Trials and Tribulations
We were ready to head out on Our Southern Safari, BUT we were dealing with a bit of delay dealt by old Momma Nature. Ashland rarely gets snow and rarely more than a few inches. Wednesday and Thursday dealt us quite a bit of the white stuff (about 12 inches) and we were trying to load the rig and get over the Siskiyou Summit on Friday morning. After a bit of fussing and fretting it all worked out and we scooted across the border into California. We made it down to Sacramento where we met up with our son Marq, his girl friend Deanne and Karen’s Brother Eric and his wife Carol. Along with daughter Kristin who rode with us from Ashland we had a nice “send off “dinner.
From Sacramento our original plans had been to go over to Yosemite National Park, but because of the big storm that had hit we decided to skip another bout with snow and head to warmer climates. We made it down to Bakersfield and used the extra day to get some work done on the MoHo (tire monitors) and some errands run.
Tomorrow, March 1st heads us further south for a 2 day visit to Steve and Elena’s in Long Beach. Looking for some sun and warmer weather.

Dear Family and Friends,

Mike and Karen are off again on another motor home adventure. This time we will be taking a very southerly route, starting in San Diego and ending on the Florida Keys. Of course that is not really the end as we do have to return home sometime.

We will be mostly following Historic 80, and like our last trip on Historic 66, much of the original road is gone or covered over by interstate. Historic 80 was originally called The Dixie Overland Highway. The eastern end is at Savannah Georgia, and more accurately on Tybee Island. After watching and considering how unpredictable the weather in the southern U.S has been, we decided on a very southern route through Texas, Big Bend N.P. following the Mexican border down to Brownsville. From here we will follow the gulf coast through Houston, New Orleans, Mobile, Pensacola and all the way down to the Keys, where we will stay in Marathon for a week. Then we will head north with a stop in Everglades N.P. When we reach Cocoa Florida, we will hopefully get to see a shuttle launch and visit and old friend.

Then, the kid in us takes over with a brief visit to Disneyworld, and maybe Universal Studios for Harry Potter World, although several have said not to bother. Back on the road again and up to Savannah, where we reconnect with the Historic 80. A stop in Atlanta to see our nephew, Scott, Face Mountain and a Braves baseball game.
Heading west we will stop at several Civil War sites eventually arriving back in the west at Carlsbad New Mexico. From here we will drive north, having completed 90% of Highway 80, to a couple of our favorite towns Santa Fe and Albuquerque.

A highlight of this trip will come in Williams Arizona. We will board the Grand Canyon Train for an overnight stay at Bright Angel Lodge and a helicopter ride. From here we go to Las Vegas, Vally of Fire State Park, Death Valley, Reno and home.

So there you have it a brief overview of "Our Southern Safari". If you can log on we really appreciate hearing from you, but don't feel obligated to comment. We mostly write this so we can remember where we have been.

The trip will start on Feb. 24 and the next blog will likely be around March 1.

Enjoy, Mike and Karen