On to California

We left Verde Valley Campground in Cottonwood around 6:45 on Thursday morning.  We had a 500+ mile day ahead of us and were hoping to make it as far as Bakersfield, California.  As we drove the long road out of the campground one last time, we could see Cottonwood off to the west and Jerome way up on the mountain.

We had climbed about 3,000 feet as we headed north on I-17 towards Flagstaff.  The landscape at the top of the mountains here was decorated with forests of fir trees and the temperatures were much cooler.

When we reached Flagstaff, we began heading west on I-40.  I-40 runs east/west across the US and through Nashville.  I think at this point we were around 1,500 miles west of Nashville.  The pavement on I-40 was very bumpy making everything rattle in the motorhome.  But the drive was scenic.

We stopped at a Pilot truck stop just before going into California to fill up with fuel because the fuel prices are so much more expensive in California.  I think everyone else had the same idea because the truck stop was very busy.  Ken and Bonnie pulled out ahead of us and then we caught up a few miles down the road.  Hi Ken and Bonnie!

Before long, we were approaching the Arizona/California state line.

We crossed the Colorado River...

...and the state of California!

I-40 was long and straight.  We could see for miles and miles ahead of us.

We were surrounded by the Mohave Desert...

...but the desert was full of lots of green shrubs and cacti.

As we got closer to Barstow, we stopped at a rest stop to stretch our legs.  There was black lava rock everywhere here.

I-40 ends in Barstow and we picked up CA-58 heading for Bakersfield at this point.  It had been windy all day but it got really windy here.

Part of CA-58 is two-lane and every time you would meet an oncoming tractor-trailer truck, we would feel like we were going to get blown off the road.  It was kind of scary!

And then it started doing something it never does in California:  RAIN!

As the road turned north and we began getting closer to Tehachapi, the winds lessened some.

We could see these huge wind mills all over the hillside surrounding Tehachapi.

After stopping to fill up with fuel at Love's Truck Stop, we began winding our way through the Tehachapi Pass.

We saw the occasional Joshua tree along the road.

There was a big crane working on this huge wind mill.

The scenery going through and down the Tehachapi Pass was beautiful.

It's so different looking to us.  All the grass is brown but all the trees are green making them really stand out.

As we finished our descent, the sun started to come out from behind the clouds.

We could see Bakersfield approaching in the distance and all the green of all the fields of vegetables and flowers, and groves of grapes, nuts and fruit trees.

We pulled into our site at Orange Grove RV Park around 5:30 and spent the evening resting.  We did get in one game of SkipBo with the guys winning.  Bonnie and I had to let them win since they had working hard driving all day.  :)

Tomorrow, we head on to Yosemite!