On the road again and heading eastward. Hated to leave Southern California but John does want to see the eclipse in Farmington Mo. on August 21. We do have some miles to cover between now and then. Before I show the scenes on our road trip today I want to comment that California is trying to get rid of plastic bags. We were charged ten cents in all stores for the bags, so it was best to have our own. Way to go California! I get so disgusted seeing plastic bags blow along the highways!
It did not seem very long that we had left the San Diego area and were in the hills outside of Los Angeles. Traffic was heavy and it was slow going for awhile. Southern California certainly has a lot of natural beauty with its hills, mountains and canyons.
The countryside around Temecula is known as Southern California Wine Country. You may notice mountains in the distance. We were soon climbing our highest elevation for the day at Cajon Pass. The elevation is 4, 190 feet. Picture below was taken as we were coming down.
As we continued to head north on Interstate 15 we first drove through the San Bernardino National Forest, the first of many wilderness areas we would see during the course of the day. Much of the region is uninhabitable. It caused me to think of how our President Trump wants to seize similar government land in other areas for mining. I shudder to think of all the national forests we have seen in our travels and imagine them being horribly scared as the mountains and hills of Colorado and West Virginia. I pray that it does not happen and wiser heads will prevail!
Between Hesperia and Barstow we could see small forests of joshua trees. Joshua Tree National Park is a bit southeast of this area, but we figured the same conditions (hot and dry) must be in this area for them to thrive. If the picture looks a bit odd- I played with the lighting to help the trees stand out.
From Barstow we took Interstate 40 and most of our day was then in the Mojave Desert. It was a hot day, with lots of clouds but no rain in sight. However, we saw a rainbow!
There was a bright spot of sunlight on the mountain to the left of the rainbow. Now I know how people came to think there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow! Very pretty.
Our day ended in Needles, California. After a quick supper we walked down to the Colorado River. Temperature now about 100 degrees with a strong wind. John described it very aptly when he commented that it felt like we were blowing a hair dryer in our face!
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