5/23/09 - Houston, TX

We are on our way to the Dakotas via California. We'll be attending a memorial service for Dr. David Neill in Orinda, CA next Saturday. David was my best friend and the best man at our wedding. We don't plan on updating this blog every single day like we did the last two big trips -- it's just too big a PITA. But check here every so often to keep up with our adventures.

5/24/09 & 5/25/09 - Segovia, TX & Bowie, AZ

We got a late start leaving Houston on Sunday. We left around 3:00 PM and made it as far as Segovia, Texas near Junction. We spent the night at a minimal RV park for only $5.00 -- the electricity was inoperable. The site did include water and sewer which we didn't use. We got by on our LED lights which consume very little battery power and our on-board water. On Monday we drove 643 miles to Bowie, Arizona. We drove straight through and only stopped for gas. We arrived at another crappy RV park just at sunset -- at least it had full hookups.

5/26/09 - Quartzite, AZ

We got up and took showers in our bathroom -- this is only the third time we have used our trailer shower. We drove to the nearby Fort Bowie National Historic Site. This was the fort used by the U.S. Army to subdue Geronimo and the Apaches. Then we drove to Casa Grande Ruins National Monument between Tucson and Phoenix. It is one of the largest prehistoric structures ever built in North America. It was built around 1350 by the Hohokam indians. We drove on to Quartzsite, Arizona and checked into an RV park. This area is very popular with RVers in the winter, but it is pretty deserted in the hot summer months.

5/27/09 - Mojave, CA

We left Quartzsite and drove north to Lake Havasu City, AZ. We stopped at two brewpubs (Mudshark Brewing and Brothers Brewing) and had samplers of their beers. Brothers Brewing was right next to the London Bridge of childrens' song fame. The bridge was literally falling down in London and it was moved piece by piece to Arizona in 1968. We left and drove through the Mojave Desert and visited the Hole in the Wall visitors center at the Mojave National Preserve. Then we continued on and checked into an RV park in Mojave, CA.

5/28/09 - Orinda, CA

We left Mojave and drove straight through to Orinda, CA. We parked the trailer in Lorna Neill's driveway.

5/29/09 - Orinda, CA

We got up and went to the local 24 hour fitness to work out. Then we hung around with Lorna Neill and Melynda Dove (David Neill's daughter). They worked on a collage of pictures of David for the memorial service. We also saw a wild turkey in Lorna's back yard.

5/30/09 - Orinda, CA

We attended the memorial service for Dr. David Neill at the Moraga Valley Presbyterian Church. Eulogies were delivered by Lorna, David and Lorna's daughters Melynda and Karen, his sister Elizabeth, and me (Jim). After the memorial service there was a reception in the adjoining Fellowship Hall where they had a Powerpoint slide show of David's pictures. We went back to Lorna's to change clothes and then went to the El Charro Mexican restaurant in Lafayette to have dinner. In the picture from left to right are Carolyn, Jim, Lorna, Melynda, Raymond (Melynda's husband), Elizabeth, Karen, James (Karen's fiance) and Dennis (Elizabeth's husband).