Safe arrival - solo - Florida to S. California

[patodonn]

Well, almost solo...Scooter, the Wonder Dog, did his normal sleep from pulling out to potty stop.

Nancy flew from Florida to LA on 1 August, and I headed West with the Monty that morning. 14 days, 10 en route stops, 2614 mi, Patrick AFB, FL, to Seal Beach, CA, to accommodate Nancy's recall for a short term (probably) job with her former employer, Boeing. Recalled 4 1/2 years after being laid off. Came as quite a surprise. Will make a significant difference in her retirement situation in a year or so.

Safe and sound, no problems with the Monty all the way. Had a minor leak in the turbo system of the Dodge, which I had fixed in Albuquerque.. Wouldn't have known it except for the "abnormal" higher EGTs and lower boost pressures I noticed at higher altitudes. Took a couple of days "extra" due to the extreme hot weather expected transiting the Mojave Desert. On the road at 0600 - 0630 each day to beat the heat.

Nice, brand new military FAMCAMP at Seal Beach Naval Sta. We will probably be here until mid-Sept, or maybe early Oct. 10 min with no freeway travel from Nancy's work....can't beat that!!

Looking forward to resuming our travesl soon.

Best Regards,

[jrgwdenner]

Congrats on a safe arrival, PJ. We're anxious to see more of the military campgrounds as we have enjoyed them here in Alaska and those around Florida. Just need time to visit more of them.

[Parrothead]

PJ
Glad you made it safe to Southern Calif. Enjoy while you are here. I envy you the nice military campgrounds. I've seen a couple and heard about them but neither Ed or I are veterans. Just our Dads. Both buried in a National Cemetery.
Happy trails........................

[HamRad]

Hi PJ,
I hope Nancy is not working too hard!

Glad you had a relatively good trip. That is one long drive. Where did you end up staying in Needles? Sounds like you have a really nice setup there in Seal Beach. You don't want to come to Bakersfield right now. Wow! Has it been hot. Today it was under 100 degrees for the first time in 32 days! So I hope you don't have to come up this way for a while.

Welcome home. Well sort of your home. If I remember you're official SD residents now.

Take care and see you later.

Dennis and Mary Kay

[sreigle]

Glad to hear you made it safe and sound, Pat! Tell Nan 'hi' for us.

[Lije Baley]

Welcome back to California. That was quite a trip. Except for the Dodge repair, did you stop enroute? Lot of hours on the road.

[patodonn]

I made 10 "overnight" stops between Melbourne, Fl, and Seal Beach, CA. Took two nights at a couple of them. Most of them involved very early (for me) departures (0600) and arrival at around noon, due to the beastly hot weather in a couple of places. More for tire safety than any other reason. Kept the speed down to 55-58 mph for those locations...anytime the outside temp got above 91 or 92. Seemed to work well. I dodged a couple of weather "bullets" by missing a couple thunderstorms by few minutes. Needles, CA, had the worst storm of the year just the evening before I got there. Buckets of rain, large hail and lots of wind. Saw several folks trying to remove torn awnings from the previous evening's events when I pulled in around noon.