2017 Quartzsite AZ road trip January/February 2017
Day 1: Monday, 1/23/17
Walnut Creek, CA to Buttonwillow, CA
miles traveled: 245 miles
time: 6 hours
Got off to a reasonable start at 11am. We've been driving down I5 (the major north/south freeway in California) through micro-bursts of very hard rain. This was concerning to use because we had previously detected a leak in the front window of the trailer. Tom has spent an inordinate amount of time and energy trying to trace where the leak originates. As you know, where the water comes out is NOT necessarily where the source IS. He thought he had fixed it ... finally.
A positive test was to tuck paper towels into the frame and see if they became wet ... if so, then the leak was still there. At various stops, we found that the paper towels we had stuck into the trailer's front window to detect water leaks were,in fact, soaked. That means that all of Tom's hard work over the past weeks was for naught. He will need to resort to taking the entire window out, replacing the seals and re-installing the window. But, that will need to wait until it's no longer raining at home. Until then, as long as there is a chance of rain pelting the front window, we'll continue to tuck paper towels into the frame. Sigh.
Tom has planned stops every 90 miles or so. Some are for gas, pit stops, food, or stretch our legs. It's a little tiresome to stop so often, as it lengthens our trip, but Tom likes to do so and we aren't in a hurry. It also gives Tom a break from driving. Since we are doing one night stands until we get to Quartzsite, it's not as if we are going to be *missing* anything at the destination by arriving later in the afternoon. As long as we get there before dark, it's all good.
We have the camp chairs & lounge attached to the carrier at the back of the trailer. A tarp is lashed to them for protection from the weather. Unfortunately, the tarp wasn't tied down securely enough and it came loose on the freeway - scratch one tarp.
We're seeing a lot of orchards being pulled up and shredded along I5. Drought and lack of irrigation (allegedly due to restrictions so the fish have enough water to live) have finally taken their toll. It's really a shame to see such rich farmland go idle. When the land is allowed to go fallow, it reverts to its natural form .... sagebrush and desert. Our Central Valley was once an inland sea, as such there is salt and other minerals in the soil that is detrimental to plants. The farmland needs to be irrigated, not only for the crops but to help dilute and "rinse" the detrimental stuff out of the soil. No water = no irrigation = no crops = higher prices for everyone. Thanks EPA.
Because of the intermittant rain, we've seen some very pretty rainbows along I5.
We even saw an *end of a rainbow*! No pot of gold was visible though .. such a pity. :-)
WHOA! We just saw a car, traveling northbound on I5 FLIP A U-TURN across the center divide and then continue traveling on the southbound side!! Dang, there was crossroad that he must have known about ahead of time since by the time you actually see it, you've passed it. Hmmm... maybe he was a plainclothes cop in a regular car, which would explain the foreknowledge.
Holy moley ... there are SO MANY speeding cars! And tailgating, to boot! I can see a potential multi-car pile-up happening. Do we typically drive that fast also? Bearing in mind that our speed with the trailer is about 55mph, so anything seems pretty fast. :-)
OH!! Lightening! We can see several different rain squalls in the distance but they are too far away for us to hear any thunder. It is really weird to see the very dark rain clouds and veils of "dark stuff" descending from them ... those "veils" is the rain coming down. You know it's gotta be intense. We are very glad we are not in it.
While Buttonwillow is a real (very small) town about 3 miles off the freeway, the T/A where we are boondocking tonight is just a convenient bump in the freeway. We are very grateful that T/A allows boondocking for us small time travelers.
Tom has been watching the weather and temperatures at the nearby Tehachipi Mountains, which separate the Central Valley from the Los Angeles basin. Predictions have been for snow, ice, winds - none of which we want to drive in. We've already seen freeway signs at Buttonwillow that say the summit is not recommended for trailers or RVs due to gusty winds. We'll see what the weather report is on Tuesday morning, as that will determine whether or not we stay or continue.
