Spring Training 2026 - Day 74

 We are home. It was an uneventful easy drive up I-5 then I-80/ highway 49 to home arriving around 3:30 pm.

It was the culmination of a very long trip that brought back a lot of memories, experiences, and good times.  I would not have been able to do it all by myself.   Kevin's help was outstanding and essential to making it all work.

It is now back to whatever after a little decompression and focus on getting everything wrapped up from the trip and getting the house and everything else ready for the rest of the year.  Volunteer activities will resume but maybe not at the same pace as before.

If you have been tracking our trip on the blog. Thanks.  It was not always the most interesting thing to read. but it is appreciated.  See you next time.

That is all.

Spring Training 2026 - Day 73

 We are in Bakersfield, River Run RV Resort, right next to the mostly dry Kern River. The park has been a regular stop for us, going and coming on many past trips.

We departed Palm Springs around 9:00 am after refueling and a truck stop mocha.  It turned to be very windy in the Coachella Valley where we were, and it was a fairly challenging drive until we got further west on I-10.

There are two main ways to get through the LA Basin, directly through the city on I-10 to north on I-5 and over the "Grapevine" or turning North short of San Bernadino and then west over Tejon Pass at Tehachapi to US-99 at Bakersfield, where are staying.  

We chose the Tehachapi Route, although a little longer, it is less aggravating than going through LA.  Wind and traffic weren't much of a problem, although it was windy at Tehachapi and subsided as we began our long descent into the San Joquin Valley.

We arrived about 2:30 pm, Got set up and travelled to Camping World to get a new electrical connection cord between the RV and the truck that was malfunctioning.

Since tonight is our last night on the road, and home tomorrow, we decided to grill steaks one more time, so we stopped at a grocery store (Albertson's) got two steaks and some fresh corn on the cob.  We had some twice-baked potatoes in the freezer and leftover baked beans. Another excellent travel dinner, cooked by grill masters.

A special treat tonight was watching the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket from Vandenberg SFB. The rocket was launching Starlink satellites. We also watched the recovery of the booster rocket

 on Kevin's computer. A great way to finish (almost) the trip.

We will be "driving all day up the San Joquin" tomorrow and home in midafternoon.

Not sure if spam or not, or if an AI bot has accessed the blog, but we have had an initial contact about acquiring movie rights. If real, we will hold out to have a say in the selection of actors, we are thinking Jim Carey and Jeff Daniels, if they are available.

 

Spring Training 2026 - Day 72

 We left our RV park in Eloy, AZ arround 9:00 am and made it through Phoenix, travelling around  the 202 loop and then west, through the western Phoenix suburbs alomg I-10W.

It was pretty much a straight shot to Palm Desert, CA to our stop for tonight at the Emerald Desert RV Resort.  Judy and I stayed her many times.  It is a great RV park, close to a lot of things around here, well maintained, and very comfortable.  We are just here for an overnight stop, but it would be a nice snowbird stop.

The trip was fairly easy, wind wise and when we entered California at Blyth, the price of gas went well into the $5.00+ range. We filled up at the last gas stop near the AZ border.

After dealing with a few RV/truck maintenance issues, we rested and went out for dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant. Bucatini's. We have eaten there before and had another excellent meal.  We had a bruschetta for an appetizer, I had linguine and clams, and Kevin had the Oso Buca lamb shank. 

We are headed for Bakersfield tomorrow, our last overnight stop.  There are several ways to get there.  The shortest, mileage wise is through LA and over the Grapevine into the San Joquin Valley. The other way is to head north at San Bernadino then west over to Tehachapi and the Tejon Pass into the valley.  This route is a little longer but is an easier drive, depending on the weather.  We are going to take the Tehachapi and the Tejon Pass route.  The weather looks good. Traffic may be a little better avoiding LA.

Closer each day; Almost home.

Spring Training 2026 - Day 71

 It was a long mostly windy drive today from Los Cruces, NM to our stop for the night in Eloy, AZ, about 40 miles south of Phoenix.  We got gas and a McDonalds sandwich before getting underway at 9:00 am.  The wind was mostly a crosswind close to 20 mph at times, making the driving a two-hands-on-the-wheel experience for most of the trip.

Arizona so far has the worst roads on I-10 we have been on.  Lots of potholes and rough surfaces.

After arrival at the RV park where we are staying tonight, we had to unhook the truck to reach all the RV site connections and doing so we noticed one of the brackets that attach to the tow hitch had broken off. Most likely the poor roads and bouncing around contributed to the bracket failure. Not mission critical but the brackets help reduce swaying between the RV and the truck.  We decided to try and replace it if we could.   The brackets are over-the-counter items at Camping World. Unfortunately, the only Camping World in the area open today after 3:00 pm was in Mesa about 45 miles away.  Kevin volunteered to drive the truck into Mesa and back.  We didn't need more driving after a long day, but we got the brackets and replaced the broken one and the other one that was loose.  A very long day that Kevin made work.

