WE FINALLY MADE IT TO CALIFORNIA (CA)



TUESDAY - We didn't exactly get what we paid for when we reserved the site at Buckskin Mountains State Park.

Sure we were able to fill our fresh water tank and then dump our waste tanks without even leaving our site. And yes, we were able to take unlimited hot water showers in the bath house. But we still had to run our furnace all night to stay warm and burn through another $7.50 worth of propane.

Why you ask? Because, just after we finished eating dinner last night the power in the entire campground went out. Usually it's only a matter of a few minutes to an hour before someone is able to get it turned back on again, but not this time. No, it was off until about 30-minutes before we pulled out of our campsite to get back on the road this morning.


We have a little sightseeing trip scheduled into our route before we leave Arizona today. Just 28-miles north of the campground is Lake Havasu City and some of you may be aware the original 1830s London Bridge is now located here.

That's right, the same one that was "falling down, falling down" was carefully dismantled and each of the stones was numbered. They were then shipped to California through the Panama Canal before being driven down to Lake Havasu City, where the bridge was just as carefully reconstructed.

From it's purchase in 1967, for just over 2-million dollars, it took four years before it was once again open for vehicular traffic in 1971. The bridge still bears some of the scars from the attack on London during World War II.

The view from above as we drove ROVER and THE POD over the London Bridge, twice!

It sure looks a lot more "regal" from this angle.


I spent a lot of time researching gas prices yesterday and thought I was making a brilliant move when I filled ROVER's tank with 27-gallons of $3.09 Arizona gasoline just before crossing the border into California. Then just 13-miles inside of California was the town of Needles and we saw gasoline being advertised for $2.96, WTF?


After ruminating over the $3.50 I wasted by purchasing gas too soon, we continued on westbound up Interstate 40 for another 65-miles before exiting to take a detour to the town of Amboy, CA.

If you think Amboy sounds familiar to you, it might be because we stopped here once before back in December of 2022 on our way south from visiting Alaska.

Amboy is known for several reasons, but mostly for the Amboy Crater which is formed of ash and cinders, measures 250 feet high and is 1,500 feet in diameter.

Tricia hiked up to the rim trail and down into the cinder cone the last time we were here,
but probably won't do so this time around.


Since this property is administered by The Bureau of Land Management they permit overnight parking at this location. When we were here two years ago we had the place to ourselves. This time around there are four other RVers sharing the two parking lots with us.




WEDNESDAY - We woke up this morning and decided to pospone our departure time until 10:00AM, just because we can!

We're headed to a Walmart for tonight that's 170-miles away and there's no reason to arrive too early. Around 9:45AM we started making preperations for our departure.

It's Tricia's job to make the inside of THE POD ready for travel, while I take care of the outside. I'll admit that when we are "boondocking" like we did last night I don't have much to do. With no electrical cords or water hoses to put away, and no awnings to retract, all I really have to do is raise the stabilizers by pushing a button and then raise the front jack and put away the bucket we use under it. Oh yeah, I also turn off the propane tanks, can't forget that!

When we're not "boondocking" I have to deal with the cords and hoses, plus hookup THE POD to ROVER, put away the awnings and possibly the outdoor chairs we've used.

One thing I always do is turn on the TPMS (tire pressure monitoring system) and check all eight of our tire pressures. Our tires are all set to 75PSI and for the last several days we've had one tire that's been below 60PSI each morning. It's not unusual for pressures to be lower when it's cold out, especially if it's below freezing. While the other seven tires have all been between 65-70PSI this one at 60PSI is somehow losing pressure. So we get out our tire inflator and bring up to tolerance before getting on the road each morning.


This morning the same tire was at 30PSI and we felt it was time to change it out and put on our spare. It was 55°F this morning and we were in a nice smooth level asphalt parking lot, so it was the perfect location to change our tire. Plus it was on the sunny side of the trailer and didn't feel nearly as cold.

So 30-minutes later we were on the road. When you visit Amboy Crater you're literally 25-miles from nowhere and we've got a half tank of gas so we're good in that department, but we'll need gas before we to make it the 170-miles to Walmart.

Our first opportunity for gas was in the very small town of Ludlow, CA (pop. 10). It's located just off Exit 50 on Interstate 40 and like all small towns just off an Interstate the gas prices are outrageous. I feel they are that way for several reasons, first is to take advantage of "that guy" who's traveling on the Interstate in the middle of nowhere when his LOW FUEL light comes on. He's got no choice but to pay the price for being so unprepared.

Second, is maybe they have to pay more for the delivery of the gas to a remote area, but I doubt it. Plus with only one or two gas stations in town there's no competition, so they charge what ever they want.


