Hemet Landing

The 101 south was blocked due to area fires so debates as to which mountain pass to select to get into the LA/Riverside basin from the north. The grapevine was steeper, longer, windier with very heavy traffic. The other pass out of Palmdale was a bit out of the way but would use the I15 to traverse the mountain pass. Since it was a weekday the shorter distance was selected. The winds were very strong blowing tumbleweeds and debris everywhere. Kevin fought to stay in line while dodging slow moving vehicles struggling to make the grade. The Smitanic did well on the grade and thankfully traffic was light (for LA). The last descent into Hemet off I10 was a familiar relief. This marks the 5 year out of the last 6 at Golden Village Palm RV Resort just across the street from Theresa’s moms home in the Hemet West retirement community. The Smitanic settled in to the same site as the previous year saying hi to the Canadian neighbors Ken and Charlotte.

A quick set up was done and then it was off to Theresa’s moms house to greet her 97 year old mom and 2 of her 4 siblings! Welcome to the west coast winter Home!

The plan is to stay until mid-March, then head back east for a short stay in Florida, then finally return to NC in April.

In all, the timing of the year (late-September) was good to get south and west as the weather patterns shifted into winter mode soon after each stay. The subtheme of Route 66 allowed for some interesting sites as well as some bucket list hits!

Here was the route from Toronto to Hemet.  3942 miles, 51 nights at 21 locations.