Looking ahead to 2018

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Hello dear friends and readers, it’s about time I wake up from my on-again off-again blog slumber!  My goodness, I can hardly believe it’s 2018!

But first, I hope everyone had a great holiday season with family and friends, and that you are underway toward making your resolutions come true.  I want to thank you for continuing to follow our journey, in good times and in bad, for you are the inspiration that keeps me going in the blog world.

Dueling American Coots

With 2017 now a memory, let me quickly look in the rearview mirror before throttling into the future.  We had three unforgettable highlights that happened last year: in June we took a fabulous hike at The Wave, a tough summer followed in Tucson, and in the fall we enjoyed our marvelous Grand European River Cruise.  We made it through the ups and downs of life last year, and we’re gearing up for a better year ahead!

White-tailed kite in search of a rodent lunch

Steve continues to recover and he’s back to enjoying his favorite foods, hiking, tinkering with Betsy and socializing.  He’ll be under his doctor’s surveillance for the next couple of years, getting checkups every 3 months.  Gaining some more weight is his resolution (definitely not mine!) for this year.

We are currently in San Diego, enjoying the unseasonably warm winter while some of our friends are freezing back east.  While here, we’re looking ahead and plotting the route we plan to follow this year.  We’re getting antsy to do some serious traveling again!  Some of our stops this year will be re-visits to places we loved, while others will be new ones to explore.  We’ll pause for a month near Salt Lake City while I fly back to the Philippines for a high school Golden Jubilee celebration, and by fall we plan to be all the way to Florida where we’ll spend most of next winter.

A rough draft route for our 7th year full timing

Celebrating friends

Friends and relationships we’ve forged through our years on the road have brought joy and support to our journey.  Reconnecting with some of you each year has been a part of our traveling tradition, and we’re always eager to see you whenever our paths cross.

Betsy’s caretakers in Corrales, New Mexico – Hector (HMLopez Photography) and Brenda (Island Girl)

Bob and DeeDee (Travels with Charlie & Marshall Dylan) at Desert Trails, Tucson

Several of my friends visited Betsy on Thanksgiving day in Tucson

Five great blogger friends had a delightful evening recently in San Diego.  Imagine the noise we created at that restaurant!

The ladies posed while the men chatted away.  Myself, Lisa (Metamorphosis Road), LuAnn (Paint your Landscape), Laurel (Raven and Chickadee) and Pam (Oh the Places they go)

Urban Hiking in San Diego with Hans and Lisa, John and Pam

Hiking with Eric and Laurel at Iron Mountain Trail in San Diego

Celebrating holidays with family and friends in Los Angeles:

Former co-workers

Family and friends

We met new friends because of a hummingbird at one campground, through RVillage, and on our river cruise:

We met Dr. Harry and Chris on the river cruise
Allison and Tom thru RVillage
A hummingbird led Sheila and Howard of https://wolfsongblog.com to our site at Catalina SP

We also met this African Geese couple.  We didn’t catch their names, but they honked at us when we crossed the road 🙂

Cheers to good health, safe travels and an exciting year ahead!

 

 

Categories: California, Where we have been

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35 Comments »

  3. Looks like a nice route for 2018! We are looking at Montana and Idaho for part of the summer, as well. See you again real soon in Tucson!! The African Geese are adorable. I’ve never heard of them before.

  5. Glad to see that Steve is well and you are getting back out there on the road this year. Looks like a great route. Hope to see you somewhere along the way!

  7. So glad to hear Steve is feeling well and getting back to his normal life. Wonderful that you can travel all the way across the country. Hope it isn’t as cold next year for wintering in Florida as it is this year. You two sure have a giant number of family and friends to enjoy great times with. We’re wishing you a very happy 2018 and safe travels.

  8. Glad to see your lovely smile this winter MonaLiza and know that Steve is on the road to full recovery. We wish you both the very best in 2018. Here’s to some wonderful adventures!

  9. Glad to hear Steve is doing well and you’ll soon return to regular travels. Looks like a fun route. Thanks for taking us along!

  10. The best news … Steve’s well on the road of recovery. Nicew memories … and an interesting look forward to this year.

  11. So glad to hear Steve is doing well (and he gets to eat as much as he wants!!) and that you’re getting back to travel. And, as we slowly make our way west, we are more than ready for some of that ‘unseasonably warm’ weather you speak of. Hopefully it will continue on for the next couple of months!! Looking forward to seeing you guys in AZ! Happy New Year!!

  12. Happy to have you guys back on the road and Steve is recovering. Here’s to 2018-it is going to be a wonderful year!

  13. Very happy to hear Steve is recovering well, and can’t wait to follow your 2018 adventures. You’re going to several places we live, and some we’ve never been.
    Nina

  15. Happy New Year!!! So glad to hear Steve continues to do better. We certainly missed seeing you two this year but can’t wait to see you soon. Here’s to a wonderful healthy 2018.

  16. We’re so happy that all is well and that you’re back on the road. It was so much fun seeing you two in San Diego. 🙂 We’re excited looking at your map to know that you’ll be in Florida next winter….we’ll see you there, if not before! Happy New Year, dear friends!