Heading East in California

Along #138 East in California

November 8, 2008
We trudged down I-5 til after lunch then turned off on Highway 269 then onto Highway 33 at Avenal. #33 parallels I-5 for a long way and was much quieter. In fact, it was really quiet. The scenery for the most part was no better. In fact we drove by several oil patches with thousands of little pumpers rocking away. Then there’s the power lines to and the pipelines away from each pump – it’s ugly! We had hoped to find a campsite or even a boondocking area early in the afternoon but no luck. We finally found a forest service campsite at the 4800 foot level on a twisty mountain road that should deliver us out to I-5 in another 20-30 miles. The team was ready to mutiny on me by the time we found this spot at 5:30! It seemed to be the perfect spot, finally. Just us and the stars and miles away below us the lights of various small communities. However, all was shattered at 2:09 AM by a party of idiot hunters who arrived (I presume from LA or some other large city several hours drive away). Our first indication of company was when the guns started firing. Yes, at 2:09 AM – pitch dark except for the stars. And not just once but 12-15 times before I finally got through to them by flashing the truck lights and honking the horn with the remote. Of course the ladies of our team were well terrified and didn’t get much more sleep.

Nov 9
When we left this morning, we turned back down the way we’d come up last night instead of going up as we’d planned. This was decided by the fact we couldn’t turn sharp enough to make the turn and it would be miles of backtracking before a spot was found. What good fortune that turned out to be as just after we started a vehicle caught up to us and I let him go past. He had new snow on his hood and window. Definitely not the way for us to go! Tonight we are in Shady Oasis RV Park in Victorville, CA. True to form, it is right along side a freeway and there’s a train not far away. I can’t believe how so many of these parks seem to have those “requirements.” It really pays to be deaf or maybe that’s just who they cater to. It certainly plays hob with my sleeping but we’re still not far enough along to be able to boondock out in the quiet areas. We drove through some pretty serious rain this morning on I-5 and the start of #138 East. We were rewarded with an impressive rainbow. Aileen and the girls had a two hour nap this afternoon so better vibes tonight. Tommorrow we hope to go only as far as Joshua Tree (the town) and find an RV camp that’s quieter. Perhaps the next day we’ll make Quartzsite and spend a few days boondocking before heading east and south.