Date: 10 September, 2022
Location: Radford, Virginia

Yep.  You read right.  "Location: Radford, Virginia".  Still.

We've had a lot of people asking us how our trip is going (since we
supposedly left on 30 August), and the short answer is "it's not...yet".

As we were preparing to leave, reality set in and we realized we still
had a lot of unfinished stuff that we needed to take care of before
taking a couple of months off.  So we decided to slow things down a bit
and delay our trip.

The RV is sitting safe and sound at Dan's house out in California,
patiently waiting for us to come West, while we're busy here in
Virginia, taking care of business before we go to pick it up.

We'll let you know when we are ready to finally pull the trigger on the
trip.  Until then, please bear with us while we "hurry up and wait..."

Like bad pennies...

 
Yep. We're back. Again. Like bad pennies. After an almost two year hiatus we're dragging the old Khronicles out of storage, dusting them off, and seeing where they take us this time around.

As some of you already know, a little over a year ago we tracked down and bought back our old Toyota Escaper (a.k.a. "Timmy" or "Houdini") from the young couple we sold him to. Unfortunately, he was in pretty rough shape and we spent the better part of last year fixing stuff. Then, in June, we decided to sell him again. Since then, we've been looking for a somewhat newer replacement with a little more room.

We don't know if any of you have been in the market for an RV in the last year or so, but it's an absolute zoo out there. We found the available choices to be limited, stupidly expensive, and anything under 25' and moderately priced sells within hours of being posted - usually before we even get to see it advertised. After a few months of this, we were beginning to get really discouraged. Then, a couple of weeks ago, Julie's son Dan sent us an ad for a 23' motorhome from his local Facebook Marketplace out in California.

We talked to the owner, Dan went and checked it out for us, the price was right, so we bought it and he drove it back to his house. All in the course of about 24 hours.

It's a 1998 Fleetwood Tioga 23B - a "class C" motorhome, very much like Timmy's big brother - but it's 11 years younger with half as many miles on it. 

We fly out there on 31 August to finally see it in person, set it up, get new tires, etc., and drive it back East. We'll be taking our time (it's over 2,200 miles as the crow flies), getting back in late October or sometime in November.

Julie's been hard at work going through our logs and plotting our previous routes on an old road atlas. Once she's done, we'll be able to easily see where we have and haven't been, making our day-to-day and longer term planning a lot easier.

We are looking forward to getting back out on the road and seeing where we go this time.

It's good to be back! See you again soon,

Mark & Julie

The Firepit

Location: Radford, Virginia

Boring.  That's a word we've heard a lot lately - and not just from other people (yawn). It's been about 10 months since we last wrote a Khronicle just after Covid hit.  Mostly that's because there just hasn't really been much going on for us to write about.  It's not like we've been travelling to exotic locations or doing cool or funny stuff.  On the contrary, like many of our friends, we've been leading relatively quiet, boring lives these days.

You know the drill.  Get up, make coffee, read the news, have breakfast, decide what we're going to do today. For us these days it's been mostly house jobs and going for walks.  Having been isolated for so long, we've given ourselves a long list of jobs; floors, kitchen cabinets, painting - you get the idea...

One of the highlights of our fall and winter that hasn't involved work has been the fire ring Julie requested for her birthday. It's really extended our outdoors time together, as well our ability to socialize well into winter.  Several of our ex-cruising friends who are now RVing have stopped by on their travels to visit for a day or a few.  Since they are traveling with their own homes, we can stay isolated in ours.  And with social distancing by seating them on the other side of the fire, it's almost like the "old days" pre-Covid.

There's nothing like sitting, chatting, quietly staring into the fire, feeling the warmth in front and the cold in back, taking turns to periodically mess around with it, pushing the coals around, adding wood, moving your chair to avoid the smoke, etc.  Oh, and let's not forget the ring toss game...

Actually, maybe our lives aren't so boring after all....

And, as an extra bonus this year, we got to wake up to a white Christmas!

All the best,

Mark & Julie

The Veggie Boat

Location: Radford, Virginia

When we were living on our sailboat, Rachel, in the San Blas Islands off Panama's northern coast, the arrival of the "veggie boat" was a very big deal. Open fishing boats about 20 feet long, they did double duty as floating grocery stores and provided us with the necessities of life - like vegetables, chicken, and occasionally wine - all for very reasonable prices. A few of the islands had "grocery stores", but these were not always convenient or well stocked. The veggie boats, also not always well stocked, would make their seemingly random rounds of random anchorages on some random schedule that none of us cruisers could ever figure out.

