Winter Road Trip 2026
Bend Oregon to Big Bend National Park Texas
And back to Bend Oregon
Part Five - Tuscon AZ to Bend OR
Day 37-39 Picacho Peak State Park AZ
We had heard about this Picacho place from a lot of people the last few months, so we were kind of excited to check it out. Rather close proximity to Tuscon, so we could make the trip back to that "special place" that Jill wanted for her birthday! Pretty easy drive to Picacho Peak State Park from Tuscon KOA, so we left late and arrived early. We checked in and got our pass for the park, and headed down the access road to the camping area. Nice large sites, plenty of room between the sites, and the view??? Awesome with one exception, the freeway is rather prominent, especially at night with all the headlights. The good news? The freeway is off in the distance so there is no noise at all, just a little hiccup in the communing with nature and the elements! The views were really good of the valley to the north of the park. As it was early in the afternoon when we arrived, so we setup camp and headed out to see the park. We wanted to do the Calloway Trail to the saddle between the peaks, so off we go. The trail is listed as moderate, and that is actually pretty accurate. The views from the top were great, and we very much enjoyed the afternoon hike! We did also drive to the south of the park entrance to visit the Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch, but seeing the admission price we decided to look from afar and go back to the park and pass on the "feeding of the ostrich's and Stingrays"! That evening after the sunset we found a lot of over the air tv channels, so once again we were able to watch a little more of the Olympics from Italy!
Maybe the RV Gods are giving our trailer their blessing?
Our second day at Picacho just happened to be my favorite person in the world's birthday! So I had planned on taking her to Tohono Chul Botanical Gardens in northeast Tuscon. When we woke up it was raining but we decided to "go for it" and drove the 30 minutes or so back into Tuscon. About the time we arrived it stopped raining and left a well watered desert landscape that seemed to be glowing that special "fresh desert glow". So we started walking the gardens after a visit to the gift store, and we both realized this was such a special time to visit this place as everything, including the roadrunners, were just full of life and energy! With both our phones clicking away, we captured hundreds of magical images, not barren dry desert images, but fresh full of life desert images. As the morning progressed the sun came out and so did the butterfly's and other insects gathering their daily subsistence, the desert had come to life right before our eyes, magical! We had a fantastic brunch sitting outside at the Tohono Bistro, and then spent another couple hours completing our tour of the gardens! A HUGE thumbs up for this place, maybe it was just timing (was not 120 degrees and dry as a bone), but we had a GREAT time here and recommend it to anyone that enjoys the botanical world! Again, three thumbs up!!!
Day 40 - 43 River Island State Park - Parker Strip AZ
After checking the weather once more, it was clear to us that northern Arizona was just not going to happen this trip. The rains to the south were snow to the north, so Sedona, Flagstaff etc. were off the radar and we ended up going back the way we came some 5+ weeks ago. We had wanted to stay on Lake Havasu but the campground was full, and we lucked out at the last minute to get into River Island State Park just below the dam in an area known as Parker Strip. Lucked out is actually correct on a few levels, first it was open, and second, this turned out to be a great place! Lots of trails and viewpoints to keep us going for a few days (we were trying to squeeze as much warm sunny weather as possible before heading farther west). As it was pretty much at the limit of our road time getting here, we spent the rest of the afternoon just lazing around the campground. The next morning we hit the trail as the saying goes, and set off to tackle the Buckskin Loop Trail that starts at the neighboring Buckskin Mountain State Park. This was listed as and easy hike, but we would suggest it is more moderate than easy! We spent hours on this short 1.5 mile loop, the flowers were just starting to bloom and the geology was giving up it's bounty as well. The weather? PERFECT, mid 70's and sunny! Our backs a little sore afterwards from all the bending over and picking through rocks and the small little flowers giving their blossoms to the camera. The big surprise was getting almost all the way back to the truck when Jill spotted a White Egret just 20 yards away catching a lunch of lizard off a bush. Back to camp to relax in the sunshine! Next day we headed into Lake Havasu City to check out London Bridge and the island area, but quickly decided this was not really our cup of tea, and headed back to our camp to enjoy our second to last last day in the Arizona Desert. Next morning we got up and headed into Parker to visit the Chevy dealer, hard to believe we had traveled a little over 5k miles, time for an oil change! We spent the rest of the day checking out the Parker Strip area on the California side of the river. Very interesting BLM areas where a lot of geezers were spending the winter. We had been looking at a bench up at the top of the cliff overlooking the campground for a couple days, so this afternoon when we got back was the time to figure out how to get up there! Steep but worth the view. We headed back to camp and just enjoyed the evening before we would be leaving the next morning heading to Bakersfield.
