Wednesday January 8th 2020

The beautiful Las Vegas winter weather continued today. The mercury broke the sixty degree barrier again with just a little more wind to prevent perfection.

My thoughts of spending the day in tourist mode got sidelined during breakfast. There was a lot of change going on in the RV park that I got hooked watching. A few people were leaving, but there seemed to be at least as many changing sites. Since they were all monthly residents moving, my guess is long enough blocks of space on a single sites weren’t available when they booked. Consequently they had to move during their stay. The site behind me emptied out around 10am and was filled by a transfer within half an hour. I recognized the rig from another area of the park.

The park courtesy patrol needs to park everybody on their sites to assure they are within the site’s boundary. One of the courtesy patrol drivers was waiting for the resident of the site across the street from me to hook-up for a move. It wasn’t the best planned move, because he had to wait half an hour while the folks hooked up. Once again half an hour after one set of residents moved, another RV was getting parked on the site. In this case, I think they are a new short term resident.

I was watching all of these changes while enjoying my second cup of breakfast coffee. It was afternoon by the time I thought about leaving the park. The shuttle to the strip from Sam’s Town had already departed. Since I didn’t want to deal with the traffic and parking on my own, I’ll try again another day.

Tuesday January 7th 2020

The good weather continued with another higher than average temperature day. I spent the morning inside doing some mundane, but necessary tasks like paying credit card bills. The amount of money I have spent on reservations over the next year is surprising, depressing, and annoying, but necessary. Most privately owned RV parks only require the first nights rent as a deposit. The state and federal parks that I prefer usually require the full stay up front. Right now, including the seven weeks in March and April that have been paid for four to ten months, I have spent more than $4,000 on places I haven’t even started traveling toward.

To take advantage of the good weather I spent some time this afternoon at the Clark County Wetlands park. The parking lot had more cars than normal, but I didn’t run in to as many people on the trails as I often do. Today I wandered along a number of paths that I haven’t been on this year. It paid off. I saw a number of different animals today.

I managed to get pictures of some of the more illusive creatures. First up was a Roadrunner. It was on a dirt path parallel to the main cement path I was following. It caught up with me from behind and passed by quickly. Once it couldn’t see me anymore, it must have paused, because I was able to get some pictures when it emerged from cover further down the path.

Later on the same trail a little bunny rabbit hopped onto the path. I paused to take a picture and was rewarded by another camera shy animal. As I was taking the rabbit picture a Gambel’s quail ran across the frame. It made an interesting picture. They were both a little startled.

I also saw another bunch of birds in a body of water down stream in the wash. It is usually just empty water. Today a big white bird in the middle caught my attention.
Using maximum zoom and more cropping on the computer this evening, it appears to be a white pelican, but the angle isn’t great for identification. I need to study the park maps to figure out how to get closer to the water hole. I’ve never been in that area before.

Monday January 6th 2020

There was a little more wind today resulting in a little cooler temperature. It was still a very nice sunny day for early January in Las Vegas. The high temperature was a few degrees above the fifty six degree norm for the date. The TV forecasters are still predicting deteriorating conditions throughout the week. It still sounds great compared to the snow and freezing temperatures around most of the country.

Today was an ordinary living kind of day. I did chores around the RV and caught up on some reading. For my daily exercise I took a couple of winding walks along the many rows of RVs in the RV park. I only saw a couple of empty sites today. There is still some turnover, but the site is filled quickly. Sadly I no longer can take pictures of flower blossoms around the park. The park staff members responsible for gardening have caught up with their winter pruning. All of the rose bushes and flowering shrubs have been cut back to a few short stems.

Replacing the colorful blossom pictures in this blog entry is a pigeon. There are a few pigeons around the park, but not too many. The park is kept clean and well picked up, so there isn’t a lot to attract the birds. The bird in today’s picture came walking across my path while I was out walking. It was clearly used to being around people.

Sunday January 5th 2020

Today was another beautiful Las Vegas winter day. The temperature was just under sixty with sunny skies and a little wind. The weather prognosticators still predict a downward turn tomorrow. The good news is the days are getting longer and the average high temperature for the day has turned the corner and is climbing.

I think the holiday season is finally coming to an end today. The last TV Christmas movie marathon came to an end today. Having things back closer to a normal day will help me be more aware of the passage of time. Without consistent TV programming and all the other subtle time clues around, I continue to get the day of the week confused. I started Saturday thinking it was Sunday and started today in total confusion. Having to look at one of my electronic devices to find the day of the week is annoying.