We always had a shopping list prepared on the off chance that today would be veggie boat day. After being there a few months, we came to the realization that our list was actually not so much a shopping list as it was a wish list. 

 A shopping list, at least to us, implies that one will go to a store and buy what's on the list. In the San Blas, however, one "goes shopping" and buys whatever the veggie boat has on board. You may not really want bananas or cabbage or "pollo entera" (chicken, plucked, with head and feet still attached) but when that's all there is, that's what you buy, whether it's on the list or not. Needless to say, mealtimes often required a certain amount of creativity.

And there was always the awareness that, if we bought more than we needed, someone else further down the line might not be able to get what they needed. We were all in the same boat, so to speak, and were very aware of that fact. That being said, however, your chances of getting what you wanted were directly proportional to your position in the fleet - distinctly better if you were among the first boats visited rather than among the last.

We've found that, to some degree, going to the grocery store these days is a bit like shopping from the veggie boat. We never know what we'll find or what will be out of stock (other than hand sanitizer and toilet paper, of course). Obviously, the range of options is much broader here at home than in the San Blas, but all the same, we are grateful for our "wish list" mentality and the lessons we learned shopping "veggie boat style".

Please keep others in mind, buy only what you need, and may your veggie boat always come in,

Mark & Julie

Where the Wild Things Are

Location: Radford, Virginia

We tire of being cold, so the day before Valentine's, we decide to take a month or two and travel south to warmer climes in our camper.

Things down here are a far cry from the frozen tundra up north in Virginia. Here we are able to wear shorts and tee shirts while we hike, visit with several old cruising friends, and generally spend our time exploring, relaxing, and being "not cold". And we are, once again, amazed at the sheer abundance of wildlife down here.

One evening early in the trip, at dusk at our camp in the Georgia woods, we are surprised by a plethora of strange bird calls. Mostly what sounds like hoots, we guess it's owls and do a quick owl call search on the Internet. Turns out the trees above and around us are filled with barred owls – it must be spring and mating season has begun. Unfortunately, we have forgotten to bring our binoculars – a.k.a "bins" (doh!), so we don't see any, but are happy to hear them. 

Our first day in Florida we go hiking on the beach at Ft. Clinch State Park in Fernandina and see a sand covered turtle who has come ashore, we suppose, to lay eggs. Another harbinger of spring? Luckily, we are fast enough (and, thankfully, the turtle is slow enough) that we are able to capture a photo.

As we travel we become used to seeing bald eagles, osprey, and sandhill cranes. Egrets, wood storks and many other shore birds are also frequently observed. Unfortunately, we are unable to see them as close as we'd like since we don't have our bins...

At Silver Glen Springs we find crystal clear water and puthering sand springs – very cool and, like our camp fire, easy to watch and get lost in.

After breaking ourselves free from the puthering, we chat up a young man with a couple of kids, all in wet suits. They've been snorkeling with the manatees for the last hour or so and have really enjoyed themselves. Apparently, one manatee is very friendly and keeps sneaking up behind and nudging them – they tell us it's quite a startling proposition the first time it happens. Hopefully, this is not also a sign of spring mating season...

At St. Augustine on the walls of the old Spanish fort we see pigeons cooing and wooing, grabbing each other's beaks and doing their strange pigeon mating dance. Yep, spring is definitely arriving.

We also get to see some gators! One about 10' long across a river from where we are walking with friends, then on another day with other friends, a little four footer from about 8 feet away, followed by a huge 12 footer from only about 25' away! Needless to say, we continue on without trying to get closer, make friends, or visit. Don't want to risk wearing out our welcome! It would be cool to have our bins, though.

At Mayaca State Park we get to participate in one of our favorite wildlife viewing activities – watching and listening to bird watchers watching birds. There are so many varieties of shore bird here, all looking for fish and shellfish, that our new friends are very animated, talking excitedly among themselves and snap-snap-snapping pictures. As always, this makes them even more enjoyable to watch, and we spend a while observing them. Unfortunately, we can't see much of what they're discussing without our bins...

