8:30 AM Tuesday December 21, 2004

We're leaving Bakersfield this morning. After obsessing about our late mail for the past five days, it dawned on me that if we're not here when it arrives, it will be "returned to sender" by the RV park. If it bounces around within the postal service and becomes "undeliverable", it will be "returned to sender." Either way, our mail forwarding company will get it back and can resend it to us down the road. This will be our first experience at stowing the data storm and preparing the equipment for travel. It's supposed to be a no-brainer ... that's good because as Phil says (he's joking of course), "Between the two of us, we make a good half-wit." Our destination? San Diego or somewhere in that vicinity. I've decided to bypass the Joshua Tree National Monument this trip because we drove through them by the thousands yesterday on one of our treks into the high desert. Formidable, fascinating as well as spectacular and at the risk of sounding disrespectful and underimpressed (which I'm not) ... when you've seen one Joshua tree, you've seen them all. Also, I wanted to visit the Salton Sea but we can catch that on another trip. We have used the week we've been delayed here in Bakersfield to do some interesting exploring (lots of pictures to share and I'll write more about that later) but it has put us somewhat behind schedule (I know, I know, we're not supposed to have one of those but ... my OCD tendencies rear their ugly head on occasion). So, San Diego, here we come and then East to Yuma. From there we're going North to Quartzite for a few days. Note: The arthritis in my fingers is better for the first time in years! Could it be the dryness? With luck, we'll be back on line tonight once we're settled into our next park ... send positive thoughts our way, okay?