CA to NY-2

Day 20 7/27/17

Having dropped off Silvia and Aaron at the airport for their trip to Europe Wednesday evening, Chuck and I had dinner at The Loma Brewing Company in Los Gatos.

Chuck's appetizer, Deviled Eggs. Spicy egg
filling topped with giadiniera

My Loma Pale Ale is made with malt from both
Germany and the United States and the
German hops were bred from American varietals...

...went perfectly with my burger with white cheddar,
caramelized onions, lettuce, pickles and burger
sauce on a brioche bun. It was one of the best burgers
I've had in a very long time.

The next day, Chuck and I were off to Ventura Ranch KOA, a 5 hour drive we decided to split. Chuck wound up doing the majority of the drive.

Winnie parked on Elwood Road.

'Twas great to have a real co-pilot;

believe it or not, MB, we talked about

a whole bunch of things.

On our 5 hour trip to from San
Jose to Ventura Ranch KOA in
Santa  Paula, CA, Chuck did most of the driving.

I took a ton of photos but chose thee to illustrate
the stark contrast in the landscape as
we drove south on I-5.

A lunch break at John "Chuck" Erreca
Rest Area on I-5; 100°

Beside the word HOT the word for today was FARMS. Almost the entire length of the trip, farms and their produce laid before us to the not so distant horizon. Artichokes, avacados (10 for a $1.00) grapes, tangerines, oranges, almonds, cashews and melons. On the north bound side, I stopped counting the number of tandem produce carriers. Most were carrying tomatoes but there were truckloads of onion and garlic (Gilroy is the garlic capital of the world)

Beautiful sights, steep hills with surprises at every summit.

San Luis Reservoir and Recreation area...

...an artificial lake covering 20 square miles provides
a magnificent view that only a passenger can appreciate.

Pyramid Lake is another reservoir further south formed
by Pyramid Dam on Piru Creek in the eastern San Emigdio
Mountains, near Castaic, Southern California.
It is a part of the West Branch California Aqueduct,
which is a part of the California State Water Project.

Pyramid Lake and Dam, completed in 1973, 
were named after a pyramid-shaped rock carved
 out by engineers building the Old Highway 99. 
Travelers between Los Angeles and Bakersfield christened
the landmark “Pyramid Rock,” which still 
stands just adjacent to the dam.

Site A29 at Ventura Ranch KOA is in a
cul de sac. I missed photographing
the wild peacocks roaming throughout.
At night we saw one fly up on top of an RV.

The wild peacocks roaming the area here did not have the long plumage seen in this video clip. They, did, however, have their characteristic call that Chuck didn't appreciate. He thought they'd keep him up all night.  

A view from above.

Day 21 7/28/17

The temperature was 68° when we left Santa Paula, CA and 115° when we arrived in DESERT Hot Springs in southern California. The entire trip south on I-5 was H-O-T. The traffic was not as bad as northbound but it was the busiest drive I've encountered so far. Again, I lucked out with my co-pilot, Chuck, helping with the best routes. With only a three hour trip behind us, we took advantage of time and stopped at the Palm Springs Air Museum. Their website is here.  I took close to 50 shots but, you dear reader, will only see a few photos here. 

With the heat what it was, I tried to convince Chuck that yonder mountain
was beginning to erupt. He didn't buy it.

Wind farms once again dominated the
landscape...more so than in the previous
states I passed through.

The Palm Springs Air Museum

Winnie waited outside - 115°

Russian MIG Korean era

Navy fighter

The most impressive aspect of this visit was the ability to immerse yourself into the era be it WWII, Korea, or Vietnam. It had to be a frightening and amazing period of history for the youth of that era to experience; a time that most Americans today know very little about unless they were "into" the history of the era; our youth in particular, I feel, are clueless. When you see actual war footage of assaults on the enemy, aerial dogfights accompanied by interviews with the actual pilots via the Discovery and History channels, you are simply in awe of the military sacrifices and the war effort back here in the US; the true American spirit that produced the massive war machine we were able to send into combat thousands of miles away. The peace treaty signing on the USS Missouri accompanied by the actual footage and speech given by MacArthur was especially poignant. There was once again the significant reminder looking at the young faces of those fighting, be they pilots flying in combat or serving on the ground or at sea; of how young they really were, ranging in age from 18 to 25. You just sit back in amazement and shake your head when comparing our youth today. I, for one, shake my head depressed. 

The stark reality of war: The MIA's; These from the Vietnam war.

C-119 Flying Boxcar and a look inside....

Chuck took a tour of the massive B-17G Flying Fortress, Miss Angela 

B-17 Super Fortress

One part of the huge engine....

The four engines were named Sneezy and Grumpy
on the starboard side and Doc and Sleepy
on the port side.

Chuck inspecting one of the circular gun
turrets on the underside of the fortress.

The space gunner was cramped into
for up to eight hours is not to be believed.

 

To further study what the museum has to offer, check their website HERE.

Site 94. Thank goodness our site was on the west side of the road;
once the sun set behind us the temps went all the way down to 85°.
It was just plain H-O-T.

And this is in the coach

That's spelled H-O-T. I'm finding a disappointing trend
in that a lot of KOA's do not have decals or stickers
of their campground. So, a pack rat like me cannot
show of all the places (KOA's) I've visited.  :-(

Until tomorrow, stay cool, stay happy and we'll see you in Arizona.