California living

After a deadly dull day of driving with 5000 trucks as company on State 99 from Sacramento to Bakersfield we gladly took a secondary road and emerged into the beautiful countryside of the Mojave Desert. Rolling green velvet hills turned beige as desert encroached. Windmills lined the contours of the hills we were climbing. The altitude of the mojave is a flat 4000 feet! Many of the trees and shrubs are still grey but the mounds of sage are tinged with green. When the sun started to set, the whole landscape turned shades of pinks and purple.

We entered the town of Ridgecrest and discovered that it is located next door to an Air Naval Weapons Station so the town is hopping with young, short-haired, fast-driving American men. Not quite what we imagined at the entrance to Death Valley National Park but part of this cultural experience! We'll stop in at the Visitors Centre in the morning to figure out how best to approach and experience ominous-sounding places like the Devil's Kitchen, Ash Meadow and Bad Water.