01-20-2026 Traveling South

Low Fog Over Grants Pass in January

Our journey to Southern California is a familiar one. I have written about it so many times that I cannot imagine there is much new to experience, either as a writer or a reader. We left without incident at exactly our scheduled departure time, no glitches, no last-minute items forgotten. The freezing fog warning as we leave is real, but after just ten miles heading south, the fog is no longer frozen, and bits of light emerge through the mist. The passes are clear. The roads are nearly empty in some sections.

Yes, I am excited to be on the road and out of the fog

The skies are clear as we pass Mt Shasta

We are pros at this one. It feels simple and familiar, even though it is a leisurely three-day journey. We stay in the same RV parks, familiar and affordable. Returning to Flag City in Lodi is like parking at home. We pay our Passport America half-price fee and slide into the familiar space. Nothing new here.

Mattie loves the green grass and warm sunshine at the rest area near Corning

Mattie knows exactly where we are. It amazes me how dogs can smell and remember a place. She is excited and wants to get outside to the dog park and the long stretch along the fence where she knows there will be lots of dog smells.

Supper is a meal I prepared and froze for traveling. Easy and delicious. There is one tiny glitch: the Tracker battery is dead. Mo cannot imagine what button got turned on while we were towing, maybe the radio. We discuss the options and decide it is something we can worry about tomorrow.

On this day of travel, we had fantastic conditions: a bit of sun, a bit of cloud, no snow, no rain, and very light traffic. I drove as far as Corning, where we fueled, and Mo took over the driving. I settled back in my seat to watch the birds in the valley refuges as we passed. I opened my phone and slipped into email and then Facebook.

That moment shifted the mood of the day.

Meeting Odel and Laurie for the first time in 2010

Mo and Laurie in 200

Laurie Brown had passed just two days earlier, and her sister announced it on Facebook. Long-time readers of my blog know all about Laurie and Odel. I met them through the blog, and Laurie and I started writing to each other in 2007. By 2010, we met in person on our way east, where they were camped in Minot, North Dakota.

Laurie and Odel visited us at home in Rocky Point in 2011

Laurie helped me understand the RV blogging community of the early 2010s. She helped me connect with other writers and discover that I wasn’t alone out there, writing about our travels.

I am heartbroken.

Lunch at Lefty's in Nevada City, where Laurie and Odel introduced us to Jimmy and Nickie

I called Nickie, whom I know only because Laurie suggested a lunch in Nevada City with Mo, me, Nickie and Jimmy, and Laurie and Odel. The friendships blossomed, with the six of us meeting for meals, hikes, and visits. I treasured her friendship. Nickie was devastated, but grateful to hear from a real phone call and not a Facebook post.

In 2022 we met again with Laurie and Odel and Jimmy and Nickie for a day of dining and hiking

We continued south along an almost empty interstate toward Sacramento. Memories flooded my heart as Mo nimbly navigated city traffic and we continued through the fog to our familiar home at Flag City RV Resort.

I will probably write a separate blog post honoring just Laurie, but for now, it was time to focus on the now.

Our next day of travel was uneventful accompanied by the fog hanging over the I-5 corridor south toward Highway 58

Site 9 at Mountain Valley Park

I write in the morning darkness at another familiar home, though not quite as familiar as Flag City. Mountain Valley RV Park in Tehachapi, where we have stayed only three or four times. Our old favorite, Orange Grove RV Park, is nothing like it used to be, and we decided the high prices weren’t worth the amenities.

Oranges from the Fruit Depot in Bakersfield

Yesterday, we drove past the park as we turned onto Edison Road for a ten-minute side trip to the Fruit Depot, once again to buy the sweetest oranges ever. I used to pick the oranges every year, but buying a bag for ten dollars is nice and quick—and a lot cheaper than paying park prices just because we like the oranges.

We stopped in Tehachapi to buy a new battery for the Tracker, and she started right up, just like the travel trooper she has been for seventeen years. While Mo dealt with the battery, I ripped into the bag of oranges and cut one into sections to eat right there.

It was like stepping into the sunshine of Southern California when I was a kid, when oranges were picked in yards and tasted like candy—so sweet and juicy. I breathed in the fragrance, cleaned the juice from my chin and fingers, and felt my body relax.

Ahh. The oranges are as perfect as always.

Ready for our last travel day to Desert Hot Springs

We will leave here at daylight, or shortly after, in clouds and predicted rain. The first view of the Mojave as we start down the pass overlooking the desert is never the same. Today is the day. The desert is there, waiting. And our home at Catalina RV Park, another home of ours for almost every winter since 2010, is waiting.

Ahhh.