Category: California Epic Van Trip, Summer/Fall 2020

After leaving Tucson early because the air conditioner in the van wasn’t up for 100+ heat, we made our way up into Mt. San Jacinto State Park, which is just southwest of Palm Springs, California. We stayed there several days, near Idyllwild, and it was idyllic 🙂

Pines, oak and manzanita…

John was very impressed with the pine cones.

Yes, Laura, you’re right, there was a lake in the distance, which we did finally catch sight of.

Our campsite was spacious and the weather was perfect.

The original plan was to be in the Northern California mountains along the Oregon border, but it was smoky up there. Eventually we felt ready for a bit more adventure and we drove down out of the mountains to the San Diego area.

To send Kristina a comment, email turning51bykristina@gmail.com

We have finally left on our vacation. Whew! For the last couple of weeks John has been very busy at work. We have also been looking at houses (remotely). Also we had tenants move to Florida and we needed to get new tenants in.

Tenant change-overs are always a lot of work. I get the house thoroughly professionally cleaned including the carpets steam cleaned. There are always various handyman items. At minimum we touch-up paint and change the locks, but sometimes quite a lot more fix-up needs done. Also the yard inevitably needs landscape maintenance (no matter how much tenants earnestly promise that they love yard work).

I think I mentioned I had tons of applicants for the house. We had no trouble renting it, the only trouble was going through all the applications and making the very hard decision between multiple qualified applicants. The worst part was having to tell everyone who didn’t get it. I don’t like disappointing people! I wished I had a house for everyone.

We got the lease signed on Tuesday, and Tuesday night we dropped the puppies off at Sandy’s house. Wednesday morning we were off on our big road trip.

The dogs, by the way, are doing great with Sandy. Except now that Kai is comfortable there, he’s being a butthead and testing her. He’s a well-trained dog, but he’s pushing his limits. He would be in charge if you let him!

We had planned to go camping in northern California, but it’s still completely smoke covered.

We don’t know for sure what we’re going to do the whole week we have set aside for camping, but first, a quick stop in Tucson to look at the potential new house.

We got to Tucson Wednesday night. The local state park campground was deserted. No wonder – it was searingly hot. Luckily we have a portable air conditioner in our camper van. We had reserved an RV slot at the campground with an electric outlet (we have some of our own electricity from solar panels on our roof, but not enough to continuously run an air conditioner). The air conditioner ran all night long.

The next morning was my birthday, but no time for that yet – we had an appointment to see the house we are considering buying! It was exactly what we expected – everything is smaller and a bit more rundown than what it looks like in the marketing pictures. That’s usually the case, so we were not surprised. The house is generally solid, but it needs some TLC.

Broken tile

Funky cabinets

Back of oven peeking over the counter top

There’s no pre-existing, built-in space for a refrigerator, although there is a wall we could put one on for now. It would just block a couple of cabinets and an unfinished pantry space until we were able to redo the cabinets. At least there’s already an outlet on the wall.

They’ve done some painting in a blueish gray that’s stylish right now, although the white trimwork needs refreshed.

But it’s perfectly livable.

And when it’s 70 degrees in January and snowing in the rest of the country, we probably won’t mind a cracked tile or two in the kitchen!

We like the exterior style of the house, which is fairly unusual.

I would remove the iron gate. There was a similar iron gate across the archway at our current house in Albuquerque when we bought it, and we took it down right away. It doesn’t seem welcoming and if someone really wanted to break in, there are easier ways than through the front door.

Here’s a couple pictures from the street side of the house (it’s on a corner lot). Lots of prickly pear!

After looking at the house, we got take-out street tacos from Seis Kitchen. If you’re ever in Tucson, we totally recommend that restaurant. Their street tacos are excellent!

We went back to the state park with our tacos, plugged in our portable electric air conditioning and watched while the temperature in our van continued to climb. It’s a good little room-sized air conditioner, which cleverly vents out a port John made in the wheel well. It does a good job of making cold air, but we were sitting in a metal box in the middle of the desert and it was 108 degrees outside, and our air conditioner just couldn’t keep up.

The temperature inside the van kept climbing, until at 91 degrees we gave up, packed up, and decided to continue driving west. I enjoy Tucson in the summer, but only with whole-house air conditioning and a pool in the backyard!

We drove west in the heat and smoke. Our car said it was 118 degrees outside as we drove through Phoenix.

We were ok though, because the regular vehicle air conditioning that runs off the engine is more powerful than our portable electric one that we run when the engine is off.

This huge thing is a blade from a wind turbine being transported, slowing traffic near Indio, California. It would have been a better picture but I took it through our filthy windshield, lol.

The drive up into the mountains scared me. California is the worst for twisty roads on the edges of cliffs with completely inadequate guardrails! It was dark when we got to our campsite, but blissfully cool at 6,000 feet.

We fell into bed exhausted, but just before going to sleep I opened my birthday presents. John got me candy wrapped in decorative computer paper, lol.

He actually planned to get me a really cool flight simulator game, but it needs a decent gaming computer, which we don’t have. So he wanted to check with me first to make sure I would be interested before investing in a gaming computer.

Darren is like, YES, DO IT! If we had a gaming computer, Darren wouldn’t have to lug one here to visit. And I’m happy to do what I can to encourage the kids to visit as often as they can!

I also got a llama picture (photo taken on the campsite picnic table the next morning). It’s a little painting, only about 5 inches across. Very cute!

And I got a fun road runner from a friend. John and I appear to be unofficially collecting road runner items – I guess that’s what happens when you live in New Mexico!

All in all, a good but exhausting birthday!

To send Kristina a comment, email turning51bykristina@gmail.com

The plan was to go camping in California this coming week for my birthday (after a brief but necessary stop in Tucson, more about that later). Following the camping trip, we were going to spend some time in the eastern edge of the California Bay Area. John can work there, because his company has a branch there, and it’s fairly close to Laura and good friends of mine.

We’ve rented a cute little Airbnb in Livermore. It’s a stand-alone guesthouse so we feel fairly safe from COVID risk (stand-alone and thus having its own airflow). It also has a covered outdoor seating space for visiting Bay Area friends and relatives.

But look at the smoke in California!

The smoke covers the entire western US (except Seattle), including the coastline, from Mexico to Canada and all the way to the Great Lakes.

We are all having migraines, Laura, Darren, and I, but Laura is closest to an active fire and has it worst. The air quality numbers where she is near San Jose are abysmal. Because she lives right next to one of the larger fires, the SCU Lightning Complex, the smoke is hanging low in the air. For us, the smoke is higher in the air and not impacting our breathing as much.

The red outline is the The SCU Lightning Complex fire boundaries as of Sunday morning. John and I plan to stay in Livermore, just north of the fire, and Laura lives near San Jose, just west of the fire.

I’m thinking we may need to reconsider our plans to go camping this coming week, but darned if I’m going to miss my trip to the Bay Area the following week! I haven’t seen Laura since Christmas! It seems like a lifetime ago – before COVID, before cancer, before the word “apocalypse” started seeming relevant to real life.

John and I are talking about going up to the far northern edge of the California coast, near the Oregon border to go camping.

But that is a heck of a long way from Albuquerque (especially via Tucson). And with just a slight shift in wind, that area could be inundated with smoke too (see where it says Rogue River and Siskiyou and Six Rivers, nearish to the ocean on the edge of the smoke lines).

Not to mention two or three days of smoke-filled driving from Albuquerque (via Tucson). It’s starting to sound less like a vacation and more of a miserable idea.

Our vacation plans are up in the air – and it’s smoky up there. Plan B anyone?

To send Kristina a comment, email turning51bykristina@gmail.com