Life is full of surprises!

I’ll bet you didn’t know I would make a trip to San Antonio – I didn’t know, either. My January plans – besides keeping warm during Prescott Valley’s extra bitter cold winter – were to make a short trip to North San Diego County and to continue planning my "2013 Great Journey around the USA".

Overnight my plans changed. My 81-year-old friend and former neighbor, who now lives in San Antonio, emailed to say she was moving from her large home into a one-bedroom retirement apartment. Maria not only sounded overwhelmed, but I knew for a fact she was. I had helped her pack to move one other time. With no children and no siblings to help, she was stuck.

She did not ask me to come and help; she lives about 1,000 miles from Prescott Valley. After some thought, I decided to go to her aid and called to tell her. You would have thought she had just won the jackpot!

After emailing my California friends and changing those travel plans, I loaded up Jeremiah Junior and headed east. Three and a half days later I arrived at her home, sized up the project and we got right to work packing boxes. We had lovely warm days but really cold nights. I camped in my motorhome while there.

When I tell you she had a 3-bedroom, large home loaded with household goods, furniture and treasures from her years of traveling the world as an opera singer, you can imagine her frustration in having to pare things way down. In spite of the difficult decisions she had to make, we had lots of laughs, too. 

Six days later with yet more to pack, I had to head home in order to keep a hard-to-get appointment with my ophthalmologist. I’ll be home on Monday afternoon (Feb. 4). I’m thrilled with my new, tiny rolling home. It drives very well and I’ve been very comfortable. I’m getting 12 to 14 mpg, depending on speed, terrain and wind. I-10 in Texas is a super road; not very much traffic. I found some very nice and inexpensive RV parks along the way.

Once home, I intend to re-plan my California trip for a couple weeks during the rest of this month or the next one. So, if you were in my travel plans, expect an email.