Day 2: Tuesday, 1/24/17
Buttonwillow, CA to Beaumont, CA
miles traveled: 202 miles
time: 5.5 hours
We got off to an earlier start: 10:30 am on the road. Our goal today is to over the Tehachipi summit before noon because we have about 3 hours more traveling beyond that. Our final destination today is a super Walmart in Beaumont, CA where we will boondock in their parking lot.
The weather is incredibly BRIGHT and sunny! A complete change from yesterday. The sky is a virtually cloudless blue. It's just so pretty!
Tom noticed that the right front tire was low on pressure. He has these nifty valve stems that indicate when the air pressure inside the pressure is low. We found out where the T/A air hose was but there was no connector on it. The staff inside the truck maintenance building said that people steal the connectors and that we should drive on inside the maintenance building. We did so and topped up the air in the tire. Tom then got a spritz bottle and sprayed the tire valve and discovered that the tire didn't have a leak .. .the *valve* did! It was faulty. So, he replaced it with another one that didn't leak. And we were on our way.
First stop: the actual town of Buttonwillow to drop my post cards at the post office. I was surprised to see that Buttonwillow was founded in 1895 but with the demise of all the agriculture, the population is virtually non-existent today. It looked very sad.
We topped up the gas tank at the Grapevine, which is at the base of the Tehachipi mountains on the Central Valley side. I was absolutely astonished to see that the ladies' bathroom at the nearby collection of stores was beautifully decorated in stone, wire wall art and silk flowers in vases. And it was clean. :-).
Although there was a dusting of snow on the tops of the mountains and on the shady north side of the hills, the road up to and over the summit was clear and dry. We were very grateful for that.
Since I'm the passenger, I like to occupy myself with something constructive during the drive. For me, this is sewing handwork. This a partial construction of the project I'm working on.
Sooooo .. I'm happily stitching along when I notice out of the periphery of my vision a small "something" moving on the front of my shirt. This not normal. Shifting my focus from my sewing to the "something", I discovered the moving black spot was a small spider. Instinctively and immediately, I slapped it dead and swept it off my shirt. I was VERY VERY VERY glad I was able to kill it on the first attempt, as otherwise there would have been massive hysterics. As it was, I was so quiet that Tom never even realized what had happened. However, I kept a lookout for any buddies. I never found any but remained suspicious the rest of the ride. There are no pictures of the dead spider.
We crested the summit and descended into the Los Angeles basin. Every time we need to do this, I am struck by how many PEOPLE there are ... too many. And the utter maze of highways to accommodate all the vehicles ... too many. There is too much development and it's all spread out like an octopus. It's all very urban and metropolitan. I don't care for it. I don't find any socially redeeming factor about the area. There's just TOO MUCH. Of course, I can say that about where I live too ... the San Francisco bay area is waaaay too crowded also. Even at 2pm there was traffic congestion along some of the highways and in some places the metering lights were on. :-(
Eventually, we travelled out of the concrete jungle and emerged in a somewhat more spacious area ... Beaumont ... at 4pm. The super Walmart here allows for boondocking in their less used parking areas and it's certainly wonderful to be able to do that. We thanked them by buying a roasted chicken and Kings Hawaiian rolls for dinner. YUM! The roasted chicken will provide for another night's dinner I also picked up a quilting magazine (that I honestly do not need but it was interesting) and Tom bought a pair of athletic shoes. Apparently, he forgot to pack extra shoes for himself!
I needed to use Walmart's facilities and was very pleasantly surprised to find fresh flowers on the counter. Wowsers ... Walmart is one up on the ladies' restroom at the Grapevine!
Beaumont is snuggled right up against the base of the Tehachipi Mountains. There is a railroad line between us and them. Tom likes hearing the sound of the train going by ... it reminds him of his (misspent) childhood. Here is the view we have tonight. Yep, that's snow on the mountain tops. And we are NOT there! :-)
Buttonwillow, CA to Beaumont, CA
miles traveled: 202 miles
time: 5.5 hours
We got off to an earlier start: 10:30 am on the road. Our goal today is to over the Tehachipi summit before noon because we have about 3 hours more traveling beyond that. Our final destination today is a super Walmart in Beaumont, CA where we will boondock in their parking lot.
The weather is incredibly BRIGHT and sunny! A complete change from yesterday. The sky is a virtually cloudless blue. It's just so pretty!
Tom noticed that the right front tire was low on pressure. He has these nifty valve stems that indicate when the air pressure inside the pressure is low. We found out where the T/A air hose was but there was no connector on it. The staff inside the truck maintenance building said that people steal the connectors and that we should drive on inside the maintenance building. We did so and topped up the air in the tire. Tom then got a spritz bottle and sprayed the tire valve and discovered that the tire didn't have a leak .. .the *valve* did! It was faulty. So, he replaced it with another one that didn't leak. And we were on our way.
First stop: the actual town of Buttonwillow to drop my post cards at the post office. I was surprised to see that Buttonwillow was founded in 1895 but with the demise of all the agriculture, the population is virtually non-existent today. It looked very sad.
Sooooo .. I'm happily stitching along when I notice out of the periphery of my vision a small "something" moving on the front of my shirt. This not normal. Shifting my focus from my sewing to the "something", I discovered the moving black spot was a small spider. Instinctively and immediately, I slapped it dead and swept it off my shirt. I was VERY VERY VERY glad I was able to kill it on the first attempt, as otherwise there would have been massive hysterics. As it was, I was so quiet that Tom never even realized what had happened. However, I kept a lookout for any buddies. I never found any but remained suspicious the rest of the ride. There are no pictures of the dead spider.
We crested the summit and descended into the Los Angeles basin. Every time we need to do this, I am struck by how many PEOPLE there are ... too many. And the utter maze of highways to accommodate all the vehicles ... too many. There is too much development and it's all spread out like an octopus. It's all very urban and metropolitan. I don't care for it. I don't find any socially redeeming factor about the area. There's just TOO MUCH. Of course, I can say that about where I live too ... the San Francisco bay area is waaaay too crowded also. Even at 2pm there was traffic congestion along some of the highways and in some places the metering lights were on. :-(
Eventually, we travelled out of the concrete jungle and emerged in a somewhat more spacious area ... Beaumont ... at 4pm. The super Walmart here allows for boondocking in their less used parking areas and it's certainly wonderful to be able to do that. We thanked them by buying a roasted chicken and Kings Hawaiian rolls for dinner. YUM! The roasted chicken will provide for another night's dinner I also picked up a quilting magazine (that I honestly do not need but it was interesting) and Tom bought a pair of athletic shoes. Apparently, he forgot to pack extra shoes for himself!
Beaumont is snuggled right up against the base of the Tehachipi Mountains. There is a railroad line between us and them. Tom likes hearing the sound of the train going by ... it reminds him of his (misspent) childhood. Here is the view we have tonight. Yep, that's snow on the mountain tops. And we are NOT there! :-)
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