I finally made it to Walmart for groceries today. I’ve been putting it off hoping to find a quiet time. Today wasn’t one. It was very busy this morning and seemed to have more than the normal compliment of people that should only be there when it is empty. Those are the very slow and the very fast shoppers. This morning there were plenty of people that wanted to stare at the shelves for a long time before picking up a product and reading the label. Of course, the first product wasn’t the one they wanted, so the process repeats. Getting to products in their path takes waiting, reaching and lots of “excuse me” on unhearing ears.

The very fast shopper is the one that can’t park their cart long enough to pick up a product. They seem to be in continuous motion grabbing things off the shelf as they pass by. The only problem is they seem to manage to run into other carts and an occasional person on their mad flight through the store. It would be so much more enjoyable not to have to share the store with these two kinds of shoppers. Dealing with family mobs of 4 or more shopping together is bad enough.

I took the day off from summer travel planning. Maybe the end of the holiday season will find more campgrounds prepared to take reservations.

Saturday January 4th 2020

Today wasn’t a day with much to write about in this blog, but it was another beautiful weather day. The temperature didn’t quite break sixty and there were a few more clouds than Friday. Tomorrow is forecast to be similar before the weather takes a downhill turn for Monday.

I spent the day doing chores around the RV, watching TV and doing more travel research. One of the chores was taking the Christmas decorations down. I am now back in total humbug mode. Most of the other residents of the RV park have also taken down all of their Christmas spirit. It really seems like Christmas was months ago.

On the travel research front my to do lists are getting longer, but my actual set plans haven’t gotten any more complete. The number of places I’d like to stay that aren’t taking reservations for the summer yet is growing. What surprises me is that some of them don’t even tell you when they will accept reservations on their web site or recorded voice mail message. I’m afraid if I don’t keep trying I’ll return to my previous form and be too late for the better places.

The TV watching wasn’t any more successful. I just watched the Tennessee Titans win over the New England Patriots. While I’m not completely surprised, I’m not happy about the outcome. I guess I’ll have to switch my championship hopes to the NFC.

Friday January 3rd 2019

The nice warmer than average weather continued today. There was a little more cloud cover than Thursday, but the temperature still managed to reach the low sixties. The trend is forecast to continue through the weekend. Next week may not be as nice.

As I have mentioned in this blog before, my cell phone is starting to show its age. I think the phone is just over five years old. The battery is not holding a charge as well as it did when it was new and the charge cable no longer fits snugly into the socket. Consequently, when I think it is charging it is actually continuing to discharge. I have lost count of the number of times I’ve had a dead phone when I was expecting a fully charged device.

Over the last few weeks I’ve researched the available Android phones online. I know the pluses and minus of the Samsung models, LG models, Motorola models and Google Pixel phones. The other brands were out of the running early in the search. Today was phase two of the search process. I went to the Best Buy in Henderson to touch, hold and consider the different models. The expedition resulted in a little more clarity in the search. I’m no longer opposed to the larger size of some of the devices as they will still fit in my pocket when necessary. Now I need to decide between the Samsung Galaxy models or the Google Pixels models. The Pixel is newer with a better camera but has a smaller battery. The Samsung Galaxy will be updated with a new model at the end of next month. The internet is full of rumored specs for the new handset. Decisions, decisions; how long can I keep my current phone limping along? Do I live with the smaller battery in the Pixel? The search process continues.

On the way back from phone shopping I stopped for another walk in the Clark County Wetlands park. It seems like every time I’m out in that direction, I stop to visit the birds and get some exercise. There were a lot of people in the park today. It wasn’t nearly as quiet as I like, but I still managed to see a few of natures creatures.

Thursday January 2nd 2020

It was a beautiful warmer than normal day. The temperature got up to the low sixties under a brightly shinning sun. The normal temperature this time of year is in the mid fifties. The day ended with another gorgeous sunset.

These mid week holidays cause my head to spin trying to figure out the day of the week. This morning I was convinced it was Monday. Once I realized that wasn’t true I started to think it was Friday. Of course when I actually thought about it, I knew today was Thursday. I even typed the correct day in the start of this post, but I admit I had to go back and edit the year from 2019 to 2020.

Today was another day focused on travel research. My online calendar is full of notification events to remind me when to make reservations for a few days in May, a few days in June and lots of weeks in late July and August. That is in addition to all of the events already in my calendar to remind me when to book next winter in Florida. I have 23 weeks in the first half of the year booked and seven weeks in the second half of 2020. It is a far more detailed plan than I ever had this far in advance for Rob’s Rambling Road Trip, but I’m still not satisfied.

The RV park is more or less full again. There are a few sites empty for a night or two as people leave and new residents arrive, but overall it is full. The WiFi is another indicator of the density of park residents. In the evening, the WiFi is very slow now. I’ve had to switch to my cellular data plan a couple of nights to get good through put for posting to this blog. Yet another indicator was the available of machines in the laundry today. I will be trying again tomorrow.

