The Big Road Trip – Day 16

Day 16 is a Thursday – June 11th, to be exact. I had everything packed. I hung out for a little while with BJ and Cynthia. I had the chance to say goodbye to Forry, Cortney, Jared, Zack and Kaylee the evening before. So, I loaded the bags in the car and headed over to Costco to fill up the fuel tank. Then I found a convenience store and filled the Ziploc ice bags with ice and packed the cooler. Then it was down the road to CA 99 south on my way to Kingman, AZ. Starting time – 11:15 AM

The drive was uneventful. I went straight south to Bakersfield where I picked up CA 58 west to Barstow where I picked up I-40. Along the way, I passed through a massive wind energy farm. There had to be hundreds of windmills on the hills all around me. It was very exciting, again, to see that the wind was being harnessed. I realize it only supplements the main power grid, but EVERYTHING helps.

After I got onto I-40, my stomach was telling me it was time to fill it (again). So, I saw a sign for a Subway a few miles ahead. But, then I saw a sign for Peggy Sue’s Diner in Daggett and the exit was coming right up. I love going to small, local places to learn about the place and the people. So, I grabbed that exit and drove into Daggett – or, well, what was left of Daggett. It was still a town of sorts, but it was probably pretty close to being a ghost town the way it looked. Peggy Sue’s Diner was nowhere to be found. Since the main road through the town paralleled I-40, I decided to follow it for a while and get back on I-40 at the next opportunity.

Well, as luck would have it, while I didn’t fill my stomach, I did fulfill something else I had hoped to see on this trip. There, laid out to my left, was a huge solar electric facility. It had acres and acres of solar collectors and a processing facility. Now, that was worth the detour. I’d seen lots of wind farms, but not a solar farm. Now, I had. It was very impressive. And then, interestingly, a little further down that same road, I saw what appeared to be an old airport of some kind. When I reached it, it was all fenced in, like a typical government facility. It did have at least one runway and several old hangers. I would date everything back to at least World War II if not before. But, I didn’t see any activity at all and there were no conventional fixed wing aircraft. However, there were a significant number of either black or possibly olive drab helicopters. They appeared, at a distance to be something like Bell Rangers or Army Hueys. I saw no signs or identification of the facility at all. I had to wonder what that facility was for.

Well, I reached Newberry Springs and there was the Subway. I pulled off and found a parking space under a nice, shady tree. It was still pretty reasonable in the temperature department. But, the wind was unreal. It must have been blowing at about 40 to 50 miles per hour. I almost lost the car door when the wind caught it as I got out. I had to fight the wind to open the door to get into the place. I ordered my sandwich, half to eat then and the other half to put in my cooler for dinner, later in the evening.

A couple deputy sheriffs pulled in while I was there. These were serious looking, big guys. They sort of reminded me of Buford Pusser, the legendary sheriff who inspired the movie, “Walking Tall.” I wouldn’t want to be on their wrong side. One of them had parked his pick-up truck right next to my car, under the shade tree. When I went out to get in my car, he walked up and we passed pleasantries. He noticed my Virginia tags on my car and mentioned he had a brother who was living in Alexandria, VA. Then he mentioned he was in the Air Force stationed in the DC area. Well, that opened a great conversation about his father’s Air Force career as a C5A pilot and being brought up at Air Force bases around the world and the U.S. He was a really terrific guy and I really appreciated the conversation. His partner walked over and said he was heading down the Interstate to the rest area, but for the fellow I was talking to not to rush, take his time. He was a pretty nice guy, too. But, I still wouldn’t want to be on the wrong side of them. The deputy I was conversing with told me they were involved in an “interagency” operation. There had been a massive amount of drugs going through the I-40 corridor in 18 wheelers. And the operation was to curtail and capture as much of these drugs as they could. I didn’t ask how they did this. I had my own ideas, but they probably are not politically correct – however, they are probably pretty effective.

After the conversation, I almost lost my car door again in the wind, getting back into the car. I then headed east on I-40. I didn’t realize that I was gaining altitude again and before I realized it, I was pretty high. The AC was keeping the car pretty cool, so I didn’t notice the outside temperature rising either. At some point I looked down at the outside temperature reading on my climate control system to make a comment about how cool it was due to the front that came in overnight.on the video I have been shooting to document the adventure. That’s when I realized the further east I was going, the hotter it was getting. It was 104 degrees and it peaked at 106 degrees. Whew!

I needed to start thinking about gas as I approached Needles, California, the last town in California before crossing the Colorado River into Arizona. The gas was sky high when I reached Needles. So, I waited until I crossed the river. Once on the Arizona side, I found a gas station in Yucca, Arizona for $2.69.9 per gallon. I filled up there. I had passed the exit for Lake Havasu City, Arizona. It was only 21 miles from where I crossed the Colorado River, but I was getting tired and looking forward to reaching Kingman and finding a place for the night.

I reached Kingman, Arizona about an hour earlier then I had estimated, got onto the “Old Historic” Rt 66, shopped a few motels/hotels and settled on a Best Value America property where I got a great rate for the night. I checked in, dragged in what I needed and settled in for a nice relaxing evening. The end of Day 16 of The Big Road Trip. The next post will be Day 17, a day of great adventures and one challenging event.

Enthusiastically,
Ed