s to refill our freshwater
tank and go for a walk for exercise. We drove west on I-40 crossing
over the Colorado River into California at Needles … home of Spike,
Snoopy’s older brother. HA HA HA ! We turned north again on
California Hwy. 95. After California Hwy. 95 crossed into Nevada,
becoming Nevada Hwy. 95 we stopped at Searchlight, Nevada to refill
with diesel and eat a late lunch at
Terrible’s, a Nevada
chain of small casinos with fuel bars and convenience stores..
After lunch we continued north
on Nevada Hwy. 95 to Las Vegas. We refilled with diesel and had
lunch at Searchlight so that we could get through Las Vegas without
stopping, avoiding a coronavirus hot spot. We entered Las Vegas from
the south at about 4 PM, usually the start of rush hour. We crossed
Las Vegas from south to north on Interstate 515. Traffic was much
lighter than usual. Our speed remained constant at 65 MPH all the
way across the city, no slowdowns, no traffic jams ! Highly unusual
! ! !
On
the north side of Las Vegas we headed northeast on Interstate 15,
passing the junction with Hwy. 93 where we would usually turn north.
At the Moapa Indian Reservation we stopped at their Travel Center
just to get some drinks out of the camper fridge
and … we went for another exercise walk.
Interstate 15 heads northeast
out of Nevada crossing briefly into the northwest corner of Arizona (
again ) before crossing into the southwest corner of Utah where it
begins to head straight north again. We drove until 7:15 PM (
Arizona and BC time, actually an hour later in Utah but we are not
going to change our watches and clocks ) stopping moments before
darkness.
The bathrooms at the
Interstate 15 Mile Marker 88 Rest Area are closed, so there are only
two commercial trucks parked overnight on the truck side of the
parking area, and just us on the car side of the parking area. Again
… how unusual !
BRRRRR … as soon as we
arrived at the rest area we changed out of shorts and sandals into
long pants, socks, and sweaters.
DSK
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