On one of our last days, we are taken fishing by old cruising buddies. Julie catches a sheepshead – excellent eating, according to one of our hosts. He then goes on to catch a second one, then cleans them both and gives us all the fillets. We pan fry them the following night and, as promised, they are delicious. Yum!

Then, like everyone else we know, our plans are suddenly short-circuited by Covid-19. We'd hoped to stay south until early April , but with state governments closing facilities and what looks like a looming country-wide shutdown, we scurry back home.

Here we are greeted by a lawn that needs mowing, happily blooming daffodils that Mark gave Julie for her birthday last November, and – wait for it - stores with no toilet paper!?!? We don't get it - hoarding toilet paper? Go figure.

At any rate, we have just stocked up the camper (4 rolls), so we're good for "bog roll" for the time being. A quick trip to the grocery for some fresh veggies, dried beans, seeds to sprout and a quick perusal to see what else we can find to supplement our stores and tide us over for the next few weeks, and we're good to go for our next phase - voluntary self-isolation.

Our isolation reminds us to be grateful for the all-too-short vacation we just had. Now the only wildlife we get to see is local birds, the odd squirrel, and our neighbors. At least we have our bins!

Best wishes to you all, stay safe and be healthy. 

Happy New Year and Where Are We Now?

Location: Radford, Virginia, US

Wow! A lot has happened in the months since last April when we last wrote. Here's the end-of-the-year synopsis, "Readers Digest" style:

A giant cowboy we saw on the way home. 





We made it safely back to Blacksburg in late March.

 Kentucky Easter decorations

Our new 18' travel trailer 

We decide to sell "No Sails", take our house off rental market in August, and move back in again, at least for a while. But we need to have somewhere to live until August if we sell the View. So we buy a pickup truck and an 18' travel trailer. Now we can put "No Sails" on the market. Except that we've missed that spring time "sellers market". So we wait. And wait. And wait longer. And keep waiting. Move into our house on 2 August – now we have three homes and two vehicles. So, sad to say, we decide to sell Wanda the Honda, too. She sells quickly and we miss her. Finally "No Sails" sells in mid August. Phew!! Back down to 1 vehicle and 1 camper again.

 Rotator cuff surgery recovery


Then we change our minds and decide to put the Blacksburg house back on the rental market for the income, and start searching for a smaller, less expensive house we can use as a "home base" while continuing to travel. After looking for several months, we eventually hit paydirt and find a little one-bedroom house in nearby Radford that we love.

 Our little new house

 A bucket of giant shrimp in Beaufort, North Carolina

 Pilot Mountain, North Carolina

 Hiking Pilot Mountain

 Our Christmas tree

So, where are we now? Radford for the holidays, doing house jobs, building a Murphy bed for when we have guests, and deciding where we'll go when we can't stand the cold later this winter – Puerto Rico, Spain and Mexico have been mentioned. Then we're thinking about taking the camper out to Montana and New Mexico for a large chunk of next summer. Time'll tell ...

Working on the Murphy bed

The Murphy bed

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas, and are, like us, looking forward to the New Year!

The Green Dots

Location: Lake Mohave, Nevada

We've had a wonderful 3 week visit with one of our sons (and some great friends) near Redding, California. Apparently, we've been having so much fun (and are soo slack) that we've forgotten to take any pictures!! And now it's too late as it's time for us to say goodbye and start wending our way back to Virginia.

We've had several discussions about which route to take but, after several false starts, it all comes down to what the weather is doing when it was time to leave. Shades of sailing on Rachel, eh?

One of the few things we do know is that we want to stay, as much as possible, on "the green dots". They mark "scenic routes" as defined by our maps. Once we pick the general direction we want to head, we then look for the green dots in various resources and try to spend most of our time following them, as long as we're not getting too far off our track ("too far" being about as undefined and flexible as possible).

April is not the best time to be traveling across the US as there is still snow in the north and high winds, rain, and tornadoes in the middle and south. The upside, however, is that the prevailing winds are from west to east, so we're hoping to get a bit of a tailwind for at least part of the way.

We are a bit late leaving as we we've been waiting for some parts for a last minute repair. Three days before our departure we start poring over the big picture weather charts. The northern route is definitely out! Too much snow and too cold – we're sick of being cold after this last winter in the southwest.

What about Interstate through Colorado, that would be beautiful? Nope, elevation is too high for too far and still too much snow!