As of 6:30pm, Google says that it is actually SNOWING at Tehachipi. Ack. But that is supposed to stop by 9pm. Temperatures rise above freezing by 9am. It will take us a while to drive there, so as long as we make the summit by 2pm (when the temperatures are supposed to start dropping), we'll be OK. Our destination tomorrow is another 3 hours further on, so we don't want to make the summit too late otherwise it'll be dark when we arrive. Since we'll still be boondocking, arriving at dark would only be an annoyance ... but it's still gonna be cold and I'd just rather arrive during sunlight hours.
Day 1: Monday, 1/23/17
Walnut Creek, CA to Buttonwillow, CA
miles traveled: 245 miles
time: 6 hours
Got off to a reasonable start at 11am. We've been driving down I5 (the major north/south freeway in California) through micro-bursts of very hard rain. This was concerning to use because we had previously detected a leak in the front window of the trailer. Tom has spent an inordinate amount of time and energy trying to trace where the leak originates. As you know, where the water comes out is NOT necessarily where the source IS. He thought he had fixed it ... finally.
A positive test was to tuck paper towels into the frame and see if they became wet ... if so, then the leak was still there. At various stops, we found that the paper towels we had stuck into the trailer's front window to detect water leaks were,in fact, soaked. That means that all of Tom's hard work over the past weeks was for naught. He will need to resort to taking the entire window out, replacing the seals and re-installing the window. But, that will need to wait until it's no longer raining at home. Until then, as long as there is a chance of rain pelting the front window, we'll continue to tuck paper towels into the frame. Sigh.
Tom has planned stops every 90 miles or so. Some are for gas, pit stops, food, or stretch our legs. It's a little tiresome to stop so often, as it lengthens our trip, but Tom likes to do so and we aren't in a hurry. It also gives Tom a break from driving. Since we are doing one night stands until we get to Quartzsite, it's not as if we are going to be *missing* anything at the destination by arriving later in the afternoon. As long as we get there before dark, it's all good.
We have the camp chairs & lounge attached to the carrier at the back of the trailer. A tarp is lashed to them for protection from the weather. Unfortunately, the tarp wasn't tied down securely enough and it came loose on the freeway - scratch one tarp.
We're seeing a lot of orchards being pulled up and shredded along I5. Drought and lack of irrigation (allegedly due to restrictions so the fish have enough water to live) have finally taken their toll. It's really a shame to see such rich farmland go idle. When the land is allowed to go fallow, it reverts to its natural form .... sagebrush and desert. Our Central Valley was once an inland sea, as such there is salt and other minerals in the soil that is detrimental to plants. The farmland needs to be irrigated, not only for the crops but to help dilute and "rinse" the detrimental stuff out of the soil. No water = no irrigation = no crops = higher prices for everyone. Thanks EPA.
Holy moley ... there are SO MANY speeding cars! And tailgating, to boot! I can see a potential multi-car pile-up happening. Do we typically drive that fast also? Bearing in mind that our speed with the trailer is about 55mph, so anything seems pretty fast. :-)
OH!! Lightening! We can see several different rain squalls in the distance but they are too far away for us to hear any thunder. It is really weird to see the very dark rain clouds and veils of "dark stuff" descending from them ... those "veils" is the rain coming down. You know it's gotta be intense. We are very glad we are not in it.
 |
| Buttonwillow, CA - our destination for the night |
Tom has been watching the weather and temperatures at the nearby Tehachipi Mountains, which separate the Central Valley from the Los Angeles basin. Predictions have been for snow, ice, winds - none of which we want to drive in. We've already seen freeway signs at Buttonwillow that say the summit is not recommended for trailers or RVs due to gusty winds. We'll see what the weather report is on Tuesday morning, as that will determine whether or not we stay or continue.
As of 6:30pm, Google says that it is actually SNOWING at Tehachipi. Ack. But that is supposed to stop by 9pm. Temperatures rise above freezing by 9am. It will take us a while to drive there, so as long as we make the summit by 2pm (when the temperatures are supposed to start dropping), we'll be OK. Our destination tomorrow is another 3 hours further on, so we don't want to make the summit too late otherwise it'll be dark when we arrive. Since we'll still be boondocking, arriving at dark would only be an annoyance ... but it's still gonna be cold and I'd just rather arrive during sunlight hours.
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