Tan acres is the life for me
It took six stinking days to fix the wiring on the van and get us ready to start our 2018 travels again. But, we did get moving on Saturday with due South as the heading. This time we went with the easier (on the van) route of Interstate-5 straight down the state of California. We really needed a confidence boost in that Big Blue would make a few hundred miles before trying to climb over a mountain range again. The wide open, and boring, Interstate-5 did the trick, and after 250 miles we started to breathe something close to normal.
By the end of day-1 we had driven 9+ hours and were roughly 400 miles, over the Tehachapi Pass, and into the proper desert of southern California. Here we pulled into a rest area just outside of Boran and settled into our first sleep on the road. I’m happy to report that all went well while unconscious as the van successfully resisted spontaneous combustion during that time. It didn’t take long, only the following morning – for a fellow traveler to approach and ask me about the van. I must admit, I’d take a second look at it if I saw it on the road too. I am very happy with how it turned out in the end.
The next day was a simple 90 minute drive to our destination – on a dry lake bed in the desert – an hour South of Death Valley National Park. Here we met up with some friends for the New Year and settled in for the work week. Being in the van, we could have hopped around each day/night, but it was nice to have friends nearby and to get some organizing done in the van. We were able to really give our new Lithium battery and the 300 watts of solar a real-world run, and so far all is looking great. The new water tank we installed has made personal hygiene and minor dishes much easier. The foot pump is going to build up some major ankle-muscles though.
From here we will pop into Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Parks before settling in for our final work week in the USA before crossing into Baja.
