The year is finally over, at least according to the calendar. New Year’s never really is the dividing line that it seems to be. That means that many things from 2020 will, unfortunately, carry over into 2021. Although it is tempting, I will refrain from political commentary regarding events past, present and future about this year.
2020 started out pretty normally. The start of our 4th year of full-timing. In the 1st year, we focused on establishing ourselves as Texas residents. After that was accomplished we went to the east coast for a wedding and completed the loop to get back to CA for an important birthday:
In 2018 we had plans to meet our friends for a trip to Banff and Jasper in Canada so our path was a bit different:
2019 saw us returning to Texas to get a new tow vehicle and some medical procedures. We spent a large time amount of time in Texas but decided to take a trip to Alaska during the summer:
2020 was when we decided to start looking for a location to find a more permanent address. It was time to get a home base again. We started the year hanging around California, spending time in the desert area, visiting friends, seeing our grandson, and then getting hit by the pandemic lockdowns. We ended up coming back to our son’s house in the middle of March and being stuck there for 3 months! We were able to get some things done on the trailer and around the house. As it was getting hotter, it was time to leave!
We heading to Southern Oregon but the heat was still there! Off to the coast of Oregon and Washington for almost 3 months. We like those states but are not sure if they are right for us to ‘settle’ down. Next, we headed to Idaho to check it out there and we really liked southern-central and eastern Idaho so that is an option, although there is a tax issue we have to overcome. The weather drove us south through Utah to Nevada, Arizona, and back to Nevada. We feel that Nevada or Arizona might be the best choice.
We reluctantly headed back to California for the holidays and an even stricter lockdown. Here is our 2020 map of camping:
Our stats for the year are: Truck miles: 14272 Truck fuel gallons: 1103 Truck fuel cost: $2838 Truck min gallon cost: $1.773 Truck max gallon cost: $3.869 (California) Truck MPG: 13.05
In my previous post, I forgot to tell everyone about a bonehead move that I did. We were leaving Juniper’s RV park in Lakeview OR. I only put down my rear stabilizers on the trailer. However, I did not raise them! I didn’t realize why it was hard to raise the tongue of the trailer to connect to the truck. I only realized after it was hard to pull the trailer when leaving. Well, I bent up an original stabilizer and bent a replacement one I put on about 2 years ago! We made it to Boise and I removed them. I found a metalworking shop to see if they could straighten them out. Jack Metal Works was able to do the repair in a very quick turnaround. Recommended, Jacks, not bending your stabilizers.
Back to our story:
We looked around Idaho Falls and did like the area. It is not growing as much as Boise but there is still an influx there and prices are increasing. We also kept an eye on the weather as we could feel the turn of temperature.
We headed south to Tremonton UT, north of Salt Lake City. We were slowly heading back to California for Thanksgiving and the holidays. I did want to visit family but I SURE didn’t want to go back to Newsomlini-land!
Tremonton is close to the Golden Spike NHP and it was somewhere I have always wanted to visit. My father was a huge train fan, both full size, and model. He lived near the famous Horseshoe Curve in Pennsylvania. When he was a child he had an entire attic full of standard gauge trains. We took many trips to see trains, including the Durango narrow gauge. We were at the California train museum’s opening weekend, watching full-size live steam locomotives 20 feet away such as the UP 4-8-8-4. So it was natural for me to visit.
The last tie placed in the trans-continent rail (most likely a replica).The Jupiter, completely recreated.A view to the west.
The forecast showed that the cold wave was coming south. The day after we left Tremonton was supposed to be very cold, luckily we were able to take off and head to middle Utah. It was somewhat disappointing that we couldn’t visit south-central Utah and all the beauty. We spent the night in Fillmore UT at the KOA.
We woke up to very low cloud cover, cold temperatures, breezy winds and it was starting to snow! That kicked us into gear to get going. I had only hooked up to power the night before and did not disconnect so it was easy. Heading south over a few passes, the snow picked up but never started sticking to the road. We made just north of St George for another night of running! I knew if we could hit Vegas, we should be OK weatherwise.
It was worse that it looks!
The next AM was brutal. It was COLD and WINDY! The wind chill was about 22° for us to hook up the rig! That was not fun. We made to the Lake Mead Recreation Area for a week, the weather was very nice.
Our view from our site.
The lockdown was pretty minimal in Nevada, other than not being real close to Henderson, it didn’t impact our excursions too much. We wanted to go see Hoover Dam while we were there and tried to one day. The main road bypasses the dam now but you can still drive there and even over the dam. However, you have to pass through a checkpoint before you can get to any of the dam. We pulled up to the checkpoint, they looked us over and directed us to an alternate checkpoint. I figured they wanted to look in the back of the truck, where all our stuff is. They told me I had to remove everything so they can fully inspect it. I asked if they were serious, and they were. I told the no thanks and we turned around. It was very disappointing.
We discovered, in Idaho, that our cat had a mass in her abdomen so we took her to the Banfield vet in Henderson. We had her on a steroid to help her eating and to possibly slow the tumor. We needed a refill on the steroid. The vet at Banfield referred us to a vet that an oncology specialist and didn’t want to continue the steroid as it might conflict with any potential treatment. He gave us a anti-depressant medication.
That medication sent the cat for a loop! She couldn’t walk straight, started eating her cat litter pellets, etc. We went to see the other vet on the day we left. We got her back on the steroid and decided, after 19 years of life, we would just keep her on palliative care. We headed to our next stop south of Bullhead City, AZ.
We were still looking around for locations, and the AZ or NV border area seems possible. We don’t mind desert motifs at all, heck California will be there soon enough!. In Fort Mojave, we went to see a movie, out to eat, drove to Oatman, rested and enjoyed the warmer weather. After a week we headed to a location that has always been a possibility for relocation.
Pahrump NV. We stayed at a very nice RV there, Lakeside Casino and RV Park:
We looked at numerous properties in Pahrump area. It is definitely on our list of locations. We just have to research the water capabilities there.
We left Pahrump to crawl back to CA. We were going to stay a night in Barstow and then to Bakersfield, since Bakersfield had better COVID limitations. We did a straight drive to Bakersfield, which went to the most restrictive tier two days after we arrived. No one can win with this governor.
As I write this, the dictator has closed down overnight camping. Luckily we have a place we can stay for the holidays, but once we can leave after that we will be getting out of this state, again!