Take out pizza for dinner tonight.

Palm Desert, CA tomorrow, then Bakersfield, and home on Tuesday.  We are ready.

No pictures today.  If interested in a picture of a broken hitch bracket, let me know.

Spring Training 2026 - Day 70

 On the road today at 8:45 from the Ft Stockton RV Park.  It was a long trip, almost 300 miles to our next stop, The Hacienda RV Resort in Las Cruces, NM, about 30 miles NW of El Paso, TX.  Judy and I always stayed here on our trips east and west.

It was an easy trip, very little wind and lots of open road. We arrived about 1:00 pm MST, gaining an hour near Van Horn, TX.

We had a burger at a fast-food place nearby after setting up and watched the Phillies play the Colorado Rockies on TV. The Phillies won.

Later, we made a short trip to Walmart then went to our favorite Mexican Restaurant, La Posta de Mesilla, just down the road in the town of Mesilla. 

 

 

 

 

The town has a long history with the first permanent settlement in 1840.  It developed into a major transportation hub, and was the crossroads of two major stagecoach, mail, and trade routes.  Two Civil War battles were also fought near by.

 Mesilla History

Another long drive tomorrow, across New Mexico into Arizona, through Tucson to our stop in Eloy, AZ, just south of Phoenix.

 

Spring Training 2026 - Day 69

 It was raining when we left Kerrville, but it cleared up about 15 miles down the highway.  

It was a smooth ride to our next destination, Fort Stockton, TX.  There is not much between here and San Antonio  We are in west Texas, lots of open country and only a couple of small towns that are essentially gas, food and lodging (see Bates Motel model) stops.  There was little wind, traffic wasn't too bad and only a short lane restriction somewhere along the way.  The speed limit is 80 mph along this part of I-10, and it was very easy to do that if desired.

We made good time, and arrived at the Fort Stockton RV Park around 1:00 pm.  Fort Stockton is strategically located about the middle of west Texas between San Antonio and El Paso.

The Fort Stockton RV park is not a destination park. It is primarily an overnight stop heading either east or maybe south.  We stayed here every time we came this way.

We also did our laundry for the last time this trip.  We have a perfect record of never having to wait for a washer or dryer anywhere along the way. A first for me on our many RV trips.

Fort Stockton has an interesting history. It was the site of Commanche Springs. It was an aquifer of 6 artesian springs and a frequent stop of inhabitants going back to pre-Columbian times.

Commanche Springs

More recently, the US Army established a fort at the springs in 1859 to 1886 to project settlers, fight the Indians, and protect the railroad that passed through the area.

Settlers thought the ground water could be used for irrigation and without any regulation those days, they ran the aquifers dry and they have never recovered.

Fort Stockton History

The city has supported and funded a historical initiative to attract more travelers to spend an extra day or two on the way by. They have established a nice visitors center and have recreated a footprint and preserved a few structures of the original fort.  One interesting thing they did was commission a number of metal silhouettes of local history.  Many are at the visitors' center but there are two, one the east and west of the city along the roadway. Pretty neat.

Our destination tomorrow is Los Cruces, NM about 40 miles NW of El Paso. A lot more open road to El Paso and the weather looks good.

We will be staying at the Hacienda RV Park Resort in Las Cruces, a comfortable stop where were we have stayed many times.

Getting closer.

Spring Training 2026 - Day 68

 It was raining when we woke up this morning.  It rained pretty hard for a while, but as we travelled through Houston it was off-and-on. with occasional downpours then partly cloudy.

There are few ways to avoid Houston going east-west on I-10.  None are convenient.  We experienced heavy traffic along about 50 miles of Houston sprawl.  We stopped at a Buc-ee's west of Houston in Katy, TX, and got a few more things for breakfast and lunches along the way.  The drive to San Antonio was mostly dry but again, lots of road construction with narrow lanes without shoulders.

The traffic in San Antonio wasn't much better than Houston, then we began our travel into the Texas hill country to our stop today in Kerrville, TX.  It is a big upscale RV park, Buckhorn Lake RV Resort.  Judy and I have stayed here several times, most recently on our return from Florida in 2023.

After arriving around 3:00 pm and getting settled in, we watched the launch of the Artemas II rocket on its mission to circle the moon testing technologies needed for the next landing on the moon in a few years.  The name Artemas comes from the name of Apollo's twin sister, who was the goddess of the moon in Greek mythology.  An appropriate name for the follow-on moon mission.

Artemis

I believe we are now officially in the west. Our destination tomorrow is Fort Stockton, TX. literally an oasis in the middle of west Texas.  It has natural water and was a frequent stop on Native American north-south migration routes. Later, settlers and the Army occupied the location, and it became a stop on the railroad and a base for fighting the Indians. I believe we stopped there on every trip we made to Florida and back.

We grilled steaks outside tonight relaxing after a hard drive today.