We left Quartzsite Friday morning after hugs and handshakes with Earl, Alison and Bob (Sue had gone into town)...it was about 10:00 by the time we had stopped at the sani-dump. No, we didn't get away as early as we had planned...but, hey...you just can't rush things in retirement!
We stopped in Quartzsite to return an LED light that Steve bought the other day. It didn't fit and was hoping to get a refund but the fellow said that he couldn't refund without the owner's okay...and he "should be in sometime today". Well, that's not going to work for us...but he said he could exchange, so we got two packages of the cord to re-do our gravity chairs. Funny...the cost is $8 each today...the one we purchased last week was $15...hmmm...
It was a beautiful day for traveling...
It was very evident that a cold front had gone through...see the snow in the mountains as we went west on I-10 past the Palm Springs area...The countryside really green'd up as we neared San Bernardino...
We took I-215 to I-15 north to US 395...eventually turning west onto highway 58. Earl had told us that the rest stop east-bound near Boron, CA is a good overnight spot...unfortunately the west-bound did not have the same area at the back for overnighting, so we decided to carry-on.
We were surprised when we saw snow as we went through Tehachapi...
The countryside through the mountains was absolutely stunning...so lush and green...
We ended up in a Walmart parking lot in Bakersfield...along with about a dozen other RV's...It was actually a great spot to overnight...with lots of restaurants in the area. We put the sliders out and cleared off the bed...just the bare necessities so that we had a place to sleep...then we went to the Roadhouse Grill for dinner. It was a very popular and busy spot this Friday night...
Saturday morning we were up early and after going into Walmart to McDonald for breakfast, we were on the road. It was about 7:40 when we hit the road, continuing west on highway 58 to I-5 north. Another gorgeous, but hazy/smoggy day.
Acres upon acres of orchards...
It was a very windy day...a head wind, not good for the fuel economy...and tumble-weeds kept attacking us on the freeway...Along with the orchards were lots of beehives...well, as we drove by the beehives, you could just hear the bees being smacked against the front of the truck...
The roughest and worse part of the I-5 was through Stockton, CA...it was just terrible! But then we went through Sacramento...a very lovely looking city (from what I could see from the freeway)...
We turned west off of the I-5 onto CA 20 towards Clear Lake......and absolutely beautiful scenery...and into the mountains...
We arrived at the Walmart in Clear Lake shortly after 5:00...another long day. This time in addition to clearing off the bed, we also brought out our recliners so that we could sit and relax. After a bit, we walked to Jack-in-the-Box for dinner...not the selection of restaurants in this area as in Bakersfield.
Sunday morning we were up bright and early again. After getting everything put away, we were going to go into Walmart to the Subway for breakfast but neither one of us were particularly hungry yet so we decided that we would stop along the way.
Steve had researched spots to fuel up and decided on an Indie Truck Stop a short distance away. He thought there was a cafe there as well. As it turned out, there was no cafe...no big deal, we weren't hungry yet anyway. We fueled up the truck with diesel at $4.43/gallon...the most expensive yet..."it is was it is" besides we didn't want to end up panicking if we couldn't find a station. Well, of course, we ended up passing a number of stations with much cheaper prices...oh well!
There are acres upon acres of vineyards in this area...
This is one of the stations we passed advertising cheaper diesel...I had to take this picture...just for you, Rob!
Today's drive was absolutely beautiful! We really couldn't have asked for better weather for these three travel days. We realize, though, that as we hit the coast and continue north, it is likely going to be cloudy and rainy...but we'll take this for now.
After we followed Clear Lake's shoreline, we turned left onto highway 20 west...it took as past the Blue Lakes......Lake Mendocino...
...to highway 101...and the town of Willits. There was a great looking restaurant there but no place to park our rig...which ended up being our "issue" as we passed through more towns. For some reason, none allowed street parking (at least near any restaurants) where we could have just pulled over...sheesh!Our route was very hilly and windy...up we go...
At least there was a rest area where we could stop for a break.
Lots of interesting little communities...cool bus...
This gives a good indication of how windy the highway was...I took a picture of Serena...
We went from very narrow, windy roads through tall Redwoods...
...to wide freeway...
We finally reach the Pacific coast...at Eureka, California...
We followed directions Serena gave us to Safeway...we needed some groceries. Well, there was no Safeway there anymore...but there was a Winco.
After stocking up, we continued along the coast to our destination...Sound of the Sea RV Park just north of Trinidad...
It was around 3:00 by the time we arrived. While getting set up, I put some laundry on (the laundry room was nice and close) and also took advantage of the electrical hook-up to vacuum. So we both had a very busy afternoon and were so looking forward to just sitting down and relaxing!Our back-in site has a view of the ocean...through the trees and has a nice little deck out back. This is the view out our back window...
After 3 long days of driving and 1605 kms/1003 miles, we are looking forward to relaxing here in this beautiful area for a couple of nights.
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