Tripometer – 9152 mi
Gas Gauge – 704.777 gal
Location – Best Western, Kettleman City, CA
Lodging – $144
Cans of OFF – 4
After going to bed with bellies full of fantastic Indian food and leftovers for one meal in the fridge last night we decided that instead of fighting over who gets the leftovers, if we got the same Indian food for lunch today we could make a full meal for both of us later. (It was really good Indian.) We left camp to continue our drive shortly afterward.
Moving forward with our plan to drive through to L.A. in the next two days, we went around San Francisco and got on the I-5 south through the San Joaquin Valley. The I-5 is the biggest highway between San Francisco and Los Angeles and we are making good time; however, aside from growing a chunk of the country’s food here, this valley doesn’t have much to offer tourists except fresh produce. The temperatures went from a cool 60 something early this afternoon in the hills above San Francisco to well into the 90s in the heart of the valley. At least we’re starting to warm up finally.
To stretch our legs we pulled off the highway around sunset at what was supposed to be a scenic overlook, but in reality was merely a parking lot on top of a hill overlooking the highway. It did provide us with two artsy photos. Not sure what we’re going to do with the ‘urban desert dumpster’ photo.
After searching for a campsite for the night for over an hour and not finding anything that looked less than stabby-stabby, we decided we would break down and get a hotel room on the highway tonight – the first hotel room since we left Maryland. We put in another couple of hours of driving and pulled into a Best Western just off the highway and both enjoyed long hot showers and cable TV.
Ranger is not looking good. He has no sense of humor and refuses to jump up on anything. We’re concerned he may have hurt himself the last time we took him swimming. When we helped him up on the bed tonight he whimpered from Paul lifting his rear end. We’re both a bit concerned about him.
Tomorrow is the last push to LA. We’re so sick of driving…