Was up and away from the Campground there in Sacramento pretty early. Unfortunately for me the layout of the campground was such that to dump my trailer tanks would of required me to exit the campground, drive down the road a mile or so, turn around and then drive back in to the campground and access the upper level of the park, which is where the dump station was. Since there was only a couple of days worth of 'stuff' in the tanks, I just blew it off and headed on down the highway.
   It was a wonderful drive south through the valley with its miles and miles of nut and citrus orchards and nearly endless plats of vegetable fields. By late afternoon I was turning off I-5 and taking a secondary highway over to Bakersfield. It was a little tricky working my way through that town in the dark, right at rush hour, but it wasn't long before the road went back to 4 lanes and the traffic lightened up. Heading more east than south now it wasn't long before the truck was headed up the west side of Tehachapi Pass, essentially the pass over the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Taking a short break at the top to gas up the truck and get some dinner, it was cold again. Obviously a function of the elevation as well as the clear desert sky.
   Descending on the east side puts you out onto the 'floor' of the Mojave Desert where there isn't much of anything to see at night. In the distance you catch sight of Edwards Air Force Base, as well as miles and miles and miles of blinky red landing lights stretching off into nowhere.
   Spent that night in a rest area just west of Barstow, it was noisy but otherwise a good place to spend the night and get some sleep. It meant being up early yesterday morning however, so my start was pretty quick out of there. On the move again it wasn't long before I hit I-40 east. That highway actually takes you out through the 'real' Mojave Desert, so mostly a lot of empty space stretching off to the horizon. It is pretty in it's own way however, lots of cactus and Joshua trees growing everywhere, as well as craggy mountains sticking up all over the place. It was a pleasant drive with me and the road and some good tunes coming from the I-pod.
     Got into Needles late in the afternoon and had some lunch before going across the Colorado River and into the state of Arizona. I had turned into a McDonalds there and realized it was the same one my mom and I had stopped at many years ago on the road trip we went on together out to San Diego and back. It was a pleasant memory and I had shake in her honor.
  Turning south again just over the border with Arizona, I have been following the Colorado River south since then. Went through the town of Lake Havasu as the afternoon sun was dropping. I had no idea that a town that large was huddled along the shore of the lake and river. It took quite a while to get through town and along the way I got a chance to view the real London Bridge where they had moved it too.
  Right as the last rays of daylight were going down to the west, I ran across a nice little State Park right on the shores of Lake Havasu. Since it was getting dark anyway, and because a hot shower sounded really good to me I pulled in, got everything hooked up and grabbed a bite to eat for dinner before heading off to the showers. Used the ones in the campground instead of the one in the trailer because the campground ones were bigger, had tons of hot water... and did I mention they were bigger. It was wonderful to be clean again and finally able to relax from a long day of driving. Since there wasn't any phone or WiFi signal of any kind down in the canyon I just pulled out the Kindle and read for a couple of hours.
   Up early again this morning. It was pretty easy packing up as there wasn't much gear pulled out last night and I didn't even unhook the trailer. I did take enough time to go take another deliciously hot shower and to dump the trailer tanks before getting back on the road. I think I'm in the town of Parker right now, but to be honest there haven't been any signs so that is just a guess on my part. Pulled in to McDonalds to get on line and grab some food. Nearly done here however and it will soon be time to get back on the road. I'll be headed south again, the idea is to make it all the way down to I-8 and then turn east once again. Not sure how far I'll get today, but half the fun, as always, is in the journey.




brk*