Wednesday, September 27, 2017

Crossing California (Sept. 25 & 26)

California is a large state, and unfortunately we don't have time to see everything we want to see along the way.  It has taken us two days of almost constant driving from the northwestern most corner (Crescent City) to the town of Needles in the southeastern region.  We started with beautiful coastal views...
Then headed inland over winding mountain roads and passing recent wildfire activity, which, sadly, destroyed some homes and a lodge...

I don't have photos from the longest stretch of the trip through the farmlands of central California.  We passed miles of fruit and nut trees (olives, almond, pecan, walnut) and fields of pumpkins, squash, and strawberries.  Then through the oil refinery region of Bakersfield, remembered more for its smell than its scenery, and on to the rolling hills leading to the Mojave Desert...
 I was amazed at the number of wind turbines...
We passed the plane boneyard in the Mojave Desert, where large aircraft owned by major airlines are stored.  Doug and I looked this up and here's what we found:  "Some aircraft reach the end of their useful lifetimes and are scrapped at the Mojave boneyard, while others are refurbished and returned to active service."
We stopped at a rest area with warnings of rattlesnakes...
I've heard about Joshua trees much of my life, but didn't actually see one until now.  Would you believe it's in the lily family?
Here is some of the lovely Mojave landscape...
and a Mojave sunset...
The famous Route 66 paralleled and passed back and forth across our route.  Here's a photo of Route 66 advertisement in the restaurant where we ate our dinner...
And this photo of the map brings us up to date on the route we've traveled...
The next three nights we'll be camping at the Grand Canyon with nighttime lows in the mid-30s. Brrrr.  I expect to be off line, but will catch up on the blog soon...

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