Definitely a perfect application for the front window views.
This was a good discovery. The town of Tehachapi is strategically located at the top of the Tehachapi Pass on Highway 58 from Bakersfield to Barstow. Finding a nice place to stop at this location means not having to slog all the way to Barstow, which is generally a good thing.
Detour off Highway 1, through citrus orchards.
The trip was uneventful, save a huge backup getting into and out of the gas station area of Kettleman City. This one I should have known better. This is a major refueling stop along Highway 5 with one way in or out. Even though we got stuck waiting for a pump for maybe 15 min, we noticed a line of cars at least a mile long backed up trying to get into town. People go crazy when in those situations so they were cutting in front of us, not letting us turn, all of it. Eventually I gave up on making a left turn out of the gas station and just went the other way down 25th Ave, a little frontage road. That was a life saver. After about 5 miles skirting I5, we were able to get back on. I assume the people waiting for gas are still there.
One of the better set ups for BFW views.
We arrived in pretty good time, enough for Richard to get in an afternoon bike ride along part of the Tehachapi Century Loop. While he was out, I got to blog about the day before, swinging in my new psychedelic blue Nemo chair. The wind kicked up before dinner and it got chilly, which sent me back inside to turn on the Truma. We enjoyed the view out the big front window to watch fish jump and birds swarm low over the water, each competing for post sunset bugs. We are BFW complainers, and often the default view is not the greatest, as it looks back into the campground and at the back of the car. One can always optimize the view by using the Caravan Mover, but that then usually has the effect of diminishing the view out the side windows. Or it might put your door on the wrong side of the site, which matters in a tight spot. There are few situations we’ve encountered where both views are equally worthy of that morning coffee “aaahhh,” but this was one of them. We also prefer having the hitch facing forward so that we could grab it if somehow all systems failed and we were not able to use the CM to spin her. Again, this setup was a winner on that end. Note that this did not stop me from complaining about how sitting down at the table loses the view. It’s ok to visibly roll your eyes at this point. I understand.
Sunset over the tiny little lake.
We will be coming back this way when we head home, and I suspect this will be a future favorite stop along the way as we make tracks for somewhere else. It was quite pleasant, especially right by the water. There are hookups sites further back, but Richard made a good call and switched out. He was in charge of reservations for this one, since they only seem to accept phone calls. If I’d wanted to, I could have put my boat in the water. Maybe another time.
Next destination: the south California desert.
Total Miles: 225, 14.8 mpg, 5 hours 13 min. Site 40 no hookups, by water. Good solar, LTE for both. Didn’t use dump.
