This blog covers a lot of ground in a short time...somewhat in the same manner that we drove it in...fast and furious with little regard to enjoyable take-your-time sightseeing.
We stopped along the desert highway to allow the truck to cool off from a climb up a long, steep grade. This particular area was covered in a forest of joshua trees. These are not my favorite type of tree; they are spikey with no apparent commercial value (can't make boards out of 'em). As an interesting side note: the trees are only fertilized by a certain type of moth...no moth, and there won't be any more joshua trees. See...it's fun to be "smartened up" like me...huh?
This is a section of California after it was logged. The nasty loggers never replanted, so terrible erosion from the excessive rainfall caused by the global warming gives the hills a rounded appearance....
Ok...so I fibbed...but this is how my mind tends to wander and my imagination takes over after miles and miles and miles and miles of such views.
I'm still trying to imagine a great storyline that would work with the name of this road. Was it named after an old miner from Elbonia? How about the name of planet of the aliens kept in the Area 51 cold storage? I'll bet Gary Larson (The Far Side) would have a few ideas.
This group of photos is of an area of Yosemite Natl. Park...We started into the hills headed towards the Western entrance...with over 3/4 tank of gas. By time we got to this point near El Capitan and the other major attractions, we were down to about 1/4. The one station listed on the park map was closed. So we enjoyed the surroundings here while letting the brakes cool down on the truck after going down 8 miles of steep canyon road (I had forgotten to increase the trailer brake power on the controller...oops)
Imagine our joy at discovering the "entrepreneurial spirit" was alive and well, just outside the park exit. Fortunately, we weren't quite sucking fumes yet, so we passed this place up and made the next town 20 miles down-road.
Our next adventure took us up through some really nice hill country on roads that, probably, have never seen a 5th wheel. The switchbacks were sure sharp! How sharp, you ask? One of them was so sharp that we were able to push the trailer around the corner with the front of the truck. And, of course the hills tested our brakes and engine cooling, again. We spent the night in our 1st fee-paid campsite at Lake Isabella. No pictures. No time. We left the next morning, after our bike ride, for Las Vegas.
Just past Barstow, the outside temperature made it up to 107...we didn't notice anyone along the roadside trying to fry eggs, though.
Karen's talking to her mother, while I'm taking pictures, bored out of my mind and not watching the road....the road was straight and no ditch...what could happen?
Nothing!
Just more flat desert to run into!
THEN CAME VEGAS, BABY
We visited the town for the evening, just hanging out and enjoying the sites...I'm not a gambler, but enjoy watching Karen try her luck. The next day we went back...there were an unbelievable amount of people...I thought there was supposed to be a recession going on! We stayed inside the casinos due to the ongoing heatwave outside. As usual, we met some really neat people. We met Craig and Melinda Hopson from Alabama (http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1065779560#!/group.php?gid=162027073290) in a gourmet chocolate shop and spent time talking about each other's adventures. Unfortunately, he's fighting cancer...they are in our prayers for his recovery.
Anyway, we had no more time to "dally" in Vegas...we were off to Mesquite.
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