Monday, January 28, 2019, Move to Tehachapi, CA

Today we drove another 191.8 miles (91,636.1 total) towards the Pacific Ocean and our month in Pismo Beach, CA. I cannot tell you how happy I was to find people familiar with an alternate route to Pismo that did not include driving through Los Angeles. Instead, we drove north on I-15 over the Cajon Pass, north on highway 395 and finally west on highway 58 to Tehachapi. The roads were so much nicer than what I remembered of I-210.

The snow-capped peak on our left was Mt San Antonio, better known as Mt Baldy.

I slowed it down as we climbed up from the Los Angeles basin and as a result the engine temperature never reached more than 195 degrees. On the steepest grades, we were in third gear and about 40 mph putting the engine at about 2,200 rpm. I just have to remember I'm retired and I don't have to be in a hurry.

Obviously, this alternative to traveling through LA was well known to truckers. Highway 395 had some rippled stretches that added some excitement to the drive but the pavement was smooth making it pleasant. Only15-20 miles of our route needed fresh payment.

Just before we reached Tehachapi we encountered the Alta Wind Energy Center wind farm. This encompassed a number of different developments and I never could get an actual count of wind generators but I think it is safe to say there were thousands.

Trains had an even rougher climb than we did despite all of the curves trying to level out the tracks. We saw some trains that had to be more than a mile long with half a dozen locomotive engines - of course, they were pulling millions of pounds of cargo so that was no surprise. Can you see the train stretched across the picture below?

The Mountain Valley RV Park in Tehachapi abutted the Mountain Valley Airport. We were cautioned not to walk out on the runway.

Within a few minutes of getting settled in, I heard an airplane and viewed my first of many glider take-offs and landings. The Skylark North Glider School seemed pretty busy during our stay.

We may wish later that we had taken the opportunity to experience a glider flight but we just could not justify the cost for what amounted to a 15-minute "thrill ride."