Winters – Florida or Arizona

Home in Holiday / Tarpon Springs area, FL

Some Snowbird RVers have to make a decision each year as to if they should go down to Florida or down to the Southwest (New Mexico, Arizona, Southeast California deserts areas). The difference between traveling from Chicago to Phoenix or Chicago to Key West is only around 100 miles.  Of course, you don't have to go all the way down to Key West, and many want to go further than Phoenix...but it is good comparison.  If you live in Winnipeg, Phoenix is 800+ miles closer than Key West.  So for those who live in the upper mid-west, and Ontario or Manitoba areas, making a choice between Florida and the Southwest is a real one.  Some just love the desert, others hate it.  But many like both areas.  This year, if you picked the Southwest...well...you got cold and snow and rain.  Those who picked Florida, well...they don't call it the sunshine state for nothing!   Look at our weather above for the coming week...that is a repeat of the weather all last week, and the week before was a bit cooler, but not much.  No doubt about it this year, short pants each and every day for me.  Yes, it got cold for a day or two for some...down in the 30's for a few nights, but every day except one or two we got to at least 50...and only a handful more days did it not get at least into the 60's.

Look at this picture above of the welcome sign to the community of Joshua Tree, California, just above Joshua Tree National Park...elevation 2700 feet.  LOOK at all that snow! 

Washington Post has this picture above and reported that I-10  shutdown due to snow and ice and wrecks near Benson Arizona for awhile.  

Flagstaff Arizona had a record breaking snowfall... 35.9 inches at the airport, surpassing the 31 inch record which stood for a hundred years.  Above is the public radio station parking lot...lots of digging out for those cars which you can hardly make out under all that snow.

And then there is the Florida Sunsets...like this one from Sunset Beach, Treasure Island about 30 miles south of us.  No, not my picture, but one from the Internet which is labeled as being free to use from Google Images.  Currently 87 degrees here...44 in Phoenix.  

Above is current plowing of highway 89 near Lake Tahoe...

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This last picture was posted by the CHP on Facebook...an old CHP car near Donner Pass back in the early 1960's.  (What's sad is...I remember these old CHP cars...)

Currently 46 degrees in Citrus Heights where my parents, sisters and a brother are located...down to 85 degrees here (sun behind a cloud)

Well, we head out of here in five weeks!  Time to get the dogs to the vet and start getting the motorhome ready, sure hope I don't have to put a coat on to do any work on the outside.  (LOL)