Sunday, May 31, 2015

Timing Change

It is looking like we might be exiting from home earlier than planned. We may have renters in by July 11. We had been planning forward to August 1.  This has put us in a fast forward mode with packing and the host of other arrangement details that come with moving out of one home and into another.
But we are coming along.
We returned last Tuesday from a trip in Vilia, our 5th wheel, to Yosemite. Our poor National Parks!
It was Memorial Weekend and Sunday was a horrid traffic mess. We had attempted to get to Glacier Point Sunday AM but found a 90 minute wait to get to the only parking. It took us 45 minutes just to exit the entry backup. Then on the way back to the valley floor we hit the wall and took 2 hours to get to a point where we could turn to exit. Then, it took 1.5 hours more to reach the park exit. From the time we hit the backup to reaching open traffic, we traveled maybe 6 miles.
Besides being trampled by the crowds, all the carbon monoxide from the slow mass of traffic cannot be good for the park environment or its visitors.
Cathy and I talked about the need to do something to restrain the visitor volume, such as a lottery for entry pass system for the known busy times. Our NPS needs to do something.
OK, my little rant is done. All said, Yosemite was a wonderful way to pay a farewell to our California. It is of such magnificent grandeur as a show of Nature's mass and beauty. Unique to earth.

Final thought for this entry is the week at Yosemite yet further reinforced our excitement about heading out to wander this amazing place that is the US.

Friday, May 1, 2015

The Start of the Blog

Hello to those interested. This starts the blogging of our upcoming journey to crawl around the good old USA in our fifth wheel RV, pulled by the "Beast", our Ford F250 Diesel truck.
Today is May First 2015. The Beast is a 2015 truck that is nothing short of amazing to this maturing lifetime sedan driver, first time I have owned a truck... We recently went on a 5 week christening trip with our newly purchased 5th wheel and the Beast to Southern CA and this 4000 lbs truck went over SoCals infamous Grapevine pass on route 5 with style and grace connected to the 11,000 lbs fifth wheel behind. I was relieved to have the calm experience, being new at this game.
Our 5 weeks went pretty seamlessly and has set us up for expectations of a unique slice of life travel as we wander around the US, from West to East and back West over the next two years, starting this July 15, 2015.
It is a long held dream for Cathy, and I.

Vilia is the Witch of the Wood from the operetta "The Merry Widow". It is the name we chose for our RV based on some childhood experience. Something to be addressed in a future post.
But hey, we are just starting and this is my first blog. Lots of time to tell tales, add photos, videos and music.
We will soon be rolling.