There. Not There. – On The Road

Those who follow our posts will know that Betty & I have been counting down (or up, depending on your perspective on life – lol) the number of provinces and states visited on our overlandish odyssey. We have a sticker map of North America on our entry door, with Betty or I usually pictured pasting another jurisdiction for our post. May 8, 2019 was the last such entry, with Betty sticking to Illinois (state # 36), while I added Wisconsin (state # 37). That’s a full eight months with no new additions. Are we falling down on the job or what?!!

Betty walks down the road in our current campground at *Quartzsite,* *Arizona*. Well, on BLM land, it’s more of a dirt path through the desert, than a road. There are no assigned campsites. People park wherever they like, as long as it is not too close to a neighbour, or in a dry creek bed. Once off the beaten path (or beatnik path as I have coined it) one can drive as far into the desert as they like. But if your vehicle isn’t a raised 4×4, you may not want to venture too far afield.

Well yes, we have been travelling quite a bit since then – adding 5,500 miles (not kms) to our motorhome’s odometer – but it has all been to states previously visited on this adventure.

For New Year’s Eve, we joined our neighbours at a campfire hosted by a couple from Osoyoos, British Columbia. Fellow campers come from all over North America, with a fair number of Canadians represented in this warm patch of Arizona desert.

Until last week…

We were in Yuma, Arizona paying our pay-as-you-go Verizon jetpack bill, and picking up a few groceries. When it was time to return to Quartzsite, we asked Samantha (our gps) for the most direct route from our location. As she took us over a bridge, Samantha announced that we were crossing a state border into California. She then told us we were entering a different time zone. Samantha next advised us to turn right at the end of the bridge. She then reported we were crossing a state border into Arizona, and entering another time zone. This whole process took less than 90 seconds!

Every night we see amazing sunsets from our campsite. If you look closely, you can just make out our Smart, our beach tent to moderate the sun, and a tilted solar panel on our roof, to capture the warmth from that big ball in the sky. Apologies to my photography course instructor for not adjusting the aperture on this one…

So yes, Betty & I were there in California – our 38^th state. But we were not really there long enough to count.

As previously mentioned, because there are no electrical hook-ups in the desert, solar is the way to go. This unit has 4,860 watts of electricity coming from at least 20 solar panels on the motorhome and trailer.

At the end of March, we hope to cross over to Palm Springs, California and make our way up the eastern side of the state, through Joshua Tree National Park, Sequoia National Park, and Yosemite National Park, on our way to the state capitol of Sacramento, before heading back to Winnipeg. Next year – 2021 now – we hope to drive down the Pacific Coast all the way from Port Angeles, Washington, to San Diego, California.

Another colourful sky surrounds our motorhome, as the sun drops over the horizon.

So we definitely want to see more of our 38^th state than the 90 seconds last week. As with all of our travels, we never really know what to expect. But we’re very much looking forward to visiting this one state with a larger population than all of Canada! And I’m sure that will take more than two minutes next time…

You can just make out our campsite sign in the bottom right of this shot.

Cheers!

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