I Met The Most Wonderful Man!!!

April Fools!!!!  Hahaha you KNEW that was coming.  Actually, the joke's on me, since my lucky streak continued yesterday ... all day long.

I figured the six hour drive would take me seven ... it took eight.  Yup ... eight hours of driving with only a stop here and there.

The lovely day began with a fraud alert text message at 6:00 am.  Nothing better to start your day.  Seems that little free container of face cream that only cost $4.99 has now jumped to $89.00.  Sorry folks, but that's not going to happen.  Today I'll call the bank and put a stop to it.

I'm off on another adventure!  Before I even left Quartzsite, I realized what a terrible job I did washing my windshield.  Too bad, I'm hitting the road, after fueling up.  That went swimmingly except for the leaky fuel hose that dripped down my arm before I realized what was happening.  Maybe the smell of diesel wafting around my head will attract some nice gentleman.

Back on the road, I headed North on 95 to Parker, then on to Needles.  The wind was 20-25 mph the entire way, pushing me back and forth on the narrow road.  That wasn't all that bad, it was the four trucks behind me I was trying to keep ahead of.  I did love the hoop-de-doo roller coaster part of the road!

Crossing the Colorado River (what a cool spot to spend some time) my arms began to ache as I entered unchartered territory.  It's always fun to travel a new highway.  At the Agriculture Check Station, I kept going while the trucks pulled over.  Whew!!

Unfortunately, it didn't last long.  In no time they were back on my tail.  One even passed me.  By then my arms were aching from keeping the rig on the road as the wind got worse and worse.  At last I was able to pull over in Needles.  Yes!  I can relax.  But only for five minutes.  

My right front tire sensor went off.  It said it was leaking.  OH NO!!  I rushed outside and sure enough, could hear the sensor.  I unscrewed it and the noise stopped.  I think I dodged a bullet.  

I was certainly happy to hit Barstow with my arms like jelly.  We made a couple of pit stops for the puppies, but it was not enough for Jonathan.  He makes a certain squawking noise when his feet cramp up and he was squawking up a storm.  

I found all the concrete California was supposed to use for Hwy 99 and I-5.  It's outside of Barstow.  At least they got rid of that stop light and driving was smooth as could be.  

As I crossed the valley into Mohave, these two trains looked like they were going to crash.  It's very hard to see it through the bugs, which now include about ten large blobs of bright yellow.  At least they are colorful.

Almost there .... I could feel it.  The sign said 7 miles to Kramer Junction.  About a mile later, traffic came to a screeching stop.  It's a good thing I was going the speed limit, or the three trucks behind me would have crashed.  As it was, two had to run into the oncoming traffic to stop.  

Yes there was a little construction, but it turns out the problem was the stop light at Kramer Junction. That was six miles of 5mph stop and go due to Sunday traffic and the light.  It took an hour for me to get through.  By then, I was so rummy, I didn't really care!!

The very low growing flowers covered the desert floor with beautiful yellow gold.  Hardly visible in all of the pictures I took.  

Just to make things a little more exciting, traffic again slowed for SEVEN police vehicles on the opposite side of the freeway.  All the officers had their guns drawn as a guy with his hands up, backed up towards them.  They were handcuffing him as I went by, shifting their attention to the passenger in the car.  I don't know what they did, but it must have been bad.

At long last I pulled into the orange grove in Bakersfield.  The lovely trees are all in bloom, smelling like sweet orange blossoms.  I rubbed some on my hands to cover the diesel smell.

I wish I could say my television set up magically began to work again, but it did not.  I would just let it sit until I return to Tucson and hit La Mesa for repairs, but alas, I'll be heading out on another trip to Utah soon and I cannot be without television.

I think the April Fool's joke is on me!!  The only thing that doesn't hurt are my fingers.  Maybe those huge biceps I now have, along with the orange blossom-diesel cologne will attract a nice gentleman!  Ha!!!