Move, day 9 (final day!)

Date - September 5
Departure location - Palm Desert, CA
Departure Time - 9:30 AM

An exciting day for us, the first time we'll be seeing our new home and the first time Allie and Celeste will see the North County area.


Highway 74, the "Palm to Pines Scenic Byway" out of Palm Desert is a dramatic and steep high desert route. Climbing to altitudes of 4000', steep grades and drop offs, it's not a road for the faint of heart.

We ended up rolling into the NE part of San Diego County, stopping at a roadside stand and picking up bags of avocados and lemons, a flat of mangoes and a pineapple for $16.

From Oceanside, we drove south into Carlsbad, stopping at the beach close to town.

Some tricky trails to reach the beach.

Ahh, sweet, sweet, salty water.

Overall we're pretty happy with the house. Even though it's the smallest model in the development, it fits us well. With the storage expansion I did, and the purging we did prior to moving, our stuff is nicely organized.

We camped in the house that night, the movers would arrive the next day.

Cool little courtyard entrance.

Arrival time - late morning
Arrival location - Carlsbad, CA
TOTAL MILEAGE - 110

Overall drive stats - 2566.9 miles (according to the GPS), 44 hours, 6 minutes of driving time (moving time), average moving speed of 58.2.

MPG by the tank ran from a low of 15.2 to a high of 21.5. Most tanks were averaging about 18.5 or so. Not bad since we were driving at high speeds in a van with the aerodynamic properties of a fireplace. AC was on most of the time too.