Day #1
We left Santa Cruz, CA at about 4 am in order to beat rush hour traffic on coastal roads. We wanted to get to Bakersfield and to Interstate I-40 as fast as possible.
The temperature was about 46 degrees and we rapidly discovered that the blend door stepper motors were stuck on cool. We were shivering and had numb toes and fingers. Earline dressed for warm weather and bundled herself in a blanket but her flip-flop shoes made her toes numb. We got to Paso Robles as dawn was breaking and slowly the sun warmed the air to about 60 degrees.
We got to Buttonwillow, CA at about 7:20 am and fueled the car. Then we got a large Starbuck's coffee to warm us before heading to Boron and Tehachapi. This is a famous spot where trains have to loop over theirselves in order to climb the mountainous grade.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tehachapi_Loop
We went south of Barstow to connect with I-40 and on our way to Needles, CA, we decided that we were making such good time that we could visit the Mojave National Preserve. This is a preserve of native desert and has varying landscapes. It has many Joshua Trees, Yucca plants, sand dunes and mountains. We briefly stopped at a visitor center in Kelso that was an old railroad station.
Kelso, was very busy in the 1940's because it lent "helper locomotive engines" to the railroad to get the trains over the mountainous grades. After more powerful diesel locomotives were available, there was no need for these "helper engines" and the town disappeared.
Below are a few representative pictures.
We left Santa Cruz, CA at about 4 am in order to beat rush hour traffic on coastal roads. We wanted to get to Bakersfield and to Interstate I-40 as fast as possible.
The temperature was about 46 degrees and we rapidly discovered that the blend door stepper motors were stuck on cool. We were shivering and had numb toes and fingers. Earline dressed for warm weather and bundled herself in a blanket but her flip-flop shoes made her toes numb. We got to Paso Robles as dawn was breaking and slowly the sun warmed the air to about 60 degrees.
We got to Buttonwillow, CA at about 7:20 am and fueled the car. Then we got a large Starbuck's coffee to warm us before heading to Boron and Tehachapi. This is a famous spot where trains have to loop over theirselves in order to climb the mountainous grade.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tehachapi_Loop
We went south of Barstow to connect with I-40 and on our way to Needles, CA, we decided that we were making such good time that we could visit the Mojave National Preserve. This is a preserve of native desert and has varying landscapes. It has many Joshua Trees, Yucca plants, sand dunes and mountains. We briefly stopped at a visitor center in Kelso that was an old railroad station.
Kelso, was very busy in the 1940's because it lent "helper locomotive engines" to the railroad to get the trains over the mountainous grades. After more powerful diesel locomotives were available, there was no need for these "helper engines" and the town disappeared.
Below are a few representative pictures.
We then headed to Kingman, AZ where we had prearranged reservations at La Quinta Inn. This is a pretty nice facility and is new and allows dogs to stay free of charge. We checked in without difficulty but upon entering the room, we encountered a wad of chewed gum stuck to the TV console. I told the front desk that this did not give us a lot of confidence in the place, and they promptly came and disinfected the area.
We then went to the Black Bridge Brewery on E. Beale Street and sampled some very delicious stout brews. I would highly recommend this place. They didn't serve food so they allowed our dogs to stay inside with us.
Exhausted, we took some In-N-Out Bergers back to La Quinta, broke out a bottle of wine and crashed for the evening.
We then went to the Black Bridge Brewery on E. Beale Street and sampled some very delicious stout brews. I would highly recommend this place. They didn't serve food so they allowed our dogs to stay inside with us.
Exhausted, we took some In-N-Out Bergers back to La Quinta, broke out a bottle of wine and crashed for the evening.
