2025 so far…

Sorry to be AWOL for a while, 2025 did not start off well for us and blogging took a back seat to life and all its ups and downs. 

On New Year’s Day, as we made our way to Portland, we had just reached a rest area south of Olympia when a potential health issue with one of our kids seemed to take a more serious turn. We turned around to head back, but by the time we hit south Seattle, an emergency MRI showed all is well. Crisis averted. Relieved beyond measure, I pulled over on the side of the highway and bawled my eyes out, then turned around and continued on to Portland. What was supposed to be an easy start to our 2025 travels turned into an emotional nine-hour travel day and we arrived after dark. That’s never a good thing in a big rig. After all that drama, we spent the next few days chilling out and visiting friends.

We continued on to the Sacramento area where we spent a couple of days visiting with Laurie and Odel, the folks from whom we purchased our first full timing rig, Scoopy. It is always fun to catch up with them and Laurie’s sister Sydney and her husband Frank. 

We spent the next few days making our way to the Elks Lodge in Indio, CA, one of our favorite places to stay in the SoCal desert area when we are not boondocking. There we ran into Mike and Wendy Lawrence, and enjoyed a meal out with them. And for some reason, neither one of us manage to get a photo any time we cross paths. You would literally never know by looking through our photos that we’ve seen them a couple of times since we moved back to the States. I will try harder next time. 

After a few days in Indio, where we did some shopping and stocked up, we made our way to Quartzsite, where we visited the annual Big Tent event.

We had planned to spend a few weeks just chilling out in the desert. About ten days after we got there, I ended up in the ER in Blythe, just back across the California border. I was sure I was experiencing a kidney stone. I’ve had one of those before so once I told Steven what I was feeling, we made our way to the hospital post haste. 

I had some imaging done and I was very surprised when the ER doc said that, while I did not have a kidney stone, I did have an ovarian cyst the size of a tennis ball. I guess that could cause some twinges that can be mistaken for a stone on the move. Anyway, I was told to follow up with my doctor within three or four days, which, if you are a nomad, you know is kind of impossible. It’s not like we have a doctor in every port. To make matters worse, the ER nurse said, “You should really see a Gynecologist/Oncologist, and don’t put this on the back burner.” (!!) I don’t have one of those on speed dial either. 

Suddenly, chilling out in the Arizona desert didn’t sound like much fun. We really didn’t know where we should go to deal with this situation. Should I fly somewhere, maybe back to Seattle? To Abilene, where my parents live? We finally decided to just head for Phoenix in Ruby Red and take it one step at a time. Fortunately, we were able to get a space at the busy Tempe Elks Lodge and I was able to get an appointment pretty quick, but let me tell you, that was the longest eight days of my life! It was hard to keep the “what ifs” at bay when it felt like my whole life was about to drastically change. 

I somehow lucked into finding one of the best doctors I have ever had in my life. Dr. Shana Wingo immediately put my mind at ease. “I don’t see anything that concerns me,” she said. And then we did a slew of tests just to be sure. Everything came back normal. I had the option of surgery to remove the cyst immediately, or upon our return from our upcoming Camino in France. I chose the former, as I didn’t want anything to worry about as we walked. On Valentine’s Day I had robotic surgery and three days later I was back in the gym on the treadmill. It was the easiest recovery ever and, even better, the labs showed the cyst was benign. Crisis averted, again!

In total we spend nearly a month at the Elks Lodge in Tempe. We really needed to be able to get some training in while we were just sitting around so we joined the nearby Planet Fitness. We did see friends, but I admit I was probably not the best company, before or after surgery. To be honest, the most difficult thing for me to deal with was the weather, it was so hot and dusty. I felt like I was choking and I would get nose bleeds because it was so dry. Departure Day remains my favorite and there has been none more joyous than the day we pulled out of Phoenix. 

We headed to the ranch by way of Tucson and Tombstone where we had short visits with RVing friends we haven’t seen since moving to Europe. 

We arrived at the ranch on March 7th and were soon joined by friends Bill and Kelly. We spent the next days walking in the early mornings, continuing with our Camino training, about 5.5 miles each day. On St. Patrick’s Day we all drove Steven to DFW where he boarded a flight to Dublin and has since been spending time with his family. Over the next few days, Bill, Kelly and I continued to walk. I skipped a day or two because I had to get Ruby Red ready for us to be away for a couple of months. I have never done that on my own and it was a big job. I will just say that if you have friends who come and keep you company out in the big middle of nowhere and help with all the dirty jobs, count yourself among the lucky ones. I certainly do. And it goes without saying, but I will anyway, that we are grateful to my parents who have welcomed us at the ranch since we first hit the road in 2014. Having a place where we can park and leave our home behind while we travel to places hither and yon is a real blessing and we appreciate them so much.  

By the time you read this post, Steven and I will have reunited in Paris and made our way by train to Le Puy-en-Velay in the south of France. On April 1st we begin our journey on the 750-kilometer La Podiensis, also known as the Chemin du Puy-en-Velay, the GR 65 and the Camino de Santiago. The entire trip from Le Puy to Santiago de Compostela is nearly 1600 kilometers, or 1,000 miles. Fortunately, we have already walked the second half from St. Jean-Pied-du-Port to Santiago de Compostela, which was our very first Camino in 2019. We are looking forward to being back on the trail and this time, we will be walking with friends and meeting up with others at the end for a few days of rest in Paris. Maybe 2025 is going to turn out okay after all.

So that’s a very quick catch up on what’s been going on with us. We tend not to have the energy or desire to write blog posts as we are walking, but I promise to fill you in on all the deets when we get back. Thanks for hanging in there with us!