It has been 10 months since I last posted and a lot has happened.  How can that be you might ask when our government ordered us locked in our houses.  Well for a good bit of that time we were in Georgia, the land of the free where we were able to go about living our lives.  You know, eating out, shopping, laughing with friends, breathing fresh air.  But we were committed to spending Christmas with Austin and Nicki in South Lake Tahoe where they are currently living.  So for the second time in six months, we packed up the car and three days after Thanksgiving headed across country.  We stopped in Fredericksburg Texas to celebrate our 41st wedding anniversary.

Our first stop in California was San Diego and that’s when the loss of our freedoms hit us.  We thought we had landed on alien soil with people walking around like zombies hiding behind their masks out in the fresh air.  But ever the optimists we were not deterred.  We hit the road again stopping to see family in the Sacramento area.  I will not mention names as I would not want the Gestapo to rain down on them.  We stayed the required 6 feet away with no hugs or kisses and despite the dire warnings, no one got sick.  We then headed up into the snow covered Sierras and for all the careful weather planning we always do, we arrived at their house in a snow storm.  Lucky for us, Austin was driving. We spent two cold but fun weeks at their house.  The pool table, fully stocked bar and great food kept us all happy. While Gary and I stayed mostly indoors, I did try snowshoeing. 

On January 5th we boarded a plane and flew back to Georgia.  Yes you read that right.  We left the car at Austin’s and flew home because while we were in California we sold At Ease.  We put her on the market last summer, had one deal fall through then a Florida couple who saw her in November put in an offer a week after we headed for California.  Two weeks after we arrived back in Georgia we closed on the sale and we were heading back to California in a small U-Haul with our meager belongings.  Yes our third cross country trip in less than a year.  Pro tip: head out early each day, pack a cooler with snacks and adult beverages, stop by 3:00 in time for happy hour.  You will enjoy the journey that much more.

So where are we now?  The short answer is we are renting a place in Scottsdale Arizona.  We got here by first storing our stuff in San Diego and celebrating Gary’s birthday out on the patio of our favorite Mexican restaurant, traveling to South Lake Tahoe to get our car, stopping for a month in Palm Springs to catch our breath, then heading back to San Diego where we ultimately decided we just can’t live in California right now.  So here we are enjoying the warm weather, FREEDOM and the friendly people.  What I will miss about Georgia is the friendly people.  Always a smile, good morning or more times than not wishing us a blessed day.  Here we have a lot of that too as we walk every morning.  Well minus the ‘have a blessed day’.   I think that is unique to the bible belt states.  Why did we pick here to settle for a bit? Family will remember that in December 1979 two newlyweds from New Jersey flew on their first commercial airline to honeymoon in Scottsdale, Arizona. So this place holds some nostalgia for us and we’ve always had a fondness for the southwest.

While we were in Palm Springs, we went to Joshua Tree National Park and the Salton Sea where we visited a quirky town called Bombay Beach. At -236 feet below sea level it was definitely one of the most unusual places we have been.  Here are some pictures we snapped.

As with all our boats, saying goodbye to At Ease was bittersweet but we wish her and the new owners safe sailing. Now on to our next adventures.

Cindy