Feast or Famine

And we’re not talking Christmas dinner here.  We are talking about blog photos.  It always seems that I have way too many photos, or not enough.

In this case, it is the latter

Speaking of this concept, UPS seems to be on the same page; either their service is absolutely atrocious, or fabulous!  More in a minute.

It seems that another package was on it’s way for me via UPS, this time to Palm Springs.  Judging by the time it took them to deliver the last one (and the time of year), I estimated the thing would not arrive till perhaps just after Christmas, so I was not in a hurry to get to PS.  Well perhaps the US arm of UPS is faster than the Canadian one, but they surprised my by getting it here in about 24 hrs from Saskatchewan.  So then, I had to uproot myself from the beautiful spot on the coast, and head inland to receive it, in case they had a relapse and sent it back again!

I did stop at the sea lion lookout near the Hearst castle and take a couple of obligatory photos, but they are on my other camera …

Anyway, after leaving the coast at Cambria and cruising through the wine belt around Paso Robles, there is how do I say this nicely, umm, not much to see .  From the vineyards to the orchards, through the veritable forest of oil wells, thence on a short very rough section of I-5, and on through Bakersfield we went.  It was still early, so we passed on the Walmart ‘campground’ there and continued up over the pass to Tehachapi, Mojave, and eventually into Barstow.  Walmart there is officially RV unfriendly, but security will help you find a spot on the road immediately adjacent if you’d like.  Even though it was dark and getting later, the spot looked less than ideal in many respects, and ‘looked’ noisy!  So, off we tooled into the dark down toward Lucerne valley where I recalled some wee backroads that would provide adequate, and quiet rest area.  They were right where I’d left them (!), and in spite of slightly below freezing temps in this fairly high desert, we stopped for the night.

Morning was a beautiful sunny day which warmed up beautifully while enjoying morning coffee and a stroll outside.  The smell of the sage and creosote bushes certainly rival the smells of the ocean.  Hailey headed for higher ground, so out came the camera.

After a couple of quick stops in Yucca Valley to get the rims/tires swapped back, and a bite to eat, it was down the big hill past Morongo, and into Desert Hot Springs.  All the way down the hill, the Allison tranny held things in check, and I did not have to touch the brakes once.  Unlike the tanker truck ahead of me who emitted enough hot brake smell for an entire convoy.

After dropping the rig in Desert Hot Springs at a friends place, it was off to UPS to pick up the package!  This time kudos to UPS – what a difference a couple of weeks makes!

Now, we’ll have to dig out the maps and decide where to head next.

And before I forget (again), I’ve been meaning to tell you about a link so that you don’t miss any highlights along your next travel route.  It’s called OnTheWay – a better way to get there.

http://www.onthewayapp.com/

Similar to Google Maps to plan a route, you enter your origin, destination, and anywhere along the way, and it will instantly pull of a whole list of attractions along your route that you may not know about, or may wish to visit!  I see that the website is for sale, so you can even own it if you want!  Check it out.  It looks like a very legitimate travel planning tool!  No, I’m not associated with the website, but the developer did call me with a heads up!

 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!