7:19 am - Sunday - November 1st - Kingman, AZ - 54° F, humidity 93%, cloud cover 93%, wind 18 mph out of the southwest.....heavy cloud cover, raining today with a forecast high of 57° F. On this date in 2016 TLE and I were boondocking near Lone Pine, CA....
....we had always wanted to boondock here and finally did it. Wish we could have spent a week there! The view this morning....
Originally, TLE and I had planned to begin our drive south to Yuma Sunday morning, but the weather forecast, which predicted 1/2 inch of rain beginning early Saturday evening, convinced is to leave a day early to avoid the anticipated muddy quagmire of the local dirt roads. There is a lot of red clay in this area, and just a little moisture turns it spongy and gooey. The forecast also had an affect on Charles and Phyllis' plans to head back to Phoenix. They had planned to also leave Sunday morning, but sped up the timeline to leave Saturday morning. They were gone a little after 8 am Saturday. TLE and I wanted to give the local roads a chance to dry Saturday, so our departure time was to be between 2:30 and 3 pm. As it turned out that was a very good decision, but more on that later.
We spent the morning closing up all of our infrastructure (locking everything), and watching some NCAA college football. We also stowed or patio awning, and the two 'sail' sunshades as the forecast also included winds in the 20 mph range while we are gone. As the morning progressed we slowly packed our backpacks. Taking lots of time to pack reduces the chances of forgetting something, and we almost always forget something.
By 2:45 pm we had packed the VW Beetle, double checked to be sure everything that needed locking was locked, and were on the road around 2:50 pm. We had a few soft spots along our long driveway, but not bad. The connecting road which runs along our property was pretty dry, and the main north/south arterial was in very good shape with just a few muddy areas which we were able to circumnavigate easily. The road was still just as smooth as it was two weeks ago when we arrived, and we reached US-66 in less than 15 minutes. When the road is bad it takes us 30+ minutes.
Within 10 minutes of reaching US-66 it began to rain (earlier than expected), then became torrential. Torrential enough that I had to slow down to 45 mph to be able to see. Torrential enough that all of the dirt, dust, and some mud was completely pressure washed off the VW. It continued raining, sometimes very hard, all the way to Kingman where we arrived just before 4 pm.
We made a quick stop at the local Smith's Supermarket, then headed over to our hotel, which was just across the street on Stockton Hill Road. By 4:30 pm we had completed our check in, and were in our room. Once we had unpacked we walked across Stockton Hill Road to the local Panda Inn Express. It always amazes me at how much food you get for $12 at Panda Inn Express!
We were back home by 4:45 pm, at which time I turned on the TV to watch the USC vs. Ohio State game, which was already in progress. The score at the time was 7-3 in favor of USC (home team). We forgot to pickup some forks at the Panda Inn Express, so I went downstairs to get some 'Sporks' we keep in the glove compartment for just such an 'emergency'. By the time I returned it was 14-3 USC....wait, what? USC is now unranked due to their humiliating loss to Wisconsin last week, and Ohio State is the #2 team in the nation.....
.....we got, by the way, an 'ACCESSABLE' room, aka: ADA room, which is twice as large as a regular room. It wasn't classified as a suite, but it did have a couch, and two desks. Something to keep in mind for future travels. As the evening evolved the Trojans widened their lead to 12 points holding the Buckeyes to 3 field goals, and just one touchdown to win 30-18 on a stormy, rainy night in the Los Angeles Coliseum. The Buckeyes didn't score a touchdown until under 2 minutes to play. We were very impressed with the improved USC defense. They actually played well for 60 minutes.
We headed off to slumberland around 9:30 pm looking forward to a good night's sleep, and to continuing our trip south to Yuma Sunday morning.
Thanks for stopping by!
