Near Barstow, CA (February 2026)

Wrapping Things Up in California

After an amazing holiday season with our family and friends in the Sacramento and San Francisco Bay areas, we began the New Year with quite a long list of things needing attention. This included RV/car repairs and maintenance to be performed, plus medical appointments to be completed. But also in the mix were fun times with our loved ones — several birthday celebrations plus a couple of long promised camping trips with the grandkids.

January flew by quickly, and the first half of February was equally busy. Then just like that, it was time for the hardest moment of our 4 month stay in California… saying good-bye. Tears shed and final hugs given — first in Sacramento, then in the Bay Area — we christened this year’s cross-country adventure on February 21st. We were on our way!

We began with a long drive down I-5, then over to Bakersfield for a one night stop. This was followed by a two night stay in Barstow as we wound through the Mojave desert in search of a backdoor into Arizona. It didn’t take long at all before we rediscovered our full-time RV spirit of adventure. By the time we crossed the Colorado River into Arizona, the travel bug had returned. Thank you, Lord, for the this blessed season in our life!

What’s our first major destination in 2026? Florida, the Sunshine State, a never visited state for both of us. But as we stopped for gas and a bite to eat in western Arizona, having just jumped onto the western end of I-40 only an hour or two before, we anticipated travel battles ahead. Winter snow, high winds, severe thunderstorms, and potential tornados were all in play. What “stories” lay before us as we began the 3000 mile trip to the Florida Panhandle?

Through the Southwest… Fast as a Turtle

I know I’ve explained this before — traveling in an RV is a lumpy-bumpy, shake rattle and roll experience. For this reason, Lois and I limit our driving to three or four hours per day — tops. This means on our longer driving days, we can cover 200-250 miles. We frequently, however, do less. Then when we’re not behind the wheel, Lois and I often stay 3-4 nights at our current location.

A modified version of this approach is to spend only one, maybe two nights per stop when we cross through the middle of nowhere. And in the Southwest, depending on your route, there can be a lot of “nowhere”.

This is not to say traveling through the desert is boring and horrible to look at. On the contrary, we find plenty of scenic beauty and interesting places to visit when we tour the Southwest. But given that this year’s first destination is Florida (we did the Southwest already last year), Lois and I pieced together an itinerary that gets us to the Deep South about as quick as we can handle.

For those interested, during the Southwest/Texas portion this year’s maiden journey, we planned to spend one or more nights in all of the following locations:

In short, the Southwest/Texas leg of the itinerary covers 2000 miles in a mere 3 weeks🙄 — fast as a turtle🐢!

Lucky for you, I won’t bore you with the nitty gritty details of what happened along the way. I do, however, have a few highlights to share.

Camp Verde, AZ (Near Sedona)

Our original itinerary had us staying in Flagstaff on I-40 in north-central Arizona. At a base elevation of 7000 feet, Flagstaff sits at the foot of Humphreys Peak, Arizona’s tallest mountain (12,633 feet). The city is surrounded by endless ridges of mountains full of pines and deciduous trees. As you might imagine, it is an awesome place to escape to during the hot Arizona summers.

But in January through March, this section of I-40 is a magnet for winter weather. Just ten days before our visit, the area was pounded by high winds and heavy snow. That was then; now sunny skies were forecast with nighttime temperatures dropping into the 20’s. Unfortunately, those conditions are also a problem as Harold-the-RV is not designed for freezing weather.

So what did we do?

In the end, Lois and I wisely decided to chicken-out and drop down to Camp Verde, AZ at half the elevation and an hour south of Flagstaff. Even though this deviation added a couple of hours to the overall trip, it gave us an excuse to return to an excellent RV Park we stayed at last year. The nearby scenic beauty is of a different, dryer kind, but it is hilly with mountains in the distance. Best yet, staying in Camp Verde still gave us the opportunity to visit the nearby city of Sedona with its stunning red rock buttes and cliffs.

Did I tell you we were sick as dogs fighting a stubborn flu bug? For this reason, Lois and I decided to stay for a full week and recoup in the sunny, dry climate… good call!

