January, 2008 New Years Day

Had an early start today – on the road by 8:30! Stopped for breakfast a ways down the road at a rest stop. Pretty uneventful drive, it is cold, but lots warmer than in Washington and Oregon! By Sacramento there is a noticeable greenness emerging. Very little traffic on the road, even through Sacramento it was quite peaceful.

Such interesting countryside, we would love to take it slower and spend some time here. Apparently there is a beautiful camping area along the river with great bike paths, we haven’t located it yet! Perhaps on the way back.

This is definitely a huge farming area. Miles and miles of almond trees, oranges, grape vines. AND the most revolting feed lot spewing out the most putrid aroma! It certainly puts me off beef.

The closer to Los Angeles the more traffic on the highway, even 150 miles away there is a ribbon of headlights coming and one of red tail lights going miles ahead of us weaving through the valley and up the other side.

Oh Oh – big sign ahead – gusty winds, trailers and campers not recommended…. We are about 35 miles from the Grapevine. Lorne says the winds do get so high here that they will actually block off the road even for cars! Hopefully we will be able to get through, we plan on spending the night in Santa Clarita at Campers World as we have a bit of shopping to do. They have free camping on their lot (plus a dump station) a very nice courtesy for their customers.