On The Road Again

I awoke to a beautiful sunrise and my insides shaking.  I don't understand.  I have no problem with driving at all.  I guess it's the unknown ... what MIGHT happen.  Gosh ... what a waste of good energy!

I finished packing in the blink of an eye.  After seven years on the road, I'm finally getting to the point of not taking absolutely everything with me.  That mostly involves food.  I pack WAY too much food.

It being a Sunday morning, traffic was light.  While perusing my phone I actually discovered a new Pilot fuel station on Highway 99 near Chowchilla.  In no time I dropped $300.  I'm not saying they are ripping you off, but they are 25 cents a gallon more expensive than anyone else I saw.

Honestly, it doesn't matter to me.  If I can get in, get fuel and get out, I'm a happy camper.

Except for one thing ... I couldn't seem to get the overhead air conditioning to work.  I set it before I left, then figured just turning on the generator would keep us cool in the 102 degree weather.  I don't know what happened, but it did not come on.  

TWO stops later, I was beginning to think I should just turn around and go home.  I didn't think the small bedroom AC would keep us alive.  All of a sudden ... whoosh!!  COOL AIR!  Yay, it's working!!

As the morning wore on, traffic got worse and worse.  No worries, I just kept to my 55 mph in the right hand lane.  In no time at all I was in the big town of Bakersfield.  Yes, this is pretty much what it looks like.  I can talk bad about it because I spent a lot of my younger life smelling the oil wafting on the breeze.  

I had some cousins that lived in Bakersfield for a time, meaning we spent most every Christmas there.  Mostly I didn't like it because there were no stores open on Christmas day so I could spend my $5 in silver dollars, a gift I received every year.  It also happens to be where my parents met in high school.  There was no high school in Lake Isabella, so everyone was bussed to Bakersfield.

At any rate, over Tehachapi we went, with me staying in lower gears to keep the engine temperature down.  It's a cat and mouse game with the big trucks going 70 downhill, then me passing them going up.  

We finally took the offramp to one of my favorite little RV parks ... Mountain Valley just above Tehachapi.  It's rather small, so make reservations in advance, but will fit big rigs if you don't mind a few little branches.  I always ask for site #25 ... it's long and wide.  

The kids crashed right away.  Cooper has been doing well with me lifting him up and down the couch and the steps.  He drives me crazy in the mornings because there is still no ball game.

Where was Miss Jessie?  Believe it or not, all three of us were on the couch.  She's barely hanging on, but insists on sleeping next to me.

So this morning we are off again for a long seven hour drive to Quartzsite.  Won't it be fun in July?  Actually, it's supposed to be cloudy and only 101 today.  Keep your fingers crossed that we don't end up well done in the desert oven.