Milepost 2,200:   Mojave, California,   Elevation 2,700 feet

Kaye has been posting travel notes on her blog.  Today she lists the notable features of our trip across the Mojave Desert.

• I liked the little KOA we stayed at last night in Kingman, AZ, and felt refreshed and ready for yet another day of travel. That was a nice change from mostly feeling fatigued the last few days.
• I wore my hiking sandals today. With socks, but still.  Maybe flip-flops tomorrow?
• Climbed to 7200 feet and back down a thousand or two and back up again. Several times. Yep, another ear-popping day!
• Made it to California. Wahoo!!!
• Inspection Center. Oops! We forgot NOT to buy fresh produce before entering California.  Let’s see; what do we have? A new bag of mini-peppers and one of carrots – both unopened – as well as a banana. We wondered whether we would be allowed to bring them in. Oh wait; the guy waved us through without even asking any questions.
• More vegetation than we’ve seen through a couple states – despite the horrific drought we’ve been hearing about. I like vegetation.

• Drove through the Mojave Desert pretty much all day – or at least for 200 miles.
• Sign says “Traffic monitored by air craft.” Must be true that it is strictly enforced in at least one section of highway because very few trucks passed us there – which is rare.
• A helicopter passed us on one of the mountain roads – or at least most of a helicopter – on the back of a truck.
• Holy Moses Wash.  Evidently a “wash” is something like an arroyo – or dried up river. Holy Moses Wash was my favorite.
• Warning sign:  Bumps at bridges  Really?  Guess the only thing different about California and other states is that they have warning signs for the notorious rough and bumpy overpass bridges.  How nice of them to let us know.
• 62 degrees!
• We are camped in what looks like a little “parking lot” or maybe a junk yard in the town of Mojave with a flimsy chain link fence a few feet away. On the other side of the fence is the Mojave Air and Space Port – where space shuttles land sometimes. How fun. Oh, yah, we are right by Edwards Air Force Base…
•  Figured out how to change our clocks.  Hadn’t bothered until we reached our last time zone.  Well, at least our last one for a few months.