Sheesh. Well, how about dropping down through Arizona/New Mexico/and the Texas panhandle? That looks pretty clear, and we don't want to go the southern route as we came out that way – we want to see new stuff!

Now which way should we start out? The best forecast is down the west side of the Sierra Nevada mountains, but we've already made that trip so many times and it's NOT all that scenic. Julie really wanted to take California Rte 395 when we came up to Dan's but it was too snowy back in March. Let's check it out now. Ooh! The roads are clear and no snow is forecast! Great – things are coming together. Ok, looks like we finally have a plan!

Oh, wait. We'll still have to go over Donner Pass east of Sacramento which is 7,000 ft above sea level and there's still 10ft of snow up there!! But the interstate is clear and if it's a clear day we should be fine – we definitely won't be spending the night up there <brrr>.

There is rain forecast for the next 2 days with potential snow up at Donner. So we leave just before the rain and find a campground at only 2,000 ft elevation to stage for getting over the pass and down Rte 395 in 1 day – between this rain and before the next cold front.

Bear River Campground is perfect. Unfortunately, (of course!!) the weather forecast changes for the day we're going to traverse the pass and they're now predicting a slight chance of snow and slush up there. Even so, it's still the best travel day. So we wake up early, check the dept of transportation website...no snow...great - off we go!

 The drive is spectacular, up and over Donner Pass, where in 1846 a group of 81 settlers trying to reach California got stranded on the east side of the pass due to early snow. They were forced to spend the winter there and only 45 survived (cannibalism was involved). We don't want that to happen to us, and, luckily, it doesn't. Whew.

 We turn off the interstate at Lake Tahoe and follow Rte 395 south for 250 miles following the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada mountains. It is absolutely spectacular – it's slightly overcast, but with the snow-capped mountains, beautiful vistas, and a long gradual downhill run with a tailwind we can't ask for a better trip! We stop for the night at a BLM campground at 3,000 feet elevation and have a nice quiet, cool night – great sleeping weather and we don't get the plague!!

 The next day we head down to Death Valley. Another long downhill run (with a few pretty steep uphill bits), also outstanding. We're below sea level, wearing shorts and tee shirts, and are loving it!

 Day 3's highlight is a visit to the Hoover Dam, built in the 1930s on the Colorado River. Very impressive, and very art deco-ey.

Now we're in Lower Cottonwood Campground, a small National Park Service campground on Lake Mohave. We've been sitting here for two days and will be here for one more while high winds blow themselves out. We're as snug as a bug in a rug, tucked in behind a few trees and in between small, steep hills on three sides with the RV facing northwest into the wind – just like the old days on Rachel! We're getting some puffs and gusts, but nothing like we find on our walks outside the protection of our camp site where we have to lean into the wind to make progress. We definitely don't want to be out there driving the RV in 25-35 mph sustained gusting to 50 mph winds!

We know we won't have such stupendous scenery for much longer, and probably won't have such great luck with the weather for the remaining 2,100 miles back to Virginia. But as we sit here cuddled up together sharing a glass of wine, looking over the maps, and planning the next stage of our trip, we are thankful for such a great "greet dots" start.

Anza-Borrego Redux

Location: Borrego Springs, California

As we weren't too far away, and had had SO much fun on our last visit, we decided to stop at Borrego Springs again. Three years ago we paid our first visit to Anza-Borrego State Park during the Swainson's Hawk migration and the flowering cactii and some wild flowers (see here).

 This time it's all flowers, flowers, and more flowers. We just happened to arrive as the wildflowers were in prime bloomage, but before it had hit the news and social media. What perfect timing – we beat the "flowergeddon" crowds (see here), and were able to spend a lot of time out wandering almost alone in the desert viewing this year's "superbloom". The flowers were amazing.

We also hiked through two slot canyons - "South Palm Wash Slot" and "The Slot" - that were both spectacular but also very different! There was lots of scrambling and squeezing through these very narrow high sided canyons.

To top it all off, we saw our second lenticular cloud ever, and – guess what? Our first was right here almost 3 years ago!

Our next-to-last stop was also one of our favorites, a small primitive campground on the shore of Lake Mohave on the Colorado River.  We spent a few days here hiking up into the beautiful canyon.


We are currently in Redding, California visiting our son, Dan, before starting the trek back east to Virginia in April.