California or Bust

Jill's Journal: After more than a month of winter, we’re definitely ready to head to warmer pastures. Our original plan, of course, was to spend our first winter on the road in the warmer parts of the East Coast. But sometimes things change…

If you look at a map of the U.S., our wonderful Midwest time in Northwest Iowa was smack-dab in the middle of two sunshiny states: Florida and California. Yes, Florida is lovely this time of year. But so is California. And after days of debate, California won out for the sole reason that it has family. My parents moved about two months ago to a town about 175 miles north of Hemet, where they’ve lived for 30 years, and we’re so eager to see their new place. And my poor parents haven’t seen their little granddaughters in a year! It’s time to pay them a visit.

My sister and her husband recently moved also – about a month ago – and we can’t wait to see their new place either (and they have RV hookups!). Apparently my baby brother, who hasn’t moved in 4 1/2 years, is the most stable one of the whole family…who would have thought?

Rob’s family will also be in California around the holidays. And, there just might be a poker event in a few months on the West Coast that is beckoning Rob. So, to California we go. Our plan at the moment is to spend the whole winter in the area, but we’re no where near ready to commit to anything yet. Clearly, plans can change!

Today we made huge strides in our march west and arrived in Golden, Colorado (barely west of Denver), soon after sunset. We had planned to stay here until Thursday, but after we showed up at the two campgrounds here that are open year-round, we were shocked to find them full. Both of them. We’ve been in empty campgrounds for so long that it was quite a surprise. And it’s definitely winter weather here, so it was an even bigger shock. Hopefully Camping World doesn’t mind us overnighting in their parking lot because it was bedtime for the girls and driving any farther wasn’t something we were ready to tackle after an already-full day.