Starting Mileage leaving Chowchilla: 8745
Ending Mileage arriving Valencia, CA: 8973
Miles Driven: 228
Avg. MPG: 9.1
Gas Price: $3.85--Bakersfield, CA
Overnight: Valencia, California
Valencia Travel Village
Travel Day
We drove off fairly early this morning, for us. It was 9:30 AM. We did not unhook the RV last night, and we have yet another long drive ahead of us.
I had forgotten just how barren the landscape can be in this area. As Dave loves to state, "It's just D-I-R-T."
I remember driving over the Castaic Junction many times as we would travel north from the Los Angeles area to the Sacramento area to visit my cousins. But, this is the first time we have traveled over this pass pulling a large trailer. Of course, this time, we are going north to south. And, what a climb it is. But, Dave's Big Ugly (his GMC) did really well.
When we arrived at the summit, we decided it was time to stop and rest Big Ugly and grab a bite to eat. We had planned to go to the advertised Sizzler, but it was no where to be found. So, we settled for the only other burger stand, Carl's Jr. I must say, it could have used a good scouring.
We were overwhelmed at the growth in the area since we left in 1980. We knew the area would have grown, but not quite as much as it had.
I thought you might get a kick out of this picture I took (sorry for the icky focus). But, this is how folks deal with living in the hills of California. After the fires come and burn the brush, then the rains start, and the houses slide down the hill. These folks are trying to stop the hillside from slipping away and having their house slide down. These are sheets of plastic with rocks piled on top to keep the plastic from sliding down the hill or blowing away.
A new lake has been created since we left as well: Lake Pyramid. It is quite large and was formed to take some pressure off of the Van Norman Dam, which almost broke during the 1971 earthquake.
We took a little detour in getting to the campground. The directions in the directory and on their web site are now inaccurate due to road construction. But, as always, we finally figured it out.
The campground is very nice. But, not the nicest we have stayed in, in spite of the fact that this is the most expensive campground. Not only is it the most expensive, but we have to pay an additional fee for the WIFI. So, that means only one of us gets to log on. And, of course, it's not me. Sharing the laptop is becoming all too common. But, Dave is kind and plays well with others.
Our campsite is very roomy as we have a walkway on one side of us and no neighbor on the other side--certainly spacious enough.
After Dave got us set up, he took a brief nap. Then, we decided to go scout out where he used to live from age 10 through 17, where we lived about 2 years after we were married (our first home purchase, 1970 to 1974), and our second home (1974 to 1980). We stopped in to visit the neighbors across the street from our last home. It was fun to see them again. Next we drove by our old church, the kids' school, grocery stores, and shops we frequented. We finally ended up at the Mexican Restaurant we ate at least twice a week. (The meal was just as good as ever. Everything was so yummy.) We were surprised that many of our hangouts were still there and hadn't changed much, while growth in the area continued to floor us.
This was Dave's family home from age 10 until age 17, when he joined the Navy.
.jpg)
Dave & Pam's home from 1970 to 1974. This is the house we lived in during the earthquake.
Dave & Pam's home from 1974 to 1980. Can't see it for all of the trees and trash in the front yard. You can see our GMC parked in front of the house.
Notice anything similar in these three houses? Well, it's typical of California homes; you cannot see the house easily from the street--people tend to isolates themselves behind walls or hedges. Very different from the homes in Georgia, which are very open in the front yards.
Well, that's all for now. Off to beddie-bye as I called a high school friend of mine that lives near Malibu. We are getting together tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment