CALIFORNIA
We left Hot Doggy Feet Rest Area and in a few short miles crossed the border into California. At that point the safe four-lane divided highway turned into a two-lane white knuckle desert asphalt track. Welcome to California. I missed two possible camp spots along the way as I had people on my butt at each turnoff with nowhere safe to slow down or pull over. We were forced on to Vidal Junction, the crossroads of highways 95 and 62. There behind the California Department of Agriculture fruit inspection station was a large flat trash littered expanse of the Mojave Desert. I pulled in driving on back away from the highway. It was nice there, all to ourselves in complete solitude. Less than a quarter mile off across the road was a tall cell tower. Great cell service. We were now within hour from Blythe, California. Just across the Colorado River from Blythe we would be in Arizona and the entrance to our winter home. Vidal was fairly nice so we stayed a few days partly due to some fierce winds scheduled to blow through the desert during that time. The day the windstorm hit there were to be wind gusts up to sixty miles per hour. I couldn’t imagine anyone continuing to drive in that but drive on they did. The distant mountains were ghostly silhouettes in the stirred up desert dirt. The next morning the highway out in front of us was lined with big rig trucks whose drivers had enough sense to pull over and wait it out. When conditions settled down we moved on out for Blythe. I drove across the highway to drop off our trash in one of the five dumpsters at the Chevron station. All five were locked. Curses. Gas was $5.39 for regular, same for diesel. Granted Vidal Junction is in the middle of the Mojave Desert but most of that high price is due to Californication. Good I filled up back in Searchlight, Nevada. I hauled our trash southward.
I had several places to go in Blythe before we settled down in the desert. First was a stop at ACE Hardware where I picked up a roll of Reflectex. Imagine bubble wrap with a shiny aluminum covering. I wanted to glue some to the inside of the cardboard panels I place in the cab door windows. These panels already had standard shiny window sunshade material glued in place to one side that faces out. I discovered that insulating the inside portion would help retain heat inside the RV during cold nights. This was my goal. Next up was a stop at Dollar Tree for they carry the Grossner brand of milk that comes in in one quart cartons and has a shelf life of a year unrefrigerated. Nice to have if I ever run out of milk (or it turns sour) and cannot get to a store for a half gallon. I picked up a couple of other items and walked up to the counter to check out. The cashier asked if I wanted a bag. Drat! I was in California. I forgot. California charges you for plastic bags unless you bring your own. “No, I made it this far carrying this I can make it out through the parking lot.”
Out in front of the store was a Glacier purified water machine. This was the first one I had seen since way back in the Dakotas it seemed. I had been relying on Walmart water machines all this time for drinking water. I filled two one gallon bottles and discovered the machine had cheated me on my change for the dollar I put in. Then the second bottle didn’t fill all the way. Well I wasn’t going to stand for that! I looked around noticing two machines across the street by a car wash. I put the two partially filled bottles in the RV then walked over with my two remaining empties. That machine cheated me also but by only a dime. I found a nickel in the other machine so that cut my loss in half.
Next up was to grocery shop. My stomach was talking to me. I better eat first. I drove over to Burger King hankering for a Whopper and a vanilla shake. “Oh sorry, we don’t have any product for the shake machine.” Good grief! This has been an ongoing problem when ordering shakes ever since this pandemic set in. It made no sense to me. Disappointed I ate my Whopper with a Dr. Pepper back in the RV. I deposited the Vidal trash behind Taco Bell next door.
The Blythe Albertson’s store left me wanting more selection in the salad department. I picked up several other items to hold me over for awhile. This time I remembered to bring my own plastic bags in with me.