If you need a hint, this week’s theme is about road trips! I like to call it road-trippin! This week, show and tell us your favorite sights and highlights you’ve seen along the road this summer, this year, or from your archives.
“Road trips required a couple of things: a well-balanced diet of caffeine, salt and sugar and an excellent selection of tunes—oh, and directions.” – Jenn McKinlay
Well said, Jenn! As the primary navigator for our 6-state road trip, directions were necessary, as was finding the best prices for gasoline. I did my share of driving when we were not pulling our travel trailer. Most of our journeys were to places we’ve been before, but there were a number of new roads and places we discovered.
Our total journey was to visit 6 western states in 31 days.
We left our driveway at 7:00 am on June 20 and arrived south of Bend, Oregon the same afternoon. We experienced long stretches of driving during most of our travels, which resulted in about 10 hours on the road each time. That included rest-stops and fuel/food/dog-walk spots. Our Ford F-150 averages 8-10 miles per gallon when pulling the trailer, so we stop every 200 miles.
Gas prices in Oregon and Washington averaged about $5.50 per gallon. (Eye-roll).
June Itinerary
Our road trip was scheduled for departure from Washington on June 20th. Here is June’s itinerary.
- June 20 Depart Nine Mile Falls, WA; arrive in SunRiver Oregon (10 hours)
- June 21 (happy solstice), depart Oregon; arrive in Sacramento Delta, aka Rio Vista, California (10 hours).
- June 21-26 Camp at delta campground.
- June 27 Store RV, depart Delta; arrive in San Diego, California. (10 hours)
- June 27-July 4 stay with my daughter in her home in San Diego.
- July 5 depart San Diego and head to Prescott, Arizona (to be continued next week).
“Map out your future – but do it in pencil. The road ahead is as long as you make it. Make it worth the trip.” – Jon Bon Jovi
We stayed overnight in our trailer camped in our nephew’s driveway, who lives in Sun River, Oregon. He was away fighting fires in Central California but we had a nice time with our niece and their kids. You can see the devastation left behind from last summer’s fires near Mt Shasta in Northern California in the above image.
Welcome Back to Northern California
We left Sun River at 7:30am the next day in a brisk 37F degrees, only to arrive 10 hours later in Rio Vista, California (gateway to Sacramento River Delta). We stopped for gas ($6.50/gallon) and a grocery stop before parking at the windsurf campground. The temperature was 107F.
“No road is long with good company.” – Turkish Proverb
A 70-degree gain in temperature did nothing for my health. Ironically, this day was also the summer solstice–the longest day of the year and hottest so far in Sacramento. Once we parked the trailer in the day-use area amidst the dirt and ant piles and started to unpack, I went into heat exhaustion. Nothing serious but the last time I experienced that kind of heat was July 2021. We managed to open the trailer, eat a cold meal and try to sleep in 90-degree evening temps with no electricity and no moving air. Our beloved campground was all but empty of windsurfers and friends–no wind!
No wind meant the water was calm for stand-up paddling! My daughter, who lives in the San Francisco Bay area called to surprise me with a visit! We went out paddling on the two inflatable SUPS I brought. It was sublime and a precious gift to see her — it had been a year!
We camped here for a week and yes, the weather got much better and the wind returned! By Thursday, several folks came out for a long weekend with intentions to windsurf and wing on the water. We enjoyed seeing friends we hadn’t seen in over two years. In this pic, Hans is pointing the way back to our home, LOL!
We left the Sacramento area and we were also able to leave the trailer in storage for free until we returned for it on July 12th, to use it to camp in Reno, Nevada–more about that next week!
A Grief-Journey Trail Through California
What now, you ask? Although we planned this road trip and began making arrangements in late April, God had His own plans for us to be on the road during this time. Most of you already know about my younger daughter’s loss of her sweet dog, Gideon, shared here. A few days before we left for the trip, a dear friend who lives near Sacramento told me her mother, who had been ill and in special care for three years, was admitted to the ICU. She texted me again the day we left to say her mother had passed. Because of her own family drama, she arranged the graveside service to be on Saturday, June 25, while we were camping an hour’s drive away. Luckily I had packed an appropriate dress and was able to attend the services and reception and just be there for my bestie.
That same day was when my daughter called to tell us about the coyote attack on Gideon, who was peacefully put to sleep the next day. We arrived in San Diego on Monday as planned and I just sat with my daughter while she mourned and reminisced about her beloved pet. In this image, Gideon and Aero watch me closely as I paddled on the river in 2018.
