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10/24/12, Kramer Junction, CA (Coord. N. 34 deg, 59.877 min; W. 117 deg, 32.534 min)

After a long pull off 25 miles, I’m camped in Kramer Junction tonight, where tomorrow, I’ll leave US 395 and continue east on State Route 58 to Barstow, CA. The best description of today’s travels is - it was through a desolate desert.

Knowing I had a long pull, I broke camp by 8 am and hit the road.  Doc and Bob walked really well together and didn’t waste anytime making some miles. The shoulder was about 4 feet wide so while traffic usually slowed to go around me, it wasn’t a problem.

For the most part, the desert was sandy and didn’t support much animal life and mostly brush for plant life. I saw a few birds and a couple ants today, but that was about it.  However, last night, I did see a stink bug that was 2 inches long (I think he has been drinking some of the toxic waste from the mines around Red Mountain).

The lads taking a short catnap at lunch.

There were few places to pull over, so traffic generally passed me by. I only stopped to chat with two car loads of people.

As my dad mentioned in the Guestbook, this is the portion of my trip where I can afford the time to slow down and take it easy.  Unfortunately, I have to travel longer distances between sources of water, so those stops will have to be as a guest of hosts along the way. I had enough water to stop short of Kramer Junction today, but that would leave me without a day’s reserve of water - something I avoid if I can.

Late in the afternoon. I passed ‘Solar One’ the world’s first large solar power plant. It’s owned by the same company that I used to be employed at in New Hampshire, FPLE.  There was a dust storm blowing at the time, so I didn’t get an opportunity to take any pictures.

After picking up some water in town, I’m now camped just outside of the Junction on the desert.  The wind is blowing pretty hard, so I have the horses tied tonight, on the lee side of the trailer. Not only do I not have to worry about the fence blowing down, the wind-block formed by the wagon and trailer keep their hay from blowing away.

Tomorrow, I start eastward on the 33 mile trek to the City of Barstow. The horses are currently all tanked up on water, so I don’t have to stop for more before heading out. I’ll probably drive about 20 miles and settle near the town of Hinkley in the evening.