Travel Day Doozies

Today we drove from Needles, California, to Bakersfield, California. Here’s some of our experiences along the way.

At the first rest area we stopped at we found ourselves parked next to this guy. Do you suppose he’s the relief driver? Or the owner?

To protect his innocence I should say the dirt is on our windows not on his truck. We are badly in need of a truck wash.

Two wrongs don’t make a right

Because our RV towing our car is 55 feet long we cannot park just anywhere and we cannot back up at all. So, as we plan our trips I look for lunch stops with easy in and out and places we are likely to fit while parked. Today’s halfway point was Barstow, California, so I looked for a lunch stop there. Google maps showed an In N Out Burger with multiple driveways and extended parking spots for oversize vehicles. We both like their burgers so into their place we pulled at what should have been the end of their lunch rush. Except I’m not sure In N Out ever has a non-rush time.

Still there were a half-dozen spaces clearly posted as Bus/RV parking. There was a pick-up truck towing a U-haul trailer in one of them which was fine since he also needed the extra-long spot. The rest all had passenger vehicles in them. There was a bus parked in the driveway and another backing in in front of one of the cars. An employee suggested we should park next to the bus in the driveway which would have blocked all traffic there. There was one spot next to a curb where we thought we would fit facing a vehicle we hoped would leave before we did.

Just as we decided to try that, a car pulled around us and pulled into that spot. I lost it. I quickly got out of our RV and stormed over to confront the young woman who had taken our only potential spot. Her response was that someone else had already done that. I managed not to channel my mother saying, “Two wrongs don’t make a right.” What I did say was, “Yes, but we would fit there with that car if you didn’t park there.” She replied that she was willing to move in a tone that said I should not have used my own tone of voice. I apologized for my tone saying that when I’m hungry I might as well be a two-year old throwing a tantrum.

She moved her car; we pulled in right up to the nose of the SUV we were facing. When the owner of the SUV returned we promptly started our engine and waited for her to move then followed, still right on her nose, up to the end of that spot so we would be able to pull out when leaving for fear that, if we didn’t move up, someone else would try to park there. Why on earth would all those people think it was OK to park in the spaces reserved for busses and RVs?

California logic

Part of Highway 58 between Barstow and Bakersfield is four lane divided with limited access and part is two lane with opposing traffic and stop lights at cross streets. Because we tow a car we have extra speed limitations in some states with California being one of them. Thus on the 4-lane divided sections our speed was limited to 55 mph. On a two lane section with increased possibilities of a head on collision our limit was 60 mph. Would someone like to explain to me the logic behind this?

Interesting tandems

A pickup truck with a camper in it’s bed towing a tear drop camping trailer. A Sprinter van similar to the one we started our full-timing in towing a baby airstream travel trailer. Do you suppose the trailers are guest houses?

TTYL,

Linda