Greetings from the Golden State!

I am in Barstow, CA this evening, at probably the last KOA I will stay at on this trip. I had decided to stop at whichever campground came up first, and it was the KOA. I loved the KOA in Holbrook last night - if I was going to spend an extra day someplace, that would have been the CG I would choose. I didn't do it because without unhooking my truck there isn't much I can do anyway, and I AIN'T UNHOOKING THAT TRUCK UNTIL CAL EXPO! But the warm welcome plus the quiet and spaciousness put it way up on my list of "It" places.

Here is a picture taken from the dog run this morning, facing the early traffic on I-40. Surprisingly, for as close as I-40 seems I heard almost no traffic noise. It was a quiet campground with wide and spacious sites and lanes. Just about perfect!


The campsites here in Barstow are much closer to the interstate and the noise, as well as to each other. The closeness inside the CG is mitigated by the fact that the sites are separated by oleander bushes, so there is great privacy. I'm close to a dog walk area which seems to be open desert. I could probably let Lady loose, but since it's been a while since she hasn't been on a leash - since we lived in North Carolina - I don't trust her. She wanted to chase a jackrabbit a couple of evenings ago and who knows what is out in the desert she could go after.

At the far western side of Arizona on I-40 is a small bridge that goes over "Holy Moses Wash". I laugh every time I see that sign, and wonder how it got its name. Perhaps some old cowboy was walking across it in the rain when the tide started flowing, and he yelled "HOLY MOSES!" as he leapt to safety.

As I was driving down the highway in the early morning hours I saw what looked like ghost ships on a foggy sea. It was a power plant with a lot of white smoke coming from the stacks, and there must have been a shallow pond or other body of water near the plant because a low fog hovered over a big area. With white smoke and fog all around, it looked eerie. When you drive alone it is difficult to get pictures, so I don't even try, but that would have been a good subject to photograph.

The trip was fairly uneventful except for the long upgrades that never seemed to end. On the really long ones there is a truck lane for slow traffic, and no matter how fast you start out, you eventually slow down to a near crawl. Also, some of the roadway was super but a lot of it was bumpy, torn up, and plain awful.

One thing I really like about driving in California, and I may have mentioned it previously, but that is the 55 mph speed limit for trucks and vehicles pulling trailers. It is a much safer speed for a big rig to go for one thing, the fuel mileage is no doubt improved, and it sure makes for a less stressful drive. What I don't understand is why they allow buses and motorhomes go the 70 mph speed limit.

I have had trouble with the sofa slide in that it sometimes doesn't want to come in all the way and doesn't close perfectly. When I brought it in this morning it made a lot of noise plus a chugging sound, and sure enough I can see a tiny gap at the top. I had this problem the morning I left Fort P. but it seemed to be ok and came in fine the next time I extended it. Now I'm worried about the chugging sound - what if it refuses to come back in all the way - I know there is a method to manually crank the slide in, but I don't think I want to have to do that. So I will wait to extend it until I get settled at Cal Expo. The levels are reading just about perfect, but the rig feels slightly tilted to me with the one slide being in. One of my entry doors seems to be off slightly as well, and I have difficulty closing it. Am I ever sick of all these problems!

I gained another hour today, and now I learn that the great gods who control time have decreed that we will lose an hour this month. I will be really confused when that happens. If there is a state in the US that doesn't try to mess with the time, I would like to know about it with a possible view of moving there. No matter what anyone tells me, I don't think having daylight saving time for 9 months out of the year is productive or money saving. It might allow for an extra hour or so for golf, but it also affects approximately 6 months of the school year. So the kiddies don't have to come home in the dark. Duh, they leave in the dark, and vice versa on the other end of the time scam. I could accept it when they just tampered with the summer months, but there is some other reason we aren't being told that involves the early and late winter months. Do I sound paranoid? Maybe I am just a bit.

I am so tired I would love to just go to bed for the evening, but I would regret it since the "evening" is now 4:38 pm!