The next stop on our Grand Adventure took us to the Heceta Beach RV park in Florence, Oregon.

The first few days after we arrived were wet and windy and so we had an enjoyable time hunkered down in the trailer with Kim working the stock market, Henry catching up with his gaming friends online and I settled down to read my beloved Kindle. I am reading Eleanor Elephant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. I am also making my way through the futuristic "In Death" murder mysteries by JD Robb. Lovely to just snuggle down with a cuppa tea and a warm blanket and just read. It's November and we are heading towards winter. I can feel the change in temperature and pressure in the air. I've been noticing the trees losing their leaves and the last of the summer blooms falling by the wayside. It is such a lovely change from the desert and I love settling in to each new season.

On the very next dry day, we headed in to town to explore the arty downtown area of Florence.

Lying at the mouth of the Siuslaw River, you enter Florence by passing beneath the expansive concrete double rainbows and ornamental art deco pillars of the Siuslaw River Bridge making a stunning backdrop for the downtown area with expansive views of the river and the bridge. The bridge is an iconic symbol of the city. Designed by Conde McCullough, opened in 1936, the key feature of the bridge is the double leaf bascule in the middle that lifts to allow clearance for fishing boat traffic. Along the banks of the tidal river, snowy plovers, a variety of sandpipers, blue herons, white egrets, cormorants, gulls, songbirds and other birds I couldn't quite identify, provided wonderful entertainment with their stooping, whooping and swooping. A lady in the crystal store told us she had even seen a couple of orcas chasing seals down the river and into the harbor last summer.

In the harbor we could see the halibut boats and signs for fresh local crab. We could hear sea lions barking somewhere in the distance. The tang of salt in the air made you lick your lips and yearn for a bag of chips wrapped in butcher paper with lashings of salt and vin, just like we would get on the seafront back home in England.. 

We spent a leisurely hour or two walking the main street, popping in and out of the shops that seemed to lean towards local crafts and art work, chatting with the friendly locals and enjoying the ambience of the riverfront. 

The sky turned a grisly grey and we felt the first spots of rain that quickly turned into a downpour. While Henry and I huddled under the awning of a nearby gallery, Kim dashed back to pick up the truck to collect us. We headed back to the trailer for an early dinner of Kim's special homemade chicken curry. Delicious!!!

Best. Curry. Ever.

​❤️❤️❤️

As we got in the truck, the outside temperature read 136 degrees Fahrenheit or 58 degrees Celsius. From the steering wheel to the seats, everything burned. The air con felt like the devil's breath, only adding more heat to the inferno in the cab. Ugh! It was hot! Or as Henry keeps saying, "Hot as balls!"

We were desperate for some cooler weather and we found it at the top of the San Jacinto Mountains via the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. At a significantly cooler 73 degrees we were able to relax and breathe again. Ahhhhh!

In the rotating cable car, we traveled up over two and a half miles to the top of the mountain with breathtaking views over the Chino Canyon to an elevation of 8,516 feet at the mountain station. The views across the flat valley, stretching from Desert Hot Springs in the North to Palm Springs, Coachella and the Salton Sea to the East, were spectacular. The line of the I10 could be seen and traced as it traversed the landscape. We could even see the dark rim of the San Andreas Fault separating the Pacific and the North American tectonic plates. The desert is pretty inhospitable and the fact that it has been tamed by the will of man with water, solar panels, wind turbines and golf courses as key technological and urban necessities, it is truly astonishing. ​It almost felt as if we were viewing the landscape from outer space.

Once at the top, we stopped for a bite to eat and then set off on a hike in the cool pines. The last time Kim and I were here, there was snow at the top!

Mount San Jacinto State Park is considered an alpine wilderness. We began to walk slowly, relishing the cool temps, through the meadows, streams and the ponderosa, lodgepole and sugar pines. If you scratch the bark of the sugar pines, it smells like  warm vanilla butterscotch and the sugar pine cones are enormous! With the half moon peeking through, paying attention to the warnings for mountain lions, we enjoyed the nature around us. We saw grey squirrels, California chipmunks, ravens, hawks, steller jays, chickadees, swallows, nuthatches and colorful flickers. We heard but did not see the woodpeckers. The smells of the pines reminded us of Wells-Next-The-Sea back home in Norfolk, England and happy family memories. It was such a change from the dust, sand and blistering heat of the valley that we just soaked it all in. What a relief!

We stayed for over four hours enjoying the cooler climes.

In a cloud of dust kicked up by the dark Toyota 4Runner, my sister Caroline and her family arrived at our campsite, coming in from Las Vegas. It felt surreal. Eleven short days ago I was chatting with her in her kitchen back in the UK. Since then, I returned to the U.S. and we began our Grand Adventure Road Trip. She then set off with her family on her 50th birthday holiday to America. And so our two worlds collided in the Mojave Desert on a blazing hot Monday afternoon.

