Into the Desert

Today we drove out of the fog/smog of the San Joaquin Valley into sunshine and the Tehachapi Mountains, then into the Mojave Desert. It was finally warm enough to go without long sleeves -- and if the wind wasn't blowing, I'd even put my sandals on. Everyone we've met has been complaining about the cold. I understand that Snoqualmie Pass (the major mountain pass from east to west in Washington State) is still closed and the I5 is closed between Olympia and Portland because of flooding, so I guess this isn't too bad.

I wasn't quick enough to think to grab the camera as we first came over the Tehachapis to get a picture of the THOUSANDS of wind generators that line the pass area. The picture above is just of the last of them. The area signs describe the area as the "Wind Generator Capital of the World" and they could very well be right.

The top picture is for Sister Sherry. I drove the last couple of hundred miles today -- two lane roads, freeway and the last a dirt road into Twin Lakes RV Park where we are staying for a couple of nights. The address here is Newberry Springs. It is run by a very young nice Asian lady who has it on the market because her manager passed last winter. We are parked by one small lake -- more like a pond -- the other lake is all dried up. There are three white geese and about a dozen Mallard ducks in the pond.

This park is somewhat off the beaten path and there are only a dozen or so rigs here. The couple who pulled in with a fifth-wheeler shortly after we did are from Issaquah. Last night the people who pulled in just ahead of us were from Everett. Most of our conversations with them have been about the terrible conditions up in Washington...

Last night we were talking about the 350 square feet of living space in Auntie Violet compared to the house in Spokane which had more than 2400. One thing about it, we definitely have no rooms we aren't using!