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| Sunsets in Tucson are beautiful! |
The Winter of 2025 should have been easy-peasy. We were now experienced snowbirds. We were even smart to plan on going to Arizona first, as we had four years of cold Texas Januaries. Yes, this would be the first winter with our dog, Kira, but she had camped with us before. We just should have left Minnesota on January 3rd and not the 4th.
Our first planned stop was York, Nebraska. We knew some not-so-great weather was approaching, but a few inches of snow never hurt anyone. About three miles from the hotel, we all felt the truck and the trailer slide as we crossed over a bridge. From Tim's perspective: "Only a couple of miles left after a long day of driving, you start to relax as you look forward to a meal and a drink. That feeling that hits your stomach as the truck starts sliding and I see us heading right to the medium on the left, as I look to the left rearview mirror, I see the trailer starting to fishtail. Explicatives coming out of my mouth and Kerstens as I pump the breaks and miraculously get out of the slide. The adrenaline would last for the next couple of hours and a few stiff drinks were definitely needed!" Yes, bridges may freeze first. After parking at the hotel, we quickly realized this snow squall would be much worse than that. We awoke to 6-8 inches of snow, and to the south, in Kansas, it was all ice first, then a foot of snow. We weren't going anywhere. A full day and two nights in a hotel with a dog was not much fun, for any of us. By the third day, we determined that if we went west first, across Nebraska, then headed south, the roads should be good. I-80 in Nebraska was decent, and we got to see all of the accidents from the previous two days. Heading south off the interstate was sketchy for about 15 miles, but then the roads pretty much cleared, and we could breathe. We made it to Garden City that night and enjoyed dinner separately so we could take a break from managing the dog - and from each other. Tim's adrenaline would kick in over every bridge as the memories still lingered.
The next day, we made it to Los Lunes, NM, found a hotel where we could walk to a place to eat, and again, took turns so as to not leave the dog in the hotel alone. The next morning, a kind man in the hotel mentioned the shortcut at Truth or Consequences (yes, that is the name of the town), cutting off about an hour to Tucson. Our drive should have been 6 hours, tops.
As we were driving south, we saw that there might be some snow showers, and determined it would be safer to stay on the interstate instead of the shortcut. After driving slowly through some mushy snow that hit I-25, we refueled in Las Cruces. Just as we got onto I-10, our ETA was 4:15. And that's when a snow squall blew through the area, and traffic slowed to a stop, then finally moved on, only to slow again, FIVE times! There were five semi truck pile-ups eastbound, and just one westbound. It was very frustrating to realize westbound traffic was backed up just because of gawkers looking at the eastbound backup. Our six-hour drive became 11.5 hours. We arrived safely at our destination at 7:45, backed into our spot in the dark, left the truck hooked up, pulled out the slides, had a glass of wine, and went to bed.
After that, we really wanted to make sure we enjoyed our time at Voyager. We got in a few hikes (not nearly enough), some biking (Tim more than me!), golf (Tim more than me), pickleball, Euchre, line dancing, bags, and a ton of laughter and spending so many fun times with friends. I found my new walking buddies and went unhinged in the Glass Fusion lab.
Having a dog with us definitely changed how we managed our time, as we were making sure we didn't leave her inside alone too long, although I don't think she minded the nap time.
Drive to Port A
When our six weeks in Tucson were up, we headed to Port Aransas to connect with our friends from Iowa. First stop was Van Horn, TX, which is way too much driving, but there really isn't much for places to stop east of El Paso. The second stop was Kerville, staying at a place we had been to last year. We could leave the RV hooked up and walk to a brewery. The round trip was three miles, and oh my, Kira went to sleep almost as soon as we got back to the RV! It was so sad to see the flooding in Kerville this summer!
Once in Port A, we enjoyed morning walks along the beach picking up trash, a few visits with friends, made new friends and tried to visit as many bars in Port A as possible, as this may be our last time for a while. This was the latest we'd ever been to the Texas coast, and the weather was MUCH better, although the first few days it rained a lot and was very windy, but we had to go out when we could to walk Kira. We also got to see a couple of kite festivals, and our friends lent us their golf cart for a few days.
Eventually, it was time to start heading north. Our first stop was Tim's sister's place in May, TX, with an uneventful drive, thankfully. Enjoyed a few pounds of crab, one day was nice enough for a boat ride! We went to town to play shuffleboard on a cold day, always fun. We winterized the RV, did the laundry, and packed for the drive home.
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| Kira's first boat ride of the year, in Texas! |
Just three days later, we were pulling into our driveway. That night, we all appreciated being back in our own beds, for sure! Looking forward to the Winter of 2026. Will we leave earlier? That's the plan!
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