Time to hit the road! With "one last astronaut play time" with my grandson, kisses, hugs & tears all around, found items we kept missing, we headed outside to set off. Truck hitched up - check. Slides in - check. Stabilizers up - check. Drawers locked, cabinets closed - check, check. Nothing loose on the counters - check. Ok, we should be good to go! Pulling a 35' Tiffin Allegro TSA with a tow, isn't like getting in your car and just pulling away from the curb! No sirree!

First stop, our favorite place, Casa de Fruita for coffee and lunchtime sandwiches to go. Settled back for the drive to Barstow, our first overnight stop, I was able to just enjoy the view (Jack had to concentrate on driving, but I filled him in on all the finer details!). And what a great view it is from way up here! Wow! Looking down on the San Luis Reservoir, seeing it in all it's splendor, from above, is really nice, I must say...so much better than from a car. I'm really going to enjoy this height!

As we came through Fresno, I loved seeing all the valley, flat as far as the eye could see. Farm lands, being fed via an aqueduct. Some green with rows all carved in neat lines, some dark with just the dirt showing, some trees. Somehow it gave me a since of pride. Farmers hard at work doing what they love. Feeding us. Bless them.

We made it as far as Coalinga, where we pulled into a nice rest stop for our picnic. A bit windy, but the sun was shining and the people all around were smiling. Can't ask for much more than that! Tummies full, a couple of walks around the place, then we headed back out on the road.

Hours later, as we left Bakersfield we entered miles of rolling hills, mostly tan, but some still showing green here and there. Interesting to me that in just a few short miles how very different this terrain can change...and this is only just the beginning! What lovely sights lie ahead just boggle my mind. I feel like a little kid on the night before the first trip to Disneyland!

Stopping for gas, I've decided is the "real challenge" in the rv! Getting that "just right" spot - not to close (don't want to take any gas pumps out!) but not so far out that the hose doesn't reach (biggest challenge), then pulling just far enough forward to line up the back tank, but not stick out to far either! Sound easy? Not for us, not yet anyway! It's like a "fireman's drill" watching us, I'm sure! I run back to the back window and look out to see if he's lined up ok, then when I think it's ok, he double checks it, swears because he's to far for the hose to reach, and then we go find another station because it's not like you can just back up and start over! Next time was the charm ;-) Thank goodness this thing holds 70 gallons!

We watched our first sunset dip down over the Mojave Desert, quiet and serene. Something calming about seeing the silhouettes of the cactus and hills against the darkening sky.

Later than we had hoped, but safe and secure, we pulled into our first campsite! A nice KOA just outside of Barstow. We'll stay here another day and night and take in the "local sites" ;-)

...on the road in California, Marie