Change in Domicile

Full-Time RVing
We are officially South Dakota residents and it feels a little funny. After travelling through Colorado and Wyoming we arrived at Box Elder, South Dakota to make the final change on becoming South Dakota residents.  We had to stay one night in SD so we stayed at the place that is our mail forwarding company and the following morning we went to get our SD driver’s license.  Getting a license in SD is a little different than Minnesota.  We needed our old license, proof of our Social Security number and our passport along with the receipt that we had stayed overnight somewhere in SD.   We filled out the application just like you do in MN, had the eye test, picture taken and paid the $20 and out the door we…
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Slowly Heading up North

Traveling
We didn’t quite make it out of Arizona without stopping one more time.  We decided to stop at Holbrook, AZ for a night so we could visit The Petrified Forest National Park.  It was very much worth the stop.  The National Park was a 28 mile drive with many stops and small hikes to see some areas of ancient forests that are now petrified wood lying in the desert.   We didn’t allow ourselves enough time to do enough exploring.  We didn’t enter the park until 4:30 and the ranger told us that we had to be out the other side by 6:00 when the gates closed.  So we decided this is a place we want to stop again and do some hiking.  Before we left the park we were able…
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Grand Canyon/Williams, Sedona and Jerome, AZ

Traveling
Remember how I said snow was being predicted in the high country in AZ?  Well did we get the snow but I’ll come back to that later. We moved from Lake Havasu City to the town of Williams, 67 miles south of the Grand Canyon.  This northern Arizona town sits at 7,000 ft elevation and Route 66 runs through its main street.  We found a nice RV park, Grand Canyon Railway RV Park that was a few blocks off main street and stayed put for one week.    The Grand Canyon Railway runs out of Williams.  This is a train that runs every day of the year except Christmas from Williams to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.  We decided this was the way we were going to make our…
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A Drive Back to Western Arizona

Traveling
We heard about this Ghost Town close to the CA/ Arizona border and decided to take the 240 mile trip back to Western Arizona to see it.  On the way we stayed two nights in the “Cowboy” town of Wickenburg.  Usually we do a little research before we start off to find our next possibly campsite but we had heard that the BLM land (Bureau of Land Management) in the desert was nice so we decided to check that out in Wickenburg.  On our way into town we stopped at an antique store and asked where the BLM land was.  After getting directions from a local and with the 5th wheel in tow off we went to find our next campsite.  Just a few miles out of Wickenburg we started…
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Arizona Desert

On Our Minds, Traveling
Ok, I’ll have to take back some of my concerns about the desert.  There is beauty in some of the desert we have seen.  But some of it has been dusty and barren and doesn’t have a lot to offer (like trees). We started are Arizona journey in Quartsite, a supposedly must stay place for any RVer.  Quartsite is a town in the middle of the desert with a population of about 4,000 people.  But in January of every year thousands and thousands of RVers come to Quartsite for a couple of weeks of flea markets, RV sales and just about anything else RVers would be interested in.  They can set up camp in the desert for a few dollars a night with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).  We…
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A Pitfall of RV Full-Timing

Full-Time RVing
People ask us all the time what we don’t like about RV full-timing.  I’ve voiced my dislike for laundromats.  I’d now have to add finding a dog groomer to my dislikes.  We never realized how wonderful it was to take our dogs to the same groomer for the past 14 years and she just knew how we liked the dogs groomed.  We have tried Petsmart and a private groomer in Oregon and they were so-so.  But we found this woman in Apache Junction who took the prize.  She was recommended by the KOA where we stayed.    We took in Ivy, a Bichon, and picked up Ivy, a Poodle.  When I dropped Ivy off the woman asked how I wanted her groomed.  I went over everything but she had other ideas. …
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Southeast, CA

Southeast, CA

Campgrounds
Off we go travelling towards Arizona through the southeast part of California.  We travelled through a small portion of the Mojave Desert through the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains.  Our first stop was in the town of Banning, CA in the foothills of the San Jacinto Mountains.  We spent three days exploring the area.  Not much to explore but the camp host recommended we take a 22 mile drive into the mountains to the town of Idyllwild.  The 22 mile drive was beautiful as we climb to an elevation of over 5,000 ft.  Idyllwild sat in a valley and was worth the slow, winding climb.  The town was small but had some fun, unique shops and restaurants.  It was great walking around and we had lunch at an ok…
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Ventura, California

Traveling
We have truly found the best view at a campsite since we entered CA.   When we were at Pleasanton, a couple staying next to us told us they were heading to Ventura to Rincon Parkway, a strip of blacktop along Hwy 1 that the County of Ventura allows RVs to stay at for $27 a night.  So we went online to check it out.  By the description people gave that had stayed there it was exactly that – a strip of blacktop a few feet off of Hwy 1 between the ocean and a railroad tracks that carried Amtrak trains every few hours.  With no hook-ups at the sites we decided to look a little farther.  On the same section of Hwy 1 were two actual RV parks run by…
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Central California

Traveling
Seacliff State Park in Santa Cruz was our next stop.  Okay, here is one of my complaints about CA.  The state park system in CA is terrible.  It’s not that they don’t have nice state parks but they are so expensive for really nothing.  The sites are normally close together and short, not meant for RVs over 25 feet.  The least we paid was $35.00 a night and this was with no hook-ups. Seacliff, because it sat right on the beach, was $55.00 a night and there were no hook-ups plus we sat on black top with no space between us and our neighbor. Now it was our choice to stay here because we wanted the experience of staying right on the beach but $55 a night – really?  And…
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Northern California

On Our Minds
I’ve been really having a hard time getting started writing about our California adventure.   It’s not that we haven’t been having a wonderful time in CA.  We have seen some beautiful areas.  I love CA’s beautiful trees and flowers.   One of the first things that we saw as we crossed the border from Oregon was the Giant Redwoods.  We went through the 31-mile scenic drive called the Avenue of the Giants of the Ancient Redwoods.  We spent time hiking in some of the groves and even got lost once when we got turned around on a trail.  We spent an anxious hour trying to find the trail that would take us back to the truck.  We also spent time hiking at Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve in Guerneville, CA.   Beautiful…
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