Friday, 29 September

We're on our way. We said goodbye to Bill this morning and got underway a little after 10:00. It was so good to finally leave the smog of LA behind, but we weren't so lucky with the traffic. The first interstate we took (I-15) is the main route between LA and Las Vegas. It was full of cars and trucks. This was Friday after all, the start of the weekend for some people. We didn't think the trucks were going to Vegas to gamble, but we suspected many of the people in the cars were. That seemed borne out when we got to Barstow and switched to I-40. Many of the trucks were still with us, but far fewer cars.

Once you get over the mountains around the LA basin, you are in the desert. The scenery is mostly flat, with mountains in the distance. The vegetation varies from place to place, but there are usually low plants, possibly sage. From time to time we passed areas of broken-up black rock which we presumed were lava. The road is usually straight and level. Jean pointed out that it was very similar to South Dakota, but it was more interesting --- what with the mountains and the variety of plants. There were very few birds in sight.

We had an interesting example of the dynamics of fuel pricing. We pulled off the interstate in Barstow to find some diesel. Went through beautiful downtown Barstow on old Route 66. It was interesting but didn't yield any fuel. When we saw a sign directing us back to 15, we turned. At the top of the hill, just before the interstate was a Chevron station with diesel. Not knowing of any other, we pulled in and filled up --- at $4.89 a gallon. When we were finished, we drove across the bridge over 15 and there was a Valero station that had diesel for $4.29! Grrrr! But that is frequently the situation when you need to find fuel in a strange place.

Later in the day we went in to Kingman in search of a pharmacy. There was a Safeway that was selling diesel for $4.09 (with a Safeway card, which we have). Having burned off nearly half a tank by then, we filled up again. Then we found a pharmacy and got our errand done.

We ended the day in Kingman, 315 miles from where we started. Not a bad day's run (for us). Tomorrow we hope to go to Sedona, on Lavonne's recommendation. Hopefully, more photogenic.