After a tour of the trailer and lots of hugs, we set off to cool down at the pool. We had a lazy, leisurely afternoon catching up. It was great to see Kim and Simon chatting and the hilarious banter between cousins. Henry loved seeing Will and Maddie who he had not seen for a number of years due to Covid, work and travel limitations. It was just the most blissful afternoon and I loved every minute of it.

Later we met up for dinner at the Tropicale Restaurant in downtown Palm Springs. More chat and a delicious meal before retreating to bed.

The next morning we met up again for a final goodbye and breakfast together at the Denny's diner just off the I10. We each shared three gratitudes, mostly around family, health and good fortune. We took a moment to send love to absent family members. Louise and Lynda love Denny's so we immediately thought of them, plus of course Mum and Dad are always on our minds. 

Waving goodbye was hard. They set off on the next phase of their holiday- Los Angeles and then Hawaii. Fantastic.

I will never forget our lovely, unexpected, surreal rendezvous in the desert.

Family is everything.

We are back from Spring Break and making plans.

The plan that we have been working towards for the past 18 months is for our family to live full time in our lovely Grand Design Solitude-S 5th wheel trailer and spend the next three years or more touring the United States. We plan to visit every state. We want to savor every sunrise and every sunset. We want to immerse ourselves in nature. We want to be together.

The plan is to hit the road on Monday 17th July, 2023 and set off on our Grand Adventure. That's the plan.

Before we get to that plan, we have another plan.

The plan is for Kim and Henry to have a six week mini road trip to test out the trailer. It is a plan fit for adrenaline junkies covering some of the major National Parks in Arizona and Utah; Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef, Grand Canyon, Arches, Canyonlands plus Moab and the Bonneville Salt Flats for some off-roading, speeding and dirt biking. It's a man plan!

Meanwhile, I plan on nipping back to the UK for six weeks to see family. My Dad is in a care home in Northampton and I miss him desperately. I want to spend some quality time with him at the beginning of the summer. My niece is expecting her 4th child in June and I want to hold and rock a newborn. My sister turns 50 and I want to be there to celebrate. I have some dear friends who are coming to visit the UK and we are planning a mini tour of Cornwall. The Eden Project is already booked. Woo hoo! Most of all I am so excited to spend time with family, just chatting and hanging out. Maybe watch Love Island. Maybe not. Special times. It's a fam plan!

Before we get to that plan we have another plan.

The plan is to get the truck and trailer roadworthy ready for the Grand Adventure.

Since buying our trailer last October we have spent a great deal of time and energy getting a few warranty issues completed so we are safe when we set off. We are still waiting for an awning to be replaced and Kim and Henry are upgrading the toilet next week. It's an ongoing saga that all people who own trailers understand. 

We found out last week that the transmission and a couple of other minor issues needed fixing on the Chevvy. The truck is now in the garage being fixed.

At the same time, we are moving out of our gorgeous apartment and into our temporary apartment with Henry, just for the next four weeks, before we all head off on our mini-trips. It has been exhausting packing, moving boxes, arranging and rearranging, sorting out storage and constantly thinking about what we will actually need to take with us when we begin our Grand Adventure.

​I am still working during all these shenanigans.

Plans. Plans. Plans.

Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans!

The last few weeks have been hectic, tiring and exceedingly frustrating at times, but we are steadily moving closer to our plan of hitting the road in July. We are tired but excited. We keep catching each others eyes and smiling. Knowing. We are planning and preparing for our Grand Adventure. It's  coming and we can't wait!

There is always a bit of a thrill and a feeling of 'coming home' when you find a town in America that has the same name as a town in England. 

I got that feeling when visiting Exeter in the San Joaquin Valley in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas, California.

We were greeted by a leggy water tower announcing the name Exeter and the date the town was first established in 1911. As we drove into town the solid brick buildings, now homes to local art and antique stores, spilled their goods out on to their doorsteps to give passers by a little taste of the unique treasures to be found inside. At every turn we were rewarded with hand painted murals that told the local stories of immigrants, citrus farmers, amish communities and the history of road and rail transportation. We found a moving war and POW memorial next to the civic center.

It was a far cry from Exeter in Devon, England.

Exeter in the Southwest of England began its life as a Roman stronghold in 50AD where a town and wooden fort were built on a hill by the River Exe. The word 'Exe' has Celtic roots and means 'the water.' It's an old and very beautiful city, now centered around the spectacular cathedral. I have spent many a happy day lazing on the lawns there. One summer, in the 80's, I remember watching a Punch and Judy Show in the cathedral grounds. It feels like another lifetime.

The name felt so familiar and it was odd to see it in such a different context. I lived very close to Exeter for 10 years. I went to Rolle College based in Exmouth, then a part of the University of Exeter and graduated as a young teacher waaaaay back in the day. I met Kim in Exmouth when he was stationed at the Commando Training Center in Exton, just outside Exeter where he was a youngish instructor in the Royal Marines. I began my teaching career in nearby Crediton and then Newton Abbot. 

I looked to see if there was a Trago Mills anywhere near the American version of Exeter, but unfortunately there was not.

So many happy memories of Exeter.