left Arizona and crossed the Colorado river back into California!
We got a lemon and a lime removed from our fridge at the border,
which was a bit upsetting.
One of my favourite things about this part of America is the trains.
They are well over a mile in length, and seeing them cutting
through the deserts and twisting around mountains is awesome.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not a train spotter now or anything, but
everytime I see one all I wanna do is stop the RV and take some
pictures. Out of about 600 attempts, we never got a brilliant shot
of the trains.
Our first stop in Cali was Needles. We ate some overpriced food
served by an overweight waitress, and got the hell out.
After Needles came the desert - traditionally the most feared part
of Route 66. Breaking down or running out of water in the middle
of the desert would have been hella dangerous. Of course, we have
more sense than the migrants and took out AAA before we set off.
Damn Okies.
We made a stop in Goffs, population 23, to visit a tiny museum
which I forget the name of. It wasn't very interesting but the
fact that we were passing on the only day of the month it was
open seemed like a sign. We got chatting to one of the volunteers
who runs it, who warned us there isn't a single thing in the desert
that won't bite you, scratch you or sting you. Thanks for that!
The desert is as hot as you'd imagine. We passed a couple of
cyclists, pulling their luggage behind them on little carts. I have
literally no idea how they made it across there. Or even if they
did. One of them had a little dog trotting alongside his bike,
which concerned me more.
We made a stop at Roy's Motel Cafe, which is no longer either. Roy
now sells Coke and 'Route Beer' and not a lot else. The cafe became
a ghost town, but has a new owner and is attempting a come back.
And then we were clear of the desert! We could have easily
made it to Santa Monica yesterday, but we decided to spend
one more night on Route 66 before Operation: Sell RV began.
From Barstow we could see the San Bernardino Mountains in
the distance. After a day spent in the desert, the snow-topped
mountains looked way too inviting to miss out on.
After driving over 6500 miles, through every kind of weather
and terrain, along interstates, dirk tracks and beach roads,
around switchbacks, through mountain passes and city center
rush hours, we figured we were invincible.
The San Bernardino Mountains nearly finished us off.
We literally chugged our way up there, stopping every 10
minutes to let the engine cool down and let the line of traffic
behind us pass.
We saw no other RV's up there, which probably explains why
people were cheering us as they drove passed (past?). The road
signs warned of road gradients as steep as 16% ahead. I don't
really know what that means, but 1% more and we'd have been
in trouble!
Anyway, we made it up there. The San Bernardino Mountains
are breathtaking. It was like another world. You forget you're
in California, or even in America. It's how I imagine Vancouver
to look.
Big Bear City, sat on the edge of Big Bear Lake, is this cute town
full of rich people who like to ski. You're 7000ft above the dry
desert, but all you can see is alpine forest.
We stayed at a state park set right in some woods; our battery
was all but dead and there was no electricity hook up. We were
probably being watched by hundreds of drooling, snout-licking
bears.
That was last night. We didn't get eaten by bears.
This morning we plan on free-wheeling our way to Santa Monica.
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