Other than that it was an easy trip home.
The drive today defined the phrase "Nothing to write home about". Nice day and not much traffic. It's amazing how easy it is to drive 85 MPH out in the middle of nowhere. Actually 95 comes pretty easy too.
Just outside one town there were a red building a ways off the road. A sign out front said "Angel Ladies". A couple of miles further another building a ways off the road with a sign saying "Wild Cats". I have no idea what was going on here and not having time to stop and investigate I have nothing to report.
Dinner was at Red's BBQ after which we proceeded to drop a grand total of $8.55 on the penny slots. Tomorrow will be a 7+ hour drive home.
Back at the Villa we made sure everything was packed including the Boodles gin I had in the freezer. Good friend Al turned me on to Boodles when we were in Indio and it is a darn good gin. Al also turned me on to Laphroaig scotch. I've been looking to try a scotch that was strong with peat and this is it and as a plus I now have a lifetime lease on a one square foot plot on Laphroaig land on the Isle of Islay.
Our first stop was in Wickenburg for a Starbucks. Took a little longer than it should as we totally missed the Safeway. No excuse, it was right there on the highway.
The drive from there on into Las Vegas is several degrees less that exciting. We managed a stop in Kingman, without incident, to split a Subway sandwich around noon time. I'm glad we hit Las Vegas on a Saturday, because I don't think I could do weekday traffic.
Dinner was fajitas at Frank & Fina's Cocina. Good food and as it turned out we ate there several trips ago, but didn't remember until we were seated. So much for memory.
Tomorrow head to Carson City for the last overnight before home.
Only saw one house today and it was close to perfect. New construction with a ton of upgrades and a discounted price. Nice combination.
Did a little looking around Arrowhead Mall in the afternoon and took the 40 minute drive back to Festival. Did I mention Festival is a long ways from everywhere.
Used our $25 chit for dinner at the Indigo Grille. Barb had some sort of lemon shrimp dish, while I settled for meatloaf. Both were good.
Friday - Breakfast was at Nick's Diner #2, which was about a 25 minute drive into Surprise. Seems the restaurant here at Festival only serves breakfast on the weekend.
Except for viewing one house the rest of the day was mostly housekeeping. Laundry, a little shopping and packing for our return drive home. Finally took the golf cart out for an uneventful drive.
The highlight of the day was my birthday dinner at Babbo Italian Eatery, which was excellent. After dinner we finished packing up the car for the drive tomorrow to La Vages.
Then is was off to Sun CIty Festival and our first meeting with real estate agent Gwen. Barb had been working with her for a couple of weeks, so we had a good selection of homes to see. A number were eliminated quickly, but two grabbed our attention. Especially the one with the pool for about $279,000. And property taxes of about $1,800. Too bad we are only looking for floor plans at this point, cause property taxes in Oregon are $5,100.
A very late lunch at Macayo's Mexican Table and then were checked into a Villa at Festival, which will be home for the next three nights. Pretty nice deal at $99 a night when motels in the area are running $200 to $300. Sixteen Major League Baseball teams are in town for Spring practice and that drives the rates.
After a large lunch we passed on dinner. Barb spent the evening continuing her quest for a home.
Day 3 was a drive from our overnight in Tehachapi to Indio, California. Wanting to avoid traffic anywhere near Los Angeles, we took a longer route through Barstow and a bunch of Valleys (Lucerne, Yucca and Morongo) to Interstate 10. Once in the Palm Springs area we spent five night with neighbors and then four nights with neighbors. It's really great to have nice neighbors.
During the ten days we were there we visited the Palm Springs Tram (highly recommended), Living Desert (Ditto) and the Palm Springs Street Fest (another ditto.) There was an abundance of expensive cars (like Bentleys) and Bloody Mary's, as well as some really great restaurants.
Temps were in the mid to high 90's, with blue skies and cooling in the evening. All in all it was tough to leave good friends and head off to Arizona.
So that takes me to day 12, which was a drive from La Quinta, California to an overnight in Avondale, Arizona. A free night at a Courtyard took us a little out of our way, but a free night is a free night. In the evening we visited with old friends from home that now live in Surprise, Arizona. Had a great time and meal.
Tomorrow we are off to Sun CIty Festival to once again look at homes. Is this the year we pull the trigger and make a move South?
Things were going pretty well until we arrive at Chinese Camp. Green hills, fun road to drive, little traffic and then I decided to head back to Highway 99E. Lost? Not exactly, but traveling off the grid on narrow country roads that hadn't seen maintenance in years led Barb to think otherwise. Eventually, though, my luck continued to hold and 99E was found.
I will say that without a doubt Highway 99E is near the top of my list of roads I'd rather not travel. Lots of traffic. Lots of haze (which I think is polite for smog.) Lots of towns. No matter how fast you drive it's a slow.
Eventually we made it to Bakersfield and spent considerable time looking for a Starbucks. I was sure I deserved a reward for 99E. With mocha in hand we headed East on Highway 58 to our overnight in Tehachapi. Motel was good, dinner not so much.
Tomorrow we are off to Indio to visit neighbors for a few days.
Boring best describes the first half of the day. Ok, there was a lot more snow on the ground South of La Pine and it could have been interesting if it had been on the road. But it wasn't, so no excitement there. Just over the border into California we were warned about blowing dust, elk and deer. Add to that the possibility of cattle on the roadway, due to open range, and we had a chance for good old driving action. None of the above showed up.
A quick lunch at Subway in Weed and we off on Interstate 5 South to our destination. Excitement? Not much, except for the 7,412semi trucks seeking much of the same space I wanted to occupy. We did manage a stop at the Olive Pit in Corning to pick a few, you guessed it, olives. Specifically, martini olives and dried Greek black olives for a couple of our upcoming hosts.
Between Woodland and Sacramento four lanes of traffic slowed for several miles to view a car on it's top way off the highway. Emergency vehicles were long gone, but didn't stop drivers from slowing to get a closer look. Something to talk about at the dinner table I suppose.
After checking in we headed across the street to Old Town Sacramento to wander around before dinner. Interesting place with old buildings, wooden sidewalks, cobble stone streets, old trains and more. Interesting, that is, if you can overlook the hundreds of trinkets waiting for a new home.
Dinner was at Fat City, which is our go to place in Old Town. Then it was back to Embassy Suites in time for a quick drink before happy hour ended.
452 miles and 31.3 MPG
