We drove down off the mountain at Badger, CA into Visalia, CA. It was our last trek down the California mountains. I'm not going to miss that. It wasn't too bad in the KIA, but the Winnebago was a different story. I actually felt I needed to turn off the radio so my full attention was on the road. Slow down, right turn, speed up, right turn, U-turn, left turn, too fast, brake hard,... We wondered who lives up on those roads? A trip to the grocery store is a real driving test.
Anyway, we got the car turned in and headed toward Las Vegas. It's pretty much desert except for the acres that get irrigation.
There's lots of wind generators but few were working. Seems that would be the power source that takes priority. Apparently not because with the 90° heat here, I can't imagine there isn't a high power demand.
Lots of smog too. This isn't from fires.
The news cycle always seems to tout California as a leader on ecological issues. I don't think that was our experience. The population here is every bit as "dirty" as the rest of the nation and probably even more so. We expected a world of hybrid cars and clean initiatives. What we saw were SUV's, expensive imports, restrictions on bags and straws and trash litter everywhere. Walmart charges 10 cents for a shopping bag. That has to be a money maker for them. We usually just left the store with the cart full of loose groceries because we could never remember to haul in our bags.
We got within a couple hours of Las Vegas the middle of the afternoon and had planned a stop near Barstow, CA at an RV park. Turns out they were full so we went a couple miles down the road to a KOA.
This place even has shade! It's in the mid 90°s so that tree is a treasure.
The rest of the landscape is barren beyond our little line of foliage.
So we'll be comfortable here overnight and continue on to Las Vegas tomorrow for a three night stay in Sin City.
No comments:
Post a Comment