Sunshine at last

Woke up yesterday at 1:30 am and could not get back to sleep. I wanted to avoid that unpleasant traffic anyway, so I was on the road at 4:30 am and made it out of the vast San Francisco metroplex with hardly a slowdown. But already by that time of day there were long, long lines of cars headed towards the city. I honestly don't know how people can survive that day after day.

I thought I'd aim for Barstow. My trusty Rand McNally atlas (yes, they do still make those) shows the drive there as scenic, and I'd never been there. Well, the drive is scenic, over a pretty mountain pass and through the Mojave desert, and I avoided the dreaded LA mess. But Barstow itself? Not so much.

I stopped in the town of Mojave for gas, and to gawk at the wind turbines. Thousands and thousands of them on the hills west of town, totally changing the landscape. As of 2013 this was the largest wind farm in the US. Can't seem to find a total, but there are surely 5000 +. I tried to take a picture but it's pretty hard to see. But really, when you stand in town and look back at the hills, that's all you can see for miles and miles. Here's the best picture I could find online. 

About 30 miles before Barstow I stopped at the Borax visitor center. There is a large open pit mine here, something like a mile across and a half mile deep. It was interesting to learn the many, many things that borax (sodium borate) is used in. NOT just that 20-mule-team laundry detergent, but glass, ceramics, wallboard, enamel glazes, fiberglass, anti-fungals, cosmetics, fire-retardants. Being somewhat of a manufacturing nerd, I was hoping they would offer tours of the processing area but no, you couldn't get within a half mile of that.

I was tired and tried to convince myself to stay in Barstow, but really, the only appealing thing about this town was that I didn't have to drive through LA. I couldn't even find a decent place for lunch. The best thing in town was a sort of mall food court, without the mall. I sat and ate my bowl of Panda Express and looked at the map for other options. Booked a Super 8 in Yucca Valley, another 90 minutes away.

Good Call! Very pretty desert drive over another 4000-foot pass, and now I am within easy reach of a day trip to Joshua Tree. The desert on the way here had standing water, and it looks like the road was flooded recently. Seems like there might be a good desert wildflower bloom this year.

It's an easy 2 day drive from here to Bisbee, and I have 4 days left to get there. Slept a good 12 hours last night and decided to extend my stay here for another night. I did drive almost 500 miles yesterday. I was expecting Yucca Valley to be a tiny place, but it's a hopping town of more than 20,000, most of whom have arrived in the last 10-20 years. I have a nice view of snow-covered mountains (beyond the Sizzler steakhouse) from my window and the room at Super 8 is nicer than than one I paid the friggin' $230 for in Pleasanton.