We have breakfast and hit the road. Let me tell you this area of CA is really dull. Hazy mountains and rock and more desert.Though I thought the windmills on the top of the mountains were cool to see. I didn’t sleep well last night so I try to lay down on the bed and nap. PTCC wants me to play so we work a deal-I will play Webkinz for 15 minutes if I can nap after that. Unfortunately for me she lies. She wants me to play ALL day with her. I can barely hold my eyes open. Good for us I’m not the one driving. CC must be having a hard time holding the rig on the road because I can feel the gusts of wind pushing us sideways. I can also hear the hangers in the closet smacking against the wall. I first thought it was the awning unrolling as is apt to happen in high winds. So I get up to look out the passenger window and discover CC forgot to pull in the stairs when he shut the door. So I go to put them away, at least they are electric. On our 5th wheel we would have to stop and do that. On his parents’ RV the stairs worked their way out from bumping so much and they hit a jersey curb and had to get them repaired. We don’t need any extra repair bills on this trip as we’re already spending too much to do this road trip.
It seems like it takes forever to just get to Barstow where we stop to top off gas at a Love’s station. We’ve decided we like this brand best. They seem to have the most room to pull up to the pumps for a 50 ft vehicle. Sometimes they even have specific RV pumps out of the way. We get back on the road and change to CA58. This road is actually kind of nice because it has truck only lanes for anyone pulling a trailer. Probably because of the steep grades. Just as you finish one another would start. Though the wind has died down now. We’ve gone by 29 Palms as well as Edwards Air Force base. We get to Bakersfield and I don’t think if ever seen such an industrial city. I don’t remember seeing neighborhoods or stores off the road. Leaving Bakersfield we see field after field for miles. We guess some are citrus, avocados, and we see lots of grapevines. I didn’t know they grow grapes this far south. I thought they were always north near San Francisco.
We finally near Visalia after 6 hours and we’ve decided to stay at another KOA because all the reviews of places near here were so-so and it was the best. We pull up to the KOA and I’m jealous because there are the most beautiful rose bushes I’ve ever seen planted here. I think flowers must just grow better here. We check in and park our rig and then take a short walk while PTCC talks with her Spanish teacher and takes a test online. Then we jump in the car and head to Walmart for a few things since we don’t know what the grocery situation in Yosemite will be in a few days. The Walmart is about 15 miles away in Dinuba. We drive through more fields of vegetables as far as you can see. There are no houses or other businesses until right before you get there and you smell and see the dairy farms. (Happy Cows come from CA?). We get what we need and head back. We cook out tonight, the first time on this trip. Usually our 1st night camping is a cookout because PTCC always wants a grilled hot dog. After dinner we hit the pool which is slightly warmer than last night’s. PTCC and CC play in the water until some other adults show up and then they leave. It’s funny whenever we have Wi-Fi we are on the computers downloading pictures and looking up stuff that is coming up in our trip. When we don’t have it we watch movies or TV and play games. It’s hard for a computer connected family to go cold turkey it seems. We are glad we have cable here because tonight is the Amazing Race and our family watches this religiously. Tomorrow we are going to see Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks so it will be a long one as they are over an hour away from here.