In early February 2025, we headed south on a 10,000-mile trip around the U.S. to visit relatives and hopefully ride our bicycle along the way. Our planning was, of course, made in the balmy mild winter of the Pacific Northwest, thinking it would be warmer farther south and spring-like when we got near the East Coast. We were wrong.

Expedition 2025 began on the eve of more snow in the Pacific Northwest. We got an early start, down I-5, through Portland, and up the Willamette Valley against a stiff headwind and heavy rain squalls.
Because of snow and chain-up requirements on the passes, we turned right at Eugene and headed for the coast, arriving in Brookings, OR after dark. The welcome center at which we thought we would park for the night was closed, reclassified for day-use only. Another rest stop north of town was, in a word, sketchy, and posted for 4-hour stays.

So, we ended up parking overnight at the Fred Meyer store, off to the side of the garden center.
In the morning, we made a quick shopping stop for supplies, topped off the tank, and headed south into California, stopping for breakfast “on the beach” at at turnout on Point St. George, where we had bicycled a few years ago on another trip down the coast.
The rain came again as we passed through Eureka, and continued off and on through the day as we drove down US 101. We turned off on CA 20, well beyond the snow zone, making our way back to I-5 as the sun set, for another cold, rainy night at a truck stop.
Day 3, we headed down to hwy 99, then turned on Hwy 58 at Bakersfield, ending for the night at Boron, where we had stayed the last time, on Expedition 2023. Another cold night, and we were off toward Arizona, taking the back roads through 29 Palms before crossing the border on I-10. Joshua trees gave way to saguaro as we moved eastward into Arizona. Deja vu found us at Buckeye for the night, where we had stayed in 2023.

In the morning, we met our granddaughter Zylania and Martin at their house, not far from our overnight stay, then off to lunch somewhere in the Glendale maze, where huge shopping centers had sprung up since our last visit. In late afternoon, we said our goodbyes and headed down the 202 loop and I-10 to Eloy for the night.
As planned, in the morning, we turned off on Kolb Road to ride our tandem on the Julian Wash Trail, part of the 200-km Tucson Loop bike trail system, officially the Chuck Huckleberry Trail. The trail climbed 70 meters over the 8 km route, so we turned around to call it a day for a 16-km first ride of the season, the downhill return trip taking 20 minutes, offsetting the 1-hour climb uphill.
Since we didn’t ride as far as we intended, we had time to kill, so, after post-ride ice cream stop at Benson, we detoured, following old U.S. 80 to Tombstone, Bisbee, and Douglas before heading north to arrive at Lordsburg at sunset. The day’s drive took us from the saguaro forests to fields of yucca.
By sticking to the back roads for the most part, and following at truck speed on the freeways, we recovered the gas mileage we lost to the rainy headwinds in Oregon and short-trip winter driving at home, making daily runs of 19 mpg or more (12.33 l/100km or less)with the wind behind us. We didn’t expect that to hold as we climbed over the Rockies, since we lost a bit with the detour into the high country south of I-10 in southeastern Arizona and keeping up with traffic in the Phoenix/Tucson metro areas.

From Lordsburg, we headed north, the plains of yucca rising into the pinon forests of the Gila, bypassing Silver City on the truck route. We stopped for a photo op at Leopold Vista, named after naturalist Aldo Leopold, where we were delighted by the mosaics on each picnic table, depicting area scenes.
We turned off on NM 12 to Datil, where we spent the day with our daughter Sheri, companion Tom, and her dogs, a friendly bunch that includes two giant mastiffs and a couple of rescue dogs.

After a cold night, at nearly 8000 foot elevation, we awoke to ice on the inside of the windshield, though the heaters kept the inside comfortable. After coffee and breakfast, we headed down the mountain to head toward our next stop, Albuquerque. But, first, we stopped at the Very Large Array, the radio telescope installation in the Plains of San Augustin, with huge parabolic dishes arrayed on the three spokes of a 26-mile diameter telescope lens that peers deep into the universe. The below-freezing wind roared across the plain, putting our layering system to the test, as I ventured out for photo ops while Judy, beginning to suffer from a winter cold, stayed in the van.
At Albuquerque, we had dinner with another granddaughter, new new husband, and the two of her five children still at home. We hadn’t seen them since before COVID. At the end of the evening, we drove 60 km south to the truck stop we had showered at earlier, for another cold night without electric heat. The morning dawned at minus 5 outside the van and 9 inside (Celsius), which quickly dropped to 5 (41F) once we opened the curtain to the cab, removed the window covers, and made a dash to the store.
The wind had subsided overnight, so we had a pleasant drive south to Las Cruces. We set the GPS on “Fuel Saver” mode, so it routed us on side roads and through towns along the freeway. We have taken our own slowtroute in the past, but this was slightly different, taking us on a few roads we hadn’t driven before. Like other relatives who have guest rooms, our daughter Shawna insisted we use her guest casita instead of sleeping in the van, a welcome change, since we didn’t have to make up the sofa/bed in the van.
So ended our eighth day on the road. We have a lot of relatives in Las Cruces, so spent a couple of days in hopes of seeing some of them before headed to El Paso, where more family awaits.