Mojave Desert, LA, and I see My Precious

  Los Angeles, California, United States
Friday, June 27, 2008

The trip across the desert was uneventful, and not nearly as hot as I had worried. The highest temp while I was crossing was 96. The mountains I passed and crossed were majestic. The desert was boring. Fuel in Kingman was 4.50 p/g.

I pulled into Victorville, CA and had to drive down a busy 4 lane street looking for a side street to turn left on. My eyes are bad so I couldn't see the signs until I was almost into the intersection. After what seemed a long time, I just got into the left turn lane to look and there was my street. I found the park with out any problems, but the teenage girl who checked me in failed to provide directions to the RV area of the park. This is a regional park that has many things for people to do. I continued straight and ultimately I was

Victorville

driving into a dead end parking lot. Missed a turn somewhere. I was able to turn around with a lot of luck and patience. Found the RV section and got unhooked. There is a fishing lake and lots of trees in this area.

Victorville fishing lake

This is a nice place to prepare for my big day on the LA Freeway system. Diesel was 4.99 p/g and I got 14mpg on the last leg.

I left for LA at 10:00 hoping I would miss most of the morning's commuter traffic, and I did. The freeways were crowded, but no more so than what I've seen in Houston, or Austin. Big sigh here. I got to the KOA in Pomona and checked in. Nice location, but the spaces are very tight together, my streetside neighbor put his awning out and it was less than 2" away from me.

Over this last year of planning for this trip I've used the resources of airforums.com. The California members were very willing to share their local knowledge, and my trip reflects their combined advice. One of the members who was a tremendous wealth of knowledge is Excella 3287. On Friday, 6/27, I had the wonderful opportunity to meet him and Mrs. Excel. These are two very nice people with wonderful stories to share. Mr. Excel is also a smi-pro BBQer, and they fed me the most wonderful ribeye dinner I have had in months. I was at a beautiful campsite with them, where they were spending the weekend, and it was just a few miles from the KOA. This was a highlight to my visit.

The next day the wifi service died in the park. This was very scary because I had planned to track the flight as My Precious crossed the ocean. So I paced until 6:50PM, and it's a short pace in a trailer. The phone rings and IT'S HER. YEA. I jump in the Ex and dash to LAX to fetch My Precious. There SHE was waiting for me! YEA! She's home, by my side. Big sigh here. That night we dined on the really delicious steak the Excella and his gracious wife had sent home with me. Still a damn fine steak. The next afternoon we went to the Pomona Valley Mining Co for more good beef and a great view - another airforums suggestion. Sunday was a day for My Precious to begin her travel recovery, and with no wifi service still she did. Fueled up for 5.09 p/g in LA

Monday we left for Morro Bay around 8:30 using the same thinking as the last time. It worked again, and we missed the comuter traffic. Took the 210 to the 101, and then just enjoyed the view all of the way without incident.

Morro Bay is a beautiful, quiet town on the coast. The photo was taken in the afternoon after we had unhooked in a very nice RV park on the beach

Morro Bay's Morro Rock

More about Morro Bay in the next, so stay tuned.