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  Yuma, Arizona, United States
Monday, December 17, 2007

The first picture is our new home for the next eighteen months: a 300-square-foot-condo-on-wheels as we trek around Canada, USA and Mexico like a pair of nomads. We left Victoria on October 1st, 2007 under wind and rain.

Our first stop was in Portland, Oregon. Because we arrived late in the day and wanted to meet up with our friends, Judy and Don, we opted to stay in the Wal-Mart parking lot. This is an option avaiable at many Wal-Marts in the US for no fee. It is dry camping with no facilities but the price is right. Leaving Portland we carried on to US highway 101, the scenic coastal route.

We had a deadline of October 8th to arrive in the Los Angeles area so that Carie could catch her flight to Ottawa, Ontario to see her family in Kemptville. Therefore, the next eight days were spent as one-nighters through Oregon and California, staying at campsites of varying standards. This meant a great deal of driving and minimal sightseeing. However, Gary did manage to find a Microbrewery in Fort Bragg where he sampled two or three fine brews at the Northcoast Brewing Co. With welcome relief, we arrived on October 8th at San Dimas County RV Park (about 30 miles east of L.A.) Gary remained there while Carie flew to Ottawa for 2 1/2 weeks. She was fortunate to see most of her family and some friends while there and had a great visit.

Upon her return, we spent another week in the area, visiting Universal Studios and the old towns of Laverne, San Dimas and Claremont. We also managed to fit in a visit to the Galeano Winery in Loma Linda. We met a couple from our RV resort in San Dimas who were California wild fire evacuees, Patti & Keeth Lawrence from Lake Arrowhead.

November 2nd, our destination was Desert Hot Springs, CA. where we parked ourselves for 2 1/2 weeks and then an additional 1 1/2 weeks in Indio (both in the Palm Springs region). One entire day was spent soaking in the hot springs in five different spas each at a water temperature of about +/- 104 degrees. We saw lots of sights around P.S., including an aerial tramway ride which rises to a height of over 10,300' on Mt. San Jacinto (magnificent view), Joshua Tree National Park, Living Desert Game Reserve, The Palm Springs Follies (performers aged 55 to 84 - fantastic!), scenic drive through the San Bernardino Mountains to a small mountain village called Idyllwild (very quaint -a la Salt Spring Island), Salton Sea (a land-locked sea whose salt level is 50% greater than the ocean and over 400' below sea level), Anza-Borrego State Park and the tiny community of Julian (the apple pie capital of California). We also were invited to our new friends' home in Lake Arrowhead once the fires had sufficiently abated to permit Patti & Keeth to return. We passed an idylic 2 days with them and their two beautiful retrievers. We were treated to a tour of the Lake Arrowhead offerings which sadly also included the fire-devastated area and a home of one of their friends which was entirely gutted. It was a humbling experience to stand amongst the burnt out cars and homes of the ones unfortunate enough to be directly in the path of the fires. The news reports describing it as resembling a war zone were not embellishing.

While in the resort in Desert Hot Springs, we made contact with friends from Victoria, Jean and Gord Bell. We joined them in Indio at their resort in time for American Thanksgiving. We had entirely missed out on the Canadian celebration since we were on the move. We did a joint effort dinner with all the trimmings at the Bells'. We spent a fair bit of time with them while we were both in Indio. We will meet up with them again later in December and have planned a trip to Mexico along with another couple from home in the New Year.

Some of the greatest shopping in the world is in Palm Springs, particularly the outlet malls. We took a trip to the Cabezon and Premier Outlet Malls where the favourable position of the canadian dollar at the time was deinitely to our advantage. We also benefited by the senior's discount (both of us!!!) and huge end of season sales of up to 70%. We did manage to keep control, though.

November 30th we travelled from Indio, California to the Colorado River Oasis Resort in Ehrenberg, Arizonza where we stayed until December 13th. We had a wonderful site on the Colorado River with palm trees shading the trailer and outstanding sunsets every night at about 6:00. This resort, as well as Indian Waters in Indio, California belongs to a group called Western Horizon Resorts, of which we are new members. They have a clubhouse in each resort (with a well-renowned chef who prepares optional meals three times a week at minimal cost to members at CRO). We made day trips to the famous town of Quartzsite (where they have a gargantuan flea market of hundreds of stalls), the Parker Dam (one of the largest in the States), American-Indian petroglyphs and the Nellie E. Saloon in the desert (entirely powered by solar).

We visited Lake Havasu City where the old London Bridge lives, so Gary could wallow in nostalgia. On December 13th we moved on to a resort a few miles outside of Yuma where we will stay for a week. We have crossed to Los Algodones, Mexico for a day trip. We also plan to meet up with Teri and Roger Hyde from Victoria who are staying nearby. This Thursday (20th) we will be outside Phoenix in Casa Grande for nine days over Christmas.

Obviously, there will be no Christmas cards this year from our end and we have no address to receive cards. Our usual Christmas letter is replaced by this newsletter and photos. We miss our friends and family very much but this has been a dream come true, to date.

We wish you jolly and memorable times over the festive season. Happy 2008!!

Love and Best Wishes,
Carie & Gary

Post your own travel photos for friends and family Pictures

Our New Home on Wheels!	Carie Overlooking Oregon Coast	Rodeo Point Security Guard	Beautiful Hwy #101 Surf
Redwood Parks Entrance	San Dimas RV Resort, CA	Sunset San Dimas, CA	Union Station, L.A
Universal Studios Lunch	Warner Brothers "Back Lot" from Universal	Carie - Starstruck!	We Wined a While - We Felt Better
Our Travel Mascot - Roadrunner	Joshua Tree National Park	Gary Playing in JT Park	Lake Arrowhead Parkway
Lake Arrowhead Tourists	The Drain Plug for Lake Arrowhead	Palm Springs Tramway - Elevation 10,300	from Top of P.S. Tramway
What a Cute Pair at Tramway!	Tramway Car	Lonesome Pelican at Salton Sea, CA	Salton Sea, CA
Anza-Borrego Park Highway	Picnic at Anza-Borrego	Baby Giraffe at Living Desert, P.S, CA	Mother Giraffe at L.D.
Cheetahs at L.D.	Petroglyph near Quatzsite, AZ	Petroglyphs #2 near Quartzsite, AZ	Grinding Holes for Natives to Grind Grain
Parker Dam, AZ	Havasu Palms	Havasu Palms	Wild Donkies and an Ass (Just Kidding!)
Woolie Wild Donkey Baby	Sunset Near Parker Dam	Another Irresistable Sunset on Arizona Lands	Our Site at Colorado River Oasis
Sunset on Colorado River	Our Back Garden at Resort CRO	Nellie B Saloon - Obey the Signs or Else!!

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