Travel Day--1...Col. Allensworth Historical State Park

Still finding time to travel.....set up....and still post a blog...Ron sets up the shared Starchoice dish while I set up the Internet dish.
It was a nice easy run from Yucca valley...a warm morning,62 degrees at 8am as we left the gas station and headed toward Victorville via Lucerne Valley,picking up big black shower clouds shortly after and a temperature drop to 54 in a matter of 30 minutes.
We had planned on an early lunch at the Boron rest area as our first stop,but to our dismay found both of them closed for renovations.Now desperate for a break,I chanced pulling off on an entrance road to an AT&T compound set back from the highway.Not seeing any place to turn around had us worried,but ate lunch anyway,then I scouted further up until we could turn around at the gated entrance.After getting out of there,I noticed the next road in was the Hyundai/Kia test track....would have been a more interesting lunch stop....maybe.I have noticed a lot of car commercials seemed to be filmed on the Mojave desert,so now know why.
We dropped down into the San Joaquin valley at Bakersfield just after noon and for a change a nice muggy 72 degree temperature.(Put away the moisturizer skin cream)
My Garmin decided to act up again(not that I needed it for this leg of the journey)but it is handy for distances and time too's.Both times that it failed this winter was after about 6 hours of travel,it would lose the satellites as if it couldn't keep up.If I raised it up on to the top of the dash,it would regain,then drop out again after a few minutes...frustrating...What I did find was a little later when we stopped at Delano for gas,it had a chance to catch its breath and was OK for the rest of the days travel.We will see what today brings.One thing I learned about GPS's through the forums,was if you travel...say by airplane,from one side of the country to the other,with it off....Don't expect it to work right away as it could take an hour to find out where it is in its firmware.

All 4 of these pics where taken at our present location,our first nights stop.This is where I always stop going both ways,since the very first year of coming down south.This is Col. Allensworth Historical State Park,about 50 miles north of Bakersfield.Its off the highway about 10 miles,but always a quiet stop.Many times I have been the only one in here,a little un-nerving at times but never a problem so far.

It has about 20 nice paved, back-in sites with Ramada's at $10. a night,$8. for seniors.With washroom/shower(always cold) and a newly added dump station. Its in the middle of nowhere,so other than noisy trains close by....a great stop.

This time of the year,usually its teaming with birds in their springtime activities.Last year at this time it was full of red wings and meadow larks,but yesterday was quiet.2 years ago the area was full of burrowing owls,one had its burrow just a few feet behind the site I'm in now.....this year...non in sight....Whats happening?It was a nice warm, spring like day.Of course the little finches are everywhere we go,singing happily,even in the gravel pit at Borrego Springs.

Today we hope to travel north up the Valley to the Rolling Hills Casino at Corning Ca. for a night of free parking(another regular stop.)And of course my usual (every year)lunch break stop at Lodi's Taco Bell......Chalupa time....Again.

So I hope to add another post from this location if all goes well....And the creek don't dry.


Our Present Overnight Location