View above River Island SP
View above Buckskin Mountain SP
Day 45-48 - Bakersfield CA
Well today was the big transition day, from the dry warm aired climate of the SW desert, to the more humid environment of the pacific coast. We headed out of Parker fairly early in the morning and started our journey west. First stop? A fuel stop BEFORE we crossed the California border!!! It was a nice day, but the westerly winds were pretty intense, especially going from Barstow across the pass before dropping into the valley. We had made prior reservations for Orange Grove RV Park just east of Bakersfield as we had heard so many great things about it. Our impression was not that great, impersonal treatment at check in, just ho hum grounds, plus the pool was closed. We're nit picking here, but definitely not the caliber park that we expected. BUT, the oranges were ripe on the trees, and they said take whatever you want to pick, so we did fill two five gallon buckets with oranges while we were there. The 10 gallons of oranges turned into 2 days of canning marmalade and jelly the day after we got home. The First full day here we went into Bakersfield to visit the Kern County Museum. Another half day plus type of place, which we covered from end to end. Wow, lots of very cool things, and basically an area that housed various restored buildings that had been moved from historical places around the area. The only thing that was not open was the Black Gold exhibit, so that was kind of a downer as we really were looking forward to it. But it still was a great place and we very much enjoyed ourselves! Next day we decided to just drive around the area, do some Geocaching, and see where we ended up. Well where we ended up was at the Bakersfield National Cemetery east of Bakersfield. Another inspirational find for us as it is a military cemetery, the kind of place that grounds you in a hurry. We arrived right as the procession for a funeral was forming, so we made clear of the road so we didn't interfere. We did talk to a few of the men that were preparing for their twenty one gun salute (who by the way were very enthralled with our truck), and they told us some stories of the history and future of the grounds. Very humbling place, and one we are glad we found to visit!
Day 49-51 - Flag City CA
We bid farewell to Bakersfield and made our way west to I-5 and then hung another righty tighty and headed north. No fog in the valley for us today which we very much were grateful for, sun and warm, awesome! We made our way up past Stockton to Flag City and the Flag City RV park. This was a pretty dang nice park, far enough away from the freeway, clean, even had concrete pads next to the trailer. We set up (which by now takes about 5 minutes) and sat back in our chairs and took a very deep breath. This was our second to last stop of our trip, so we wouldn't call it full on depression, but something to that effect. After enjoying the afternoon we treated ourselves and went into Stockton to watch a play at the Black Box Theater! Yes Jill and all the Hansen clan has transformed me into a semi cultural fanatic of the theater, especially after many years going to Ashland for the Shakespeare Festival. Turns out this is a very small theater, even smaller than the Bend theater, so a very close intimate experience for sure! What was the play you ask? Well it was Grand Horizons of course! Imagine a couple of old farts going to see a play about another couple of old farts getting a divorce.... It was very entertaining and we very much enjoyed the evening. Next day we headed to the Japanese Garden in Micke Grove Park, just east of us. It was smaller than we were envisioning, but very nice none the less. After we hit up the Taste Of India Cafe right next to the RV park and had a very good and delightful lunch. Back to the park (burp) for an afternoon sit in the hot tub before watching a movie that evening. Speaking of movies, this park had a large selection of DVD's and let us trade all our used ones that we had watched during this trip for new ones from their collection! Yee Haw, new movies for our next trip as we only had one more day before our final leg getting back home...
Day 52 - Redding California
Tonight is our last night on the road, for this trip anyway! And as we started, the last night of our trip is at the exact same spot as the first night of our trip. Back to Gold Hill Golf Club for another free night courtesy of Harvest Host. If you go back to Part One of this trip, this picture might look very familiar, except the weather was not 80 degrees and bright sunshine as our last stay was. We still had a GREAT early dinner at the 19th hole, and headed back to the trailer in between thunder and rain showers. We enjoyed (from the warmth of our trailer) watching golfers trying to play in the rain, and witnessed a few "nudged balls" when the other players were not paying attention. So quiet and peaceful here, very enjoyable, and did we mention.... FREE!!!
Day 53 - Bend Oregon - HOME!!!
So this is the last and final leg of this trip, HOME!!! After 52 days on the road, 6176 miles on the truck, and 4266 miles on the trailer (uuhh, box on wheels) , we are back home in Bend. Our last pit stop was at the Beaver Marsh rest area south of Bend, and the picture below is what we are welcomed with. ARRRGHHH.....
WE WANNA TURN AROUND AND GO BACK TO THE DESERT
Final Thoughts
This was our first ever try at being snowbirds. I guess that term didn't really mean much before we left, but now it is so true, we love the dry warm desert more than the cold and snow of the NW winters! We did not miss the cold weather, snow, rain etc at all. We really enjoyed each and every day of this adventure, each and every day of being together, and would not think twice about doing it all again. In Fact Folks..... The planning has already started for this fall, leaving middle of August and returning about the first of March. Banff, Jasper, Niagara Falls, Smithsonian, Virginia, Carolina's, Florida, New Orleans, Galveston, Rockport, and hopefully Albuquerque, Flagstaff, Sedona, Prescott, which we missed this year due to the snow.... Every day we were on our feet doing something. And in the end, we were both surprised at how little it actually cost for this last trip compared to "planes, trains, tours and cruise ships". An overwhelming "YES" we are going to do this again!!!!!