I was told I need to write more often (Thanks Elaine), even if it is just a short update. What did I know? I’m a first time blogger and had no idea if anyone would read this or not.

This has turned into the ‘Family’ portion of my trip. I’ve seen all of my siblings (except my sister who lives in WA – she’ll have to wait for better weather), all of my great nieces and nephews, one niece and nephew, bioDad and stepmom, and. now my stepdad – whew! a whirlwind to say the least. I’ve already decided that I could spend a couple months in California. It’s a beautiful state, lots to see and places to camp, tons of volleyball and family, but I lived in CA for many years and I wanted to venture to new territories.

What has happened to California driving? I used to brag that I grew up driving there and learned valuable traffic and merging skills. I think they have forgotten what ‘merge’ means and so many drivers tried to switch lanes right on top of me! I’m hard to miss out there, so I was baffled. I learned to trust Cliff again. I was heading to San Diego, and Cliff insisted I stay off the 5 (have you noticed in CA how they always say ‘the’ before the number of the highway?). I argued with him and reset my GPS three times, but he was adamant, so he took me to the 134 to 57 to 210 to ABC…… and ‘saved’ me about 45 minutes. Sweet!

I have left CA (Thank you Mike & Mary & Lauren for sharing your beautiful homes!), and am now camping in the Desert.

Not a bad way to start the work morning. The desert is barren but has its own type of beauty. I’ll be here for a few days. It’s kind of nice to be still for a while, and I am sure you’ll hear from me again soon.

For those of you who may have wanted to Subscribe to this, I apologize. I didn’t realize that the Subscribe block wasn’t showing up in every blog. I thought it was set to automatic, but I think I have to add it every time. If any experienced bloggers have a suggestion about this, I’m all ears.

Tip of the day: When your brother says you have to leave very early to beat the LA traffic, leave an hour earlier than you think you should. It’s almost impossible to miss all traffic between Moorpark and San DIego, but the very very early bird wins.