So - where are we??

It is May 29, 2013 - my sister Ingrid's birthday - though it will be over for her in Australia. We are 16 hours behind Queensland.

We are now in Colorado Springs in southern Colorado. Since the kids went home at the end of April we have travelled about 2,000 miles (approx. 3,300 kms).

We have our sights on Denver. On Tuesday 4 June we will fly to New York from Denver International Airport to spend a week with Kerry and Jo, from Perth. We travelled with them to San Francisco in 2011 when Kerry and Trevor did the Alcatraz swims. We are looking forward to catching up again.

On our last day in LA we drive out to Huntington Beach. It is sunny and mild. On the way to the coast we call into an enormous flea market spread over a vast area; we take ages to find a car park there are so many people. We buy a bottle of Awesome window cleaner and a set of potscourers!! Last of the big spenders!

We wander the Huntington Beach Pier. It is a popular place on a Sunday! There are even a few people swimming although it is not quite beach weather. Trevor says "how would you know"! Nice.




















And then we are leaving LA. We travel first to Tollhouse, located in the Sierra Nevadas. We are going to visit Dan and Ellen. (refer post dated 8 May 2013)

We turn off Hwy 99 at Fresno. Almost immediately we are in the country as we head for the mountains. It is a beautiful day with scenery to match. Farming country. Just fabulous!

We turn onto a small country  road -I remember it well!  This time another challenge ... just as we are driving up a steep, narrow and windy part of the road, the GPS states "Make a u-turn".  W h a a t!!  Well of course we tell her what we think about that instruction ... it doesn't help! We have to look for a place wide enough to turn around, while watching out for anything coming the other way.

Not a 'u turn' kind of road!

Needless to say we make it to Dan and Ellen's home. What a lovely welcome they give us! It is good to see them again. They have two of their grandchildren staying with them - Isabel and Violet - 4 and 2 years old.




We stay for 2 nights at Dan and Ellen's, parked in their drive. Afternoons go gently by whilst sitting on their verandah. We wake each morning to the sound of chooks, roosters, birds and dogs. It is great to be away from the city sounds for a while.

Dan and Ellen take us driving into the hills and mountains northeast of them; to Shaver Lake and Huntington Lake. Dan's Toyota holds us all perfectly. Isabel and Violet are in their safe car seats in the back. They have a bag of snacks and headphones so they can watch dvd's without the rest of us being troubled by the noise!

Shaver Lake is a man-made lake on the Stevenson Creek in the Sierra National Forest. The lake was formed in the construction of the Shaver Lake Dam. We go looking for Mushroom Rock.
The road gets narrower as we go higher and higher. Where is the rock? Are we on the right road?

Then it is right in front of us. What a beauty!!

Where are we going??

Sometimes Violet likes to drive.

We have a wonderful morning driving through such beauty with breathtaking views.
The girls are very good. What a great way to keep them occupied with their own  movies.

Dan and Ellen - Tollhouse

We leave Tollhouse in the early morning. It is going to be windy today. We take the back roads that Dan suggests and miss a lot of peak hour and busy traffic. At Kingsburg we get back on Hwy 99S to Bakersfield where we stop for lunch.

We plan to get fuel at Costco - $3.71 a gallon - but there is such a line of cars that we drive on to ARCO down the road where it is $3.75 a gall.

How do they get them to grow so well!!

Then we are off east on Highway 58. It is now very windy and we are getting blown around a bit. High, long hills take us out of Bakersfield through massive agriculture; grape vines, fruit trees and crops all the way to the high desert - the Mojave Desert.  It is warm -  in the 90's.

Right about now I lose 2 pages of notes out of my window as I  open it wide to take photos. Buggar and double buggar!!
Approximately 15 miles west of Barstow,  Hwy 58 becomes a 2way due to road works. 'No Passing' signs everywhere.

No Passing - hard for some!

Branching out!

I have rung ahead and secured a site at the Barstow/Calico KOA. We arrive there just after 3pm. It has been a long day - more than 300 miles.

We get set up - it's just about warm enough for a beer!!

We are approximately 3 miles from Calico, a ghost town in the Calico Mountains of the Mojave Desert. Calico was founded in 1881 as a silver mining town. Today it is a county park with many of its buildings 'architecturally restored'. Giant letters spelling CALICO can be seen on the Calico Peaks behind the ghost town from the I-15.

We walk to Peggy Sue's Diner for dinner. It is a retro fifties diner in the middle of the desert, built in 1954 and revamped in 1987 by Peggy Sue and her husband Champ. Peggy Sue was a celebrity featured in over 100 films and commercials; she even had a song written about her. ('Peggy Sue' by Buddy Holly and The Crickets). The Diner serves food named after famous stars of the 50's such as The Patty Page patty melt and the James Dean fries. There are also various themed burgers named after John Wayne, La Bamba, Fats Domino, Buddy Holly and Chubby Checker!!!