Click Images to Enlarge

Up Arizona’s Zane Grey Highway and Over Mogollon Ridge

Upon leaving Camp Verde, AZ, Lois and I decided — instead of making the return trip to Flagstaff — to journey back to I-40 via a more rural route. Little did we know, an amazingly scenic landscape awaited us. Beginning at elevation 3500 feet, we were almost immediately greeted with a steep winding road that marched us along Arizona’s Zane Grey Highway. Over the course of the next 10 miles, we rose above 4000, 5000, then 6000 feet with still more incline in front of us. We eventually realized what lay ahead was a massive geological formation named the Mogollon Ridge. There was no way around it… just over it! And so we proceeded.

Who says Arizona is one big desert? Nothing could be further from the truth. During the drive, we enjoyed crystal clear vistas of high mountains with deep valleys below. And with each 1000 feet we climbed, the local countryside changed dramatically. Long before we reached the road’s summit, we were swallowed up by an immense forest with tall lodge pole pines as far as one could see. Bliss!

Bottom line: If your only trip to Arizona takes you to Phoenix, Tucson and along the Mojave highway to Southern California, desert is king. If, however, you want to discover the more prevalent wild and diverse side of Arizona, there are many amazingly beautiful areas that will blow your socks off. Lest I remind you, this is the “Grand Canyon” state after all!

Nasty Weather in Texas

As Lois and I made our way into the Texas Panhandle, we spent the night in Amarillo. Praise the Lord! Apart from a dusting of snow in Gallup, NM, and a few tough drives through gusty winds, I-40 had served us well. Though not perfect, it certainly could have been much worse.

Having safely made it to Amarillo, it was time to turn Harold-the-RV to the south-east and begin a diagonal short-cut through Texas on our way to Louisiana.

That said, we still had a few potential weather hazards to contend with — potential dust storms, severe thunderstorms, and tornadoes. 🌪️😳

Unfortunately, “potential” quickly turned into “reality”. It didn’t take long for the weather to become a problem.

We woke up to very high winds the next day in Amarillo. Lucky for us, the gusts were mostly to our back, meaning as we traveled south-east down the highway, Harold-the-RV was, generally speaking, pushed by strong wind instead of jerked left or right.

Then later that day, as we approached our next RV Park in Wichita Falls, large puffy clouds slowly crept onto the horizon. By the time we arrived and setup camp, Lois and I began keeping an eye on the south-west horizon for severe weather. We were, after all, smack dab in Tornado Alley — yikes! Sure enough, sometime around dinner we heard the first cracks of thunder. So just like that, It was game on — here we go!

By the way, as we travel about the country, our “go to” weather channel is “Ryan Hall, Y’all” on Youtube. If you haven’t watched Ryan and his team, and the group of storm chasers they work with, check them out!

Back to our story… It wasn’t long before we learned that a very long line of severe weather had developed, stretching from Mexico to Canada. Fortunately for us, as we began getting up to speed with “Ryan Hall Y’all”, we learned the worst of the action was north of us in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, and Illinois. Even so, things turned dicey when the weather app on our phones began alerting us of local thunderstorms with up to baseball size hail in neighboring counties.

Long story short — we obviously lived to tell the story. Large storm cells passed just north and south of our RV Park. We thread the needle; Lois and I were spared.

Was that the end of it? No! A few days later near Dallas, and then a couple of days later in Shreveport, LA, it was same song, second and third verse. But once again, catastrophe was averted.

Catching-up With Friends

As is so often the case, we were blessed with another opportunity to catch-up with friends. This time, it was Deena in Dallas. Lois and Deena know each other since Kindergarten, having grown-up together at their church in Walnut Creek, CA. As for me, I first met Deena at Concord High School, long before Lois and I were a thing.

Deena, thank you for a great evening reminiscing and catching-up on life. Lois and I are so grateful to count you as one of our forever friends! ❤️

What’s Next?

Before we reach Florida, Lois and I are going to spend 3 weeks in one of our favorite states, Louisiana. We’re heading back to Cajun country near Lafayette, and also to the town of Slidell near New Orleans. Can’t wait!

2026 - On Our Way!