WE ARE HOME!!  We arrived safely on Sunday and have spent the last few days removing things from the RV, washing things from the RV, putting things back on the RV, etc.  Exhausting but worth it. I feel like my house is a palace because it feels so big.  People have asked if we will go on other trips.  Definitely.  I'm not sure where yet but we have lots of friends on the east coast we want to see when weather permits.  We also plan on taking lots of smaller, shorter trips.

There were some surprises on this trip.  One was that we stayed at approximately 35 RV parks along the way, some wonderful and some not so much.  Most of them were really good, though.  We never once barbequed, (used the microwave, instead) we never once sat outside and watched TV.  Actually, we never once sat outside.  The weather was either too hot with too many mosquitoes, or too cold.  Gary became a plumber, electrician and carpenter at one time or another.  We learned to play dodge ball with giant tumbleweeds.  We saw a guy at least in his 70's in L.A. with every inch of his body and face covered with tattoos. 

I am surprised at how disoriented I am after 9 weeks on the road.  The shower seems like the head is on the wrong side, I can't find anything and I can't remember how things like the house alarm work.  It is coming back but I feel really stupid.

Thanks to everyone who followed our blog.  I enjoyed writing it and will continue on future trips.

Macy was still at Disneyland today.  She loves face paintings.

Tonight is our last night as we drove extra hours today to beat a threatened snowstorm in the mountains.  We are staying at Seven Feathers Casino RV Park, one of the loveliest we have experienced and also the first one we stayed at when we started this journey.  The eagle with a fish in it's mouth is at the front of the casino.  We went in to have the buffet for dinner, which was good.  One strange thing, at least for us, was that the casino doesn't take coins in its slot machines so you never heard the sound of coins dropping if someone won.  The machines take bills or tickets only. Maybe that is how it is in all casinos now.  We haven't been in one in many years.

Tomorrow we will drive home!!!

The top picture is Macy on her 6th birthday yesterday with Elsa and Anna from Frozen at Disneyland.  Just had to share.

We started today by scheduling a repair appointment with Cummins, the company that makes the diesel engine in our RV.  Thank goodness it was on the way to our stop for tonight.  Anyway, the Check Engine light was a result of the steep hills on I-5 and everything is OK.

We ended up at a cozy little park called Happy Times RV in Dunnigan, CA.  Because we had promised our good friend, Bob C., we left here almost as soon as we arrived to drive back 20 miles and sample an In N Out Burger, which he said we would greatly regret if we missed.  He considers it to be a very important part of the California experience.  Gary had the Double-Double and I had a cheeseburger and they were very good, indeed.  The picture above of the statue of a cowboy and his horse was in the same shopping center as the burger restaurant.

The other picture is one of a bell tower we saw today out in the middle of nowhere.  Why it was there, I have no idea.  We are driving to Weed, CA tomorrow, nearly all uphill.

Would you like a glass of whine with this blog?
This has not been our best day.  We left Orange, CA heading north on I-5.  The traffic passing by L.A., even at 10:00 AM, was horrific.  Almost the first thing that happened was that another vehicle hit our right hand mirror with its mirror and popped out both of our mirrors.  They were just hanging there and the traffic was too dense to get out and check on them or fix them.  We were now blind on the right side.  We had to travel a good 30 miles that way until we could pull over and Gary could pop them back into their holders.  Thank goodness, the side camera wasn't broken. 

Then we hit the wind and one hill that went down so steeply that trucks could only travel 35 mph.  That was probably when the Check Engine light went on.  When we stopped next we called our repair support and they thought it had to do with the emissions system, so we could keep driving.

At the rest stop both dogs came out of the weeds with seeds/stickers stuck all over their fur.  These things had stickers on them that looked similar to a fan shape.  Once they stuck on, they had to be pulled off in the same direction.  They got all over Gary, all over me and we are still finding them on the dogs and in the rug and beds.  Dudley is below, zonked out after his ordeal.

Better news.
Today was Macy's 6th birthday.  We phoned her first thing this morning to wish her a happy day with Mom and Dad at Disneyland.

We saw an interesting sight about an hour south of Coalinga, miles and miles of trees covered with netting.  I imagine it was to keep birds off, but I'm not sure.

We are in Coalinga, CA now at the Sommerville Almond Tree RV Park.  It has the long pull-through space that we need and good places to walk the pups.  A bonus is the smell of the place.  We are across the street from a large orange grove and the blossoms are wonderful.  There is another perfume here, as well.  I guess it may be from the almond trees although I don't see any traditional looking flowers.  It is delightful.

Two more nights in California and then we will hit Oregon.

Today started with a fierce windstorm in Bermuda Dunes, CA which kept us awake most of the night.  The wind was rocking the RV and Dudley was barking with every blast.  We waited a little longer in the morning before we took off to give it a chance to die down a bit.

We had a short drive, relatively speaking, to Orange, CA where we parked at Orangeland RV Resort, a nice place, however the RVs are packed in pretty close together.

This evening I was reunited with one of my college roommates, Sandy Ganderson Perlmutter.  We hadn't seen each other in over 40 years but it seemed as though it could have been yesterday.  She and her husband, Dan invited us to their wonderful home for dinner.  Gary and Dan had bass fishing in common and they traded fish stories while Sandy and I reminisced and caught up.  It was a memorable evening and I'm sure we will see each other again before too much time goes by.