Sunday, May 6 – We pulled-out bright and early this morning, skirting Death Valley on the South side. It was a nice ride through some beautiful country. All the grades were long but gradual.
Our navigator for the trip.
What most of the drive looked like.
We pulled into Arabian RV Oasis in early afternoon. This is a nice stopover park with a small-town atmosphere. Most of the campers are long term workers or locals. Everyone was friendly!
We had a picnic table, patio and a nice shade tree. They have several security cameras around the campground, and a guy drove his golf cart around several times. We felt very secure. When we left, we just drove right out onto the very quiet street.
Site 31
Right of us.
Left of us.
We walked over to the local museum. It is a very nice museum with tons of information on the town's past.
Across the street from the Museum
The small town of Boron has an interesting history. The Borax plant is located here with a huge open pit mine. This was the destination for the 20-Mule Team wagons coming out of Death Valley. There are wonderful and informative displays in the museum, even a video on the 20-Mule Team and how difficult it is to drive this team of mules.
I remember my mom giving a gal a perm using something very similar to the one in the photo.
Know what this is? Yes, it is an iron, but what kind?
Do you know what those two long handle things are?
This was a really neat model of the mule team.
Of course, the mandatory railroad runs through town with its own history and the always present horns to blow. Thankfully, the RV Park is several blocks away, so the horns are a pleasant background sound.
Edwards Air Force Base is just off to the West. This is a huge installation with one of the longest landing strips in the nation. It was the primary landing field for the Space Shuttle for many years. All the locals have stories about shuttle flyovers and landings. The Shuttle protective tiles even have Borax in their make-up.
And there is always room for Hollywood and the movies. The movie Erin Brockovich, starring Julia Roberts, was filmed here. The gentleman in the museum admitted that Julia Roberts did not spend her nights here but most of the workers and cast stayed in RV's during the filming.
Monday, May 7 – After one night in Boron, CA, we moved a couple hundred miles north to the Visalia Elks Lodge in Visalia, CA. We are here to visit Sequoia NP and Kings Canyon NP. We are only about 30 minutes from these parks. Pretty good location.
Site 4
To our right.
To our left.
Not sure if it's because we are in California, but Elks Lodges seem to be getting expensive. We're paying $20/night in the campground here with no discount for weekly or monthly stays. We paid $12 per night in Houston or $300/month. Our stay at the Escapee Pair-of-Dice Campground in Pharump (near Death Valley) was $15/night. What have you readers paid recently?
Our drive here was through some fabulous country.
This was a staple for much of the drive.
We haven't seen GREEN for quiet a while.
Are those REAL trees not just pine trees. Amazing.
We had a very long climb from Boran, CA, on SR-58 through Tehachapi Pass at over 4000 feet and then a 14 mile decent to Bakersfield, CA, at just about sea level. Our Tiffin Phaeton performed admirably. It was especially nice to have the exhaust brake on that decent down the mountain. I like the 55 mph speed limit California has for trucks and towing vehicles. Makes for a nice ride not having trucks fly by and blow your doors off! Police must enforce it too, because the truckers have slowed down. We usually cruise at 62 or 63 mph in the motor home. I'll be interested to see if the 55 mph causes an increase in our miles-per-gallon.
We must be in California. Every other mile looks like this.
Grapevines!
Did you think we would forget to tell you what those pictures represented. Well here you go.
The first one is a GAS heated iron. That was a gas tank on the side of the iron. The person just turned on the gas, took a match and lite the fire.
The second picture of those long-handled MANUAL clothes agitator. Oh goodness, so glad for electric washing machines.
Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day.
