Our next park is Sequoia in California, and to get there, we had to drive through the Mojave Desert. Lest you think that the Mojave is all dust devils, cacti, dirt roads, and a whole lotta nothing . . . we encountered another marvel of human imagination and ingenuity.
This is the Ivanpah Solar Powerplant. At the wheel from many, many miles out, I spotted a really weird but incredibly bright light. “What’s that?” I asked Adam. “I don’t know. Let’s find out.”
Indeed, some twenty minutes later, we finally pulled alongside Ivanpah. The video below was captured and narrated by Adam.
We were on the road about seven hours. That was one of our longest hauls so far. The highlight of the kids’ day was our lunch stop at In-N-Out. It may be sacrilege to say, but, I’ve had better. Please use the comments below and bring it if you’re so offended.
This was another one of our logistics gymnastics days. Not only did we have to cross the Mojave, but also get to the Avis rental facility, pick up Kona our rental car, and then drive the RV and the follow-along car to our RV park site, all preferably before dark. Ugh. Adulting is hard.
Our RV park was–I believe real estate agents use the word–cozy. This was probably our most challenging back in. So, we’re glad this one was this far along in the trip. The park has a lovely swimming hole in the Kaweah River where the water temperature was perfect for cooling off after such a drive.
We took Kona and went for supper at Cafe Mendoza for some completely Americanized and thoroughly mediocre Mexican food. Lesson learned: always ask the locals for their recommendations.
Back at the RV site, night came on, and we headed for bed. Tomorrow we’d tackle Sequoia.
16,186 thoughts on “Day 12: Monday, August 9, 2021”