Over the course of that week, we learned that Hans’ youngest son, who has two amazing young daughters (my grand-daughters!) is filing for divorce after five years of marriage. We were able to talk in-depth with him, to offer support and advice, when he came over to spend time with us–he also lives in San Diego.
It was fun to watch my daughter, pictured right (above) engage with her step-nieces. We all needed to re-connect with family during these times.
We felt that we had been given the gift of time when we could be with friends and family during these sad times. The road trip was so much better than frantically scheduling last-minute plane reservations!
Amidst San Diego’s drama, I connected with another San Diego blogger (more about that in 2 weeks), shopped for the grand-girlies, visited the new home of my brother and his family (they moved during the pandemic, too), and took a drive to La Jolla.
I also managed to enjoy some quiet mornings with my coffee. My daughter’s home overlooks Hwy 94 and the San Diego downtown skyline. Not seen in this image is the continued vista of Point Loma and the Coronado Bridge. Quite the view!
Traveling with Pets
“Dogs love to go for rides. A dog will happily get into any vehicle going anywhere.” ~Dave Barry
Have you taken your pets on any long road trips? If so, how did they do?
In theory, taking our two dogs with us is much better than leaving them in a boarding kennel. Five days of that last summer, while we flew to San Diego and then Sedona, proved that point. Poor Brodie suffered from stress-induced colitis which resulted in bloody stool upon our return. I know, ick! We thought a road trip that included the dogs would alleviate the stress.
But despite stops in between long drives, staying in mostly familiar homes and the RV, both dogs ended up with problems. I called our veterinarian back home and he was unable to prescribe an anti-diarrheal over state lines. He suggested OTC Imodium based on weight, and that seemed to work for Brodie. Then when I started having issues, we decided it was from the constant heat we experienced throughout the trip. The worst of the heat was in Scottsdale, Arizona where we stayed a few days with my brother. How does 114F degrees sound? How about 95F degrees at 1:00am? Try walking your dogs in that heat and when the sidewalks and streets are busy frying eggs? More about the Arizona trip next week!
We wouldn’t change what we did to have our dogs with us but we will be more mindful of their diet. A bland diet of white rice and boiled chicken, and other mild-ingredient dog food will be the plan for next time before we are exposed to excessive heat. And have the Imodium at the ready.
Please join me next week as I share our time in the Arizona and Nevada deserts, amidst friends, family, and a birthday celebration with my Dad.
Inspiring Photo Challenges
Each week I am inspired by my fellow bloggers’ photo challenges. I find it fun to incorporate these into my Sunday Stills weekly themes.
- Jez’ Water Water Everywhere
- Johnbo’s CellPic Sunday
- Jo’s Monday Walk
- Marsha’s Writers Quotes Wednesday: Pets or Not
- Natalie’s Weekend Coffee Share
This Week’s Featured Bloggers
Sunday Stills is a wonderful community of bloggers and photographers who desire to connect with one another. Now that I am back home with full computer and internet capability, I can share your links again! Below are this week’s links from bloggers who share road trip photos this week. I edit these all week as new links are added.
- YOUR BLOG’S NAME HERE
- Always Write
- Calling All Rushbabes
- Cats and Trails and Garden Tales
- Cee’s Photo Challenges
- The Day After
- Deb’s World
- Equipoise Life Image shared in comments
- Geriatrix Fotogallery
- Graham’s Island
- Loving Life
- Natalie the Explorer
- Now At Home
- NEW Sach’s Attic
- Peaceful at Dawn
- Space Stories By Gift
- Stevie Turner
- This is Another Story
- Travel with Me
- Wide Eyed Wonderings
- Woolly Muses
- Working On Exploring
Sunday Stills Photo Challenge Reminders
Sunday Stills weekly challenge is easy to join. You have all week to share and link your post.
- Remember to title your blog post a little differently than mine.
- Please create a new post for the theme or link a recent one.
- Entries for this theme can be posted all week.
- Tag your post “Sunday Stills.”
- Don’t forget to create a pingback to this post so that other participants can read your post.
- I also recommend adding your post’s URL to the comments.
Join me next week for the theme “Desert or Dessert?”, as I share more details and images from our road trip where we explored the desert areas of Arizona and Nevada.
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