Comparing the Chevron and Union 76 in Ludlow (pop. 10) to the Shell in Barstow (pop. 25,415)


I use the Gas Buddy App to locate the cheapest fuel prices in an area and found that 50-miles further up the Interstate in the much larger town of Barstow, CA (pop. 25,415) the gasoline was 50-70¢ cheaper. But here's where...

I FEEL LIKE I GOT SCAMMED!

The general public is who reports gas prices to Gas Buddy through use of the app. Although here I suspect the owner of the station reports false prices to drive customers into their station.

Also on Google Maps you can sometimes get prices and comments. This station was reporting gasoline at $3.99 on both Gas Buddy and Google Maps, where I found comments like "this station always has the lowest prices in town".

Also in Gas Buddy you're supposed to report CASH prices and CREDIT prices separately. I filter my Gas Buddy App so that it only shows me CREDIT prices and this station still came up at $3.99 a gallon.

I'll admit it was my fault I paid to much! When I'm towing THE POD through busy surface roads inside of big cities I'm constantly focusing on many things, like traffic, obstacles, first locating the gas station entrance and then how to best maneuver ourselves to be in front of the pump, not so much on the prices posted on their sign.

I've learned that Gas Buddy doesn't always have the correct price and when I saw the big $4.09 on the sign I thought "close enough" to myself and pulled in. When I saw the prices on the pump and then took a good look at the sign out front I should have just pulled away and gone somewhere else, like directly across the street where they sell gas for $4.17 Credit Price. So I overpaid by more than $10 for my fillup by not just pulling away. By the way, there are three other gas stations in Barstow that legitimately advertise $4.09 gasoline, I should have went there instead.

One thing I did do to make myself feel better is once we arrived at Walmart, two hours and 100-miles later, I logged back into Gas Buddy and reported the CORRECT prices in the app. They are no longer the cheapest place in town, as they were before! I'll check it again before we get back on the road tomorrow to see if I need to change them again.


OK, rant over with and I'm feeling better now. SORRY!


Gazing east at 6:20AM from our overnight location.
Who said Walmart parking can't be beautiful?




THURSDAY - Our plan this morning was to travel about 125-miles up CA-99 to the town of Tulare where there is a FREE overnight spot that has a truck tire repair shop across the street.

Well we made it to the repair shop and got both of our leaking tires plugged ($40) and then looked across the street where we could park overnight for FREE and saw nothing but a dirt and gravel lot. Half of it was filled with semi-trucks and old broken down trailers.

We decided then to move on up the road another 45-miles and find a Walmart in Fresno (pop. 542,000+) where we could overnight. The first overnight Walmart we stopped at said NO to us overnight parking. The other five Walmarts in Fresno were all on the east side of town and too far from CA-99 to make it worth fighting the traffic to go check out.

I know what you're thinking, why didn't I just call ahead? Well, more than half the time they never pickup the phone and the other half they say they have to go ask a manager and never come back to the phone. That's why most of the time we just show up with our fingers crossed and ask in person at the Customer Service Desk like we did here.

I've found the larger the town, the more likely the answer will be NO.

So we called another Walmart and then drove 18-miles further north on CA-99 to the town of Medera (pop. 66,000+) where the answer was YES.


UPDATE: As of 7:45PM! - We got that dreaded knock on the door, our first, by the Walmart Security Patrol.

He was kind enough to explain that we weren't allowed to park overnight in the Walmart portion of the parking lot. We could however park in front of any of the other NOW CLOSED stores in the same parking lot.

When I said we wouldn't be doing that and instead just move on down the road he mentioned that Lowe's right across the street allowed overnight parking and called them on my behalf.

We moved across the street and I went inside and verified we were permitted to park and find out EXACTLY where in the lot we were to set up.

Even when you try to do everything right it still manages to come out wrong!


After all the extra driving today we are only about 150-miles from our campsite reservation in Sacramento, so we called and booked an extra day and will arrive tomorrow afternoon instead of Saturday. It'll give us an extra day to get ready to leave for Hawaii and THE POD will have an extra day of rest too.



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4 STOPS IN 4 NIGHTS - ALL IN ARIZONA (AZ)



FRIDAY - We waited until nearly 11:00AM for the temperature to get above freezing (32°F) this morning.

At that point we quickly broke camp, visited the dump station and got back on the highway. By taking the long way around Deming, NM by going through the town of Hatch, NM we were able to visit Griffin's Propane and get two empty propane bottles refilled. We've purchased propane here before back in February of 2023.

With us being unplugged and the temperatures below freezing we've been using a lot of propane to keep warm, day and night, for the last few weeks. Temperatures aren't supposed to change much over the next 10 days so I'm glad we once again have all 3 propane bottles filled.


