Posting, while we were traveling, just didn’t work, so I’ll throw some thoughts up post-trip, categorizing my posts by learning experiences rather than by location or chronologically. Our plan was to head toward Arizona to visit with friends who live in El Mirage AZ near Christmastime. Unfortunately getting a factory safety recall done in time for the holidays was not in the Grand Scheme of Things, so we left straight from the dealer on January 2nd.

Starting an RV trip from where we live involves limited, and somewhat boring, choices. North into Canada, East on I-90 or I-84, and South on I-5. Winter adds snow and ice in mountain passes in the Cascades, The Columbia Gorge and the Blue Mountains just to start.

It turns out the most stressful weather part of the trip was on flat I-5 between south of Olympia and Woodburn OR – and the passes in the Sisykous were just fine! I carry chains because of the quirky chain laws in Oregon, but would never use them. Portland on Ice was white knuckle on my part, but the rig managed just fine.

One of our new goals was to stay in the Coachella Valley for more than one or two nights and get a small taste of sun birding and try out my recumbent tricycle. More on this in my next post.