To summarize my day I’d say “I did a lot, but accomplished little.”

Wednesday January 1st 2020

Happy New Year

It was very cloudy this morning when I woke up early enough to watch the Rose Parade on TV. The inside temperature just before 8AM was in the forties. I watched most of the parade from the warmth of my bed while the heater warmed my RV home. The parade was bright and colorful as usual, but I didn’t see any standout animated floats. Toward the middle of the day the sun won the battle for the sky. It was a bright afternoon with a beautiful sunset, but the temperature only managed to nudge the fifties.

While I was preparing yesterday’s blog post reviewing my 2019 travels, I had a chance to reflect. Rather than complicate an already long post, I chose to use this blog post to share my thoughts. I’ll start with the positive items and end with the things I might change going forward.

I really enjoyed exploring and getting to know the state of Oregon. My travels took me around many areas of the state. The biggest surprise was the different climate and terrain areas of the state. Reading about it is not the same as experiencing it. The eastern part of the state is primarily high desert. How the many emigrants in the mid 1800s made it across that area is remarkable. The high Cascade mountains form another zone that I didn’t explore as much as I would have liked. The area between the Cascades and the coastal range was a bigger agricultural area than I expected. This is the fertile land the emigrants found after their long haul from the eastern states. Finally, the coastal area is simply beautiful, although I could do without some of the tourist trap attractions in some of the towns.

My stop in Utah to visit Bryce Canyon National Park and some of the surrounding area was fun. It built on my hit and run single day visit in 2017. The red colored rocks and hoodoos in the area are magnificent. I’m going to repeat this travel approach this year with re-visits to the Glenn Canyon National Recreation area and Zion National Park.

The Columbia River Gorge National Scenic area was a wonderful surprise. All of the waterfalls and views of the Columbia River were gorgeous. I liked it so much in July that I returned in September. Seeing the salmon returning to the hatchery was more than sufficient cause for a return visit.

I stayed in southern Oregon for two weeks. It was close enough to Crater Lake National Park that I could easily spend a whole day in the park. The deep blue water surrounded by steep rock walls with higher peaks in the distance truly deserves national park status. I really enjoyed the trolley ride with multiple stops around the crater.

A one day visit to the northern California unit of the Redwoods National Park was well worth the interesting driving required in the motorhome on my way to the coast. Winding and twisting around big tall trees within inches of the road is not easy in a big RV. The tall old Coastal Redwood trees may not be as big around as the Sequoia, but they are still very impressive. I’ll get to see Sequoia National Park another year.

I also tried to visit Mt Rainier National Park while staying in south central Washington State. The more than one hundred mile distance one way proved to great. I got to the park to late in the day to have access to the crowded parking lots and there wasn’t enough time to do any significant hiking. My overall decision not to explore Washington State during the 2019 summer was correct. It gave me more time to see Oregon. I will get to visit Mt Rainier National Park when I return to see the bulk of the state.

Not making reservations early enough resulted in some strange travel paths and longer stays in certain areas than I needed. I spent a little more than three weeks in the Tri Cities area of south central Washington State. The area really didn’t support more than a two week stay, but it was available during the Independence Day Holiday. I also spent four weeks at two different campgrounds in the Coos Bay Oregon area for similar late planning reasons. This prevented me from seeing some of the Oregon coast between Newport and Seaside. Once again it’s territory to visit another time.

My biggest travel issue in 2019 was the quick trip across the country. I hung around in Florida until late May and had to cross the country to Albuquerque New Mexico in a little over a week. I should have allocated at least two weeks. The weather during the trip was also an issue. I had to change my route, slow down and speed up to avoid major tornado outbreaks.

I enjoyed my travels during 2019. I’m trying to make more reservations early for 2020 as well as have more realistic travel plans. I’m booking more week long stays. Sometimes I’m moving a shorter distance for another week. I plan to have fewer two week or longer stays in a single area until I get to Florida in the late fall. My travel approach will continue to evolve as the year unfolds. The biggest obstacle to planning 2020 right now is trying to make reservations at places that aren’t ready to accept them yet.

Tuesday December 31st 2019

Happy New Year

Today is a good time to look back on this years travels. I spent the first four and a half months of the year in Florida before rushing across the country to New Mexico in late May. I slowed down and worked my way north through Utah and Idaho to Oregon and Washington for the summer. During the fall I came south along the east side of the Cascades and Sierra Nevada mountain ranges to Las Vegas for the winter. The Rambling Road Trip made it to the Pacific Ocean in 2019.

