Friday, April 21, 2023

Hi All - Yes I Did my Travels This 2023 Winter



Check out the picture above in AZ, but only a mile from NM. Rock hounding took me here on my way home just a few weeks ago.  I came 14 miles in to where I took this picture on dirt roads to get here to look for fire agates.  I found many.

To my surprise, was the beauty I found here too.  It is BLM land, so camping here is ok.  No cell service here but some places do exist closer to the paved highway.  I chose not to stay the night here, but I was torn because of the beauty.  

I marched on as my trip home would include stopping in Chicago to visit my aunt this year, before dipping down to AL for what used to be called the SE GTG.  Going to Chicago to visit my aunt adds about 1,000 to my trip milage.  Since I’m the only one that visits here I know how much it means to have me visit.

It was colder and wetter than normal this year, so I got sone tips of new places to check out in the Yuma area, where it is warmer and dryer.

Here is the synopsis of the travels and I will address more detail in other posts.  I will not be doing daily posts so look out for wonderful pictures at places I think you will like.  I will also post about other things I did and tried out.

Early January- left home in MA early January and stopped in MD to see oldest son and family before heading to the great southwest. I skirted western DC in the early morning and headed over to I81 / Shenandoah Valley to Knoxville where I picked up I40 west.  I watch the weather all the time and had a heavy rain storm to get though on way to Nashville.

My stop that night was the I40 W rest area west of Nashville.  The next day I made it it OKC and driveway surfed for the night at a friends. 

Next leg was to dip south to Alamogordo, NM and stayed at Walmart as it was late into the eve.  

Then over the mountains through Los Cruises and on to Hot Well Dunes in Bowie, AZ for a couple nights.

Next stop was Ajo, AZ for a couple days before visiting Yuma, AZ, Quartzsite, other son and family in San Diego, Los Algodones, MX and around that whole area for an extended period of time to stay warm and away from heavy rain.  It worked.

Eventually I was able to head up though Joshua Tree NP and on to the Mojave Desert to Death Valley, then on to southern NV before more storms came in.  As I watch the storms land I San Francisco, I stated heading south again to BLM between Phoenix and Quartzsite.  Seeing no good weather I gave up on Utah in March and decided to work my way east during March.  

I stopped at many new places along the way and had some fun, like the picture above show.  I continued through OKC again, up though MO to visit aunt and then to AL for some slow time and exploration.  And just a few days ago I headed north to where I am now in VA and will stop in MD to see son and family before I get home. 

Oh this is my 10th year of travels.
Year 1 - Class B
Years 2-4 Prius
Years 5-10 Tacoma and Four Wheel Camper

I hope all the readers are well and feel free to ask questions.

Brent
macaloney@hotmail.com