Heading for Texas

We have finally started off on our annual camping trip.  I guess our two trips to Washington and New York in the early summer  were enough and we have waited until November to take this trip. So, here we are heading for Big Bend National Park in Texas.

The trip started off with a bang! The camper wouldn’t start and Don discovered that the battery in our 7 year old vehicle had finally given up. $200 and several hours of work later we were ready to go! Our son had purchased a used Tesla and we were shuffling cars around, so we began our trip by spending a day with him and his wife in Crestline.

As we left on Wednesday, November 4, I asked Don if he had our route planned and he said, “Yes, we get on I-10 and drive until we get to the road that goes to Big Bend.” Well, that is pretty dull, I thought. So, it may be hard to write this blog all about I-10! However, it is an interesting freeway because it goes from Santa Monica CA (where we live) all the way to Jacksonville FL. It has many different names along the way starting with the Christopher Columbus Transcontinental Freeway in Santa Monica.

We spent our first night in Palm Desert, just past Palm Springs. I realized today that all of our time has been spent in driving through desert. Palm Desert is in the valley between two mountain ranges, right on the edge of the San Andreas Fault. The area is characterized by the many windmill farms rising among the cactus and sand. There are even a few solar panel installations going up.

On the second night we almost made it to Phoenix, but we stopped in Buckeye AZ just before we got there. Buckeye is interesting because it is a good example of what is happening all over the southwest. The land is being converted to housing developments and shopping malls. Everything was brand new. I guess there is an older part where the original town was built, but we only saw the new part.

I am having  problems finding Internet, so I will try my best to keep up with this blog.