We've continued our trek westward on Interstate 10 and made it 2-miles inside the state of Arizona for tonight. We're at a Rest Area that serves as the "Unofficial Welcome Center" for Arizona. There are a bunch of maps and tourist guides available, along with vending machines and restrooms inside of the heated building.

We're not expecting 10°F temperatures again tonight, but 28°F is still below freezing, so more propane will undoubtedly be burned tonight.




SATURDAY - I must have got my "mojo back" when it comes to making National Park reservations because this morning, on the first try, we now have a third reservation for Glacier National Park.


We had intentions of spending the night at a Cracker Barrel here on the north side of Tuscson, but when we drove by we realized there was no way we were getting into or out of their parking lot. Luckily there was this Walmart just ½-mile down the street.

We've spent 3-nights at Cracker Barrels before, once each in Indiana, Louisiana and Florida, but none of them had as tiny or crowded a parking lot as this one.

When I asked at the Customer Service Counter, like I always do, I was told the parking overnight was officially against policy just like the signs in the parking lot state. But, and this is a big but, people do it all the time and nobody bothers them.

I've run across that answer before and it always turns out alright, i.e. no knocks on the door at 3:00AM. As I was leaving the Walmart employee gave me a smile and mentioned that her boss comes in at 7:00AM and "takes notice of RVs in the lot".

I'm not sure what that comment was meant to convey, but I'm going to risk it!


Tomorrow we'll be bending our route a little farther north, away from the Mexico border, in order to avoid going anywhere near the wildfires outside of Los Angles when we enter California.




SUNDAY - Today we got an early start, like a 6:30AM start! I woke up and just had a bad feeling about yesterday's conversation with the Walmart employee. I felt like we should be gone before 7:00AM arrived!

We didn't go far, just across the street actually, to the Dunkin Donuts. Tricia went inside to get our food while I waited in the big empty parking lot with ROVER and THE POD. We ate our breakfast and then headed a short distance up the road to purchase gasoline.

By 7:15AM we were rolling north at 65MPH on Interstate 10.


Today we basically traveled northwest on I-10 from Tucson until we neared Casa Grande, then we transfered over to I-8 West towards Gila Bend, before starting the last leg on AZ-85 North into Buckeye.

By doing so we added 18-miles to our route, but avoided going through the Greater Phoenix area on Interstate 10. Well worth it in my opinion!

The stretch of I-8 we traveled today goes right through the Sonoran Desert National Monument. About halfway across I-8 was a Rest Area that we pulled over at "to kill some time" since we got such an early start.

The National Monument is administered by The Bureau of Land Management and there are several FREE dispersed camping areas inside the property. We have plans to revisit this area late this year and will share our findings with you then.


The last leg of the route today was along AZ-85 and that's where we encountered the scene in the next two photos. Even from 10-miles away it didn't look good!

When we were 1-mile away we realized it was on the side of our roadway.

The driver pulled the cab away from the trailer and then safely stood by his door ready to move.




MONDAY - I looked it up! For the first time since October 18th (when we were still up north in Maryland) I paid more than $3.00 for gasoline. It's not the end of the world or anything, but at $3.05 a gallon it doesn't feel like such a bargain.

I guess I shouldn't complain, because tomorrow we cross the border into California where I'll be guaranteed to be paying over $4.00 a gallon.

And let's not even talk about the gasoline prices in Hawaii! At least there I'll be driving a rental subcompact car that hopefully gets 30+ MPG.

In case you were wondering, YES, Hawaii has the highest gasoline prices in the entire country and is closely followed by CA in 2nd place. WA is in 3rd with $3.94 and NV is 4th with $3.66.

But enough of the bad news, here's the good news. We're going to Hawaii!


For our final night in Arizona we're camped at the Buckskin Mountains State Park, located halfway between the towns of Parker and Lake Havasu City on the eastern bank of the Colorado River.

This was a last minute reservation and we were lucky to get any site, let alone a prime large pull-through site with full hookups. We even have enough room to not unhook ROVER from THE POD, seeing as we're only staying the one night.

The entrance to Buckskin Mountains State Park.

A view of the campground and beach area. Can you spot THE POD?

The Colorado River as it flows south away from the park.

These beach areas must be packed with people cooling off in the Arizona summers.



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4 NIGHTS IN 4 LOCATIONS IN 2 STATES (NM)



MONDAY - After traveling 166-miles west we arrived at our first stop on the next leg of our journey in the town of San Angelo, TX.

We've been here in town once before when we spent the night at the local Walmart on our way to meet up with friends to watch the Total Solar Eclipse last year in April.

After posting our location last time, we learned from several of Tricia's aunts that her paternal grandparents were married in this town way back in December of 1943 during World War II.

This time around we learned there is a much nicer place to overnight for FREE in this town!


Just 11-miles southwest of the Walmart is a county park that will allow visitors to spend up to 3-nights for FREE. There are garbage cans and picnic tables, but not much else other than a slow flowing creek and some very noisy ducks.

Our late afternoon view out the large side windows of THE POD.

These 7 noisy ducks pitched a fit when they found out I didn't bring them any food.

Another cold night coming, forecast to still be 24°F at 10:00AM when we get back on the road.




TUESDAY - I woke up late, around 8:30AM, thanks to my generous and giving wife!

Just kidding, but she did share her sickness with me and I now have a sore throat and stuffy nose. It was only a matter of time before she did, right?


At 9:00AM I tried to make a second reservation at Glacier National Park, this time at the eastern entrance of the park in St. Mary, MT. The operative word in that sentence is "tried", because once again I was turned away with my first attempt.


I was however successful at finding the geocache hidden in the park and now once again have an "active find" in the state of Texas.


After another 153-miles traveling west by southwest we found ourselves at the Walmart in Fort Stockton, TX, which is located just off of I-10 Exit #256.

We arrived just after 1:00PM, way too early for a Walmart overnight, but this is a very popular location for overnight visitors. There were already 3 other RVers in the parking lot when we parked and 2-hours later there are now at least a dozen that I can see out the windows of THE POD. Plus there are two 18-wheelers that appear to be settling in for the night.

I sure hope we are able to get some rest tonight and have success with my second attempt at Glacier National Park reservations at 9:00AM tomorrow morning. At least it should be a little bit warmer tonight, only getting down to 28°F.




WEDNESDAY - Again, no luck with getting the Glacier National Park east entrance campground reservation this morning.

Before getting on the road we filled with gasoline at the Walmart branded gas station right here in the parking lot. Usually if there is a gas station on the Walmart property it is either a Murphy's USA or Murphy's Express station, neither is owned in any part by Walmart.

I guess Walmart is now getting into the convenience store/gas station business. At least their gas prices were still 10¢ less than most other stations in town.


Today we "plodded" across 159-miles of Interstate 10 Westbound through the rather desolate region of the Texas panhandle. There wasn't much of anything "green" to see along the route, most everything was a shade of brown.

We passed by three or four small towns with populations of less than 2500 each, which means there wasn't a Walmart in sight. Luckily we know of a great little roadside picnic spot with a view to overnight at because we stayed here once before last year.

Today we crossed into the Mountain Time Zone and will be spending our last night in Texas. That means we both get an extra hour of sleep tonight, right? Some how I don't think it's going to feel that way in the morning!




THURSDAY - Once again I was online this morning, this time at 8:00AM because we are now in the Mountain Time Zone, trying to secure a campsite in the St. Mary's Campground in Glacier National Park.

Unfortunately I was once again "too slow" to click the mouse to make the reservation, but to my amazement the person who beat me to it only booked one night. That means I'll get another shot at it tomorrow morning when Tricia and I both will be on our laptops to take a "double shot" at scoring the site.


Tonight we are going to be "plugged in to electricity" at the Leasburg Dam State Park in New Mexico. The forecast for tonight/tomorrow morning is for a low of 13°F which would tie THE POD's current "all-time lowest recorded temperature", which we experienced while at the Grand Canyon in April of 2023.

Either way we're going to have to turn off our electric space heaters about the time we go to bed tonight and turn on the propane furnace so that it warms the waste water tanks under THE POD's floors. The last thing we need is to freeze and crack a waste tank!

We are also going to be looking for a place to refill one of our 30lb. propane tanks which is currently at 34% when it was 100% full just a week ago.



FRIDAY - At sunrise this morning our temperature here at Leasburg Dam State Park in New Mexico dipped to just 10°F.

As mentioned before, that's a new "all time low temperature" recorded in THE POD. Well not in THE POD, rather outside THE POD, you know what I mean.

As far as we can tell the temperature record is the only thing we broke last night. There doesn't appear to be any leaks under THE POD and everything inside seems to be working just fine.

It may have been 10°F outdoors, but it was a relatively mild 68°F inside THE POD.



GOOD NEWS! We secured our second Glacier National Park campsite this morning and I'm thinking about pressing our luck and trying for a third reservation at another location in the park.

You are only allowed to spend 14-days total in the park and each one of our overlapping reservations are for 14-days each so we'll have to trim them down at a later date.

The third reservation would be back on the west side of the park on the opposite shore of Lake McDonald.



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