Friday, November 22, 2013 (Travel to Midland Long Term Visitors Area (LTVA), Blythe, California)

Well, we didn't have a great sleep last night and it wasn't because of the trucks...it was the wind and rain. It just howled all night, rocking the trailer with strong gusts. So it was about 5:00 when we decided to get up to a very cold trailer. It was 45F/7C but outside, with the wind chill, I'm sure it was close to freezing.

After getting cleaned up, we packed the inside of the trailer up and put the sliders in and drove over to the gas pumps to fill up 3 five gallon gas containers. We'll be needing the gas for the generator and ATV's, so with cheaper gas in Nevada, we figured we might as well fill up here rather than wait until we get to California.

We warmed up inside Terribles at McDonald's with coffee and egg McMuffins and then hit the road...it was 6:35 a.m. when we pulled back out onto US 95. Now, I think this is the earliest we have ever been on the road.

We continued south into California...







...meeting up with Interstate 40 for a short distance to Needles, CA...

...where we branched off back onto US 95....

We sure miss the clear blue sky!

That white spec is an RV...they found themselves a nice spot near some interesting rock formations...

 More rain...

And a glimpse of the Colorado River...

As we got closer to Blythe, we came into the agricultural land...cotton growing here...

 ...and an irrigation canal...

We arrived in Blythe at about 9:30...yup, it is pretty wet outside!

...with nice big puddles at Miller Park where we filled up with fresh water. Steve had to climb over the console and come out my door because the water was so deep.

We arrived at Midland just before 10:30 and pulled into a spot on the wash just down from our friends, Charlene and Dennis. It's exactly what we were hoping for...on the wash rather than the spot we had last year that was just a big gravel area.

We leveled off side-to-side and then got all set up...but we didn't bother unhitching...we'll do that later when it stops raining. Poor Steve was outside in the cold wind and rain, though, getting the generator set up. With no solar input, the batteries were getting low and we needed power to run the furnace...it was freezing inside!

About 2:00 we walked up to say hi to Dennis and Charlene. It's great seeing them again! After a short visit, we made plans to get together for happy hour tomorrow. Looking forward to catching up with them!

Back home, I was working on our blog when I went onto Valley of Fire website and saw the following notice...

URGENT UPDATE for November 22!   The park is now open. There is still some mud and gravel over the roads so proceed with caution.  More rain expected today, so before you head out to the park, please call the park.

Hmmm...sounds like they were hit hard with rain! With the weather last night and today, we were wishing that we had just stayed put at our campsite in Valley of Fire...glad we didn't!