I traveled about 9,000 miles, stayed a night to more than a month in twelve states. I traveled through two more states for a total of fourteen states visited in 2019. Most of my nights were spent in Florida, Nevada and Oregon.

A monthly breakout of my year follows. I tried to include some of the images I’ve posted during the year that represent the things I saw. Each picture should be clickable to see a bigger version.

January

2019 began in the Tampa Bay area of Florida. It was followed by a move to Central Florida with a couple of visits to Disney.

February

The month of February was spent in northern Florida and southeast Georgia. It ended with my first visit to the Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park.

March

March started in the southern part of Florida in the Big Cypress National Preserve on the northern side of the Everglades National Park. I got my Spring Training Baseball fix in the Sarasota area and I ended the month at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Campground.

April

I spent two weeks in April waiting for a rocket launch on Florida’s space coast followed by a few weeks in the greater Jacksonville area.

May

I made one more visit to the Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park before starting across the country. The trip west involved many stops and starts with a couple of course changes to avoid severe weather along the way. The Memorial Day weekend was in the Albuquerque New Mexico area. The month ended at Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah.

June

During June I moved on from Bryce Canyon to two additional stops in Utah followed by a stop in Idaho before getting to Oregon. The end of the month was spent at the confluence of the Snake and Columbia Rivers in south central Washington State.

July

After the fourth of July week in the Tri Cities of south central Washington, I moved to the Columbia River Gorge for about a week followed by a week in the Corvallis area of Willamette valley. The end of the month was spent in Gold Hill south of Grants Pass Oregon and included a day trip to Crater Lake National Park.

August

August was along the Pacific coast. It started with a stay near the Redwoods National Park in the northwest corner of California followed by four weeks in the Coos Bay area along the Oregon coast.

September

After spending the Labor Day weekend back in the Corvallis area, I returned to the Oregon Coast in Astoria at the Columbia river mouth. As fall arrived I moved inland back through the Columbia River Gorge the south toward Bend Oregon. The end of the month found me in the Reno Nevada area.

October

After two weeks in the Reno Nevada area I moved south to Pahrump Nevada for another couple of weeks. The month ended with my arrival in Las Vegas for a four month stay.

November

During the first full month of my stay in Las Vegas, the big event was the Aviation Nation Air Show at Nellis Air Force base.

December

I overloaded on Christmas decoration viewing during December in Las Vegas

Monday December 30th 2019

The sun was back today without a lot of wind. The temperature made it into the upper half of the fifties which is about normal for this time of year. It was a great day.

Today was the start of the eleven month lead time for my next Florida winter reservation. Last night I checked to see how many sites were going to be available. There were sufficient sites available that I didn’t think I needed to get up at 5AM Pacific Time to join the race to get the available sites. Right after breakfast this morning I got online and was able to book two weeks starting on the 30th of November at Lake Louisa State Park in Clermont Florida. I even got a good site I’ve been on before. The rush for sites in Lake Louisa State Park hasn’t started yet. My next Florida reservation needs to be make on the 14th of January.

I was in travel research and planning mode for the rest of the day. My first mission of the day was to determine where I was going to be over Labor day. I had a choice of three methods of figure it out. The obvious method is to plan all my stops forward from my last completed reservation at the beginning of July. I could also do the reverse and plan from my next known stop after Labor Day which is October 25th in the Florida Keys. Each approach has about the same amount of unknowns to fill in. The approach I chose was to just pick a location I want to visit over Labor Day then fill in the gaps. Unfortunately, there is a lot of country out there.

The three candidates for the Labor Day weekend are the Santa Fe New Mexico area, the Amarillo Texas area or the Oklahoma City Oklahoma area. First I determined there were enough interesting things to do in each area. That takes a lot of internet searches which lead to more searches. The good news is they all have plenty of interesting things to see and do. That’s also the bad news. To try and narrow it down, I started to research RV parks in each area. The bottom line is that the approach failed. I want to stop for a few days in each area.

All of the research in the previous paragraph took more than three hours of research. I took a break for food and a little exercise before returning to travel research. This time I’ve started looking at the trip by distance. I like to travel two hundred miles plus or minus about fifty miles on each travel day. Ideally I want to stay for a week or more at most of my stops. If I need to cover additional distance I’ll stop for a single night between major stops. Between the beginning of July and the end of October I have to cover more than 2800 miles. Most of the summer I want to tour along the first 800 miles, so the bulk of the travel will be in the 45 days after Labor Day.

Today’s research has given me more clarity on 2020 travels. I think about it overnight before making a few more commitments. Clearly I can’t see it all and will have to return another year to many of the areas I will be traveling through this year. The good news is the second time I visit an area, I have a better idea about roads to travel and places to stay.