Day 39-Friday, 6 Feb 09-Bakersfield, Calif to Las Vegas, Nevada

Photos: Hwy 58 landscapes, all from the car window.

We’ve had another amazing day…I keep asking myself if there’s a limit on these kinds of days that any one, or two, people are entitled to! I like to think we get what we deserve.
We left Bakersfield early (for us) and as we drove out we passed miles and miles of orange groves. At one point there was a sign for ‘free samples’, which was tempting but we cruised on by. Once again, we were totally awed by the landscape along Hwy 58 and I say this with all sincerity…I would take another holiday, just to travel this highway. It’s a delight and I’m sure if you rented a car in Vegas, drove the highway to the coast, and then drove back to Vegas along the same route, the sights would be different each way and it would be a holiday to remember.
The beautiful rolling hills, with huge views of distant vistas, continued and at one point we both commented that it was like seeing the Grand Canyon…but with green grass on it. It was that awesome! Along one stretch, I imagined the sights would be much like the one you would see in Ireland…I hope to find out before too much longer! We traveled in a steady incline for quite a long time and as we started to see the clounds hanging on the mountain tops, we checked the GPS and saw that we were over 4000 ft above sea level. As we started the slow decline, the landscape changed almost without realizing it, which is one of the many things I love about the mountain/desert terrain. It’s almost like there’s an invisible line….the green grass disappears and a scrub grass replaces it. At the 2500 ft elevation, there were Joshua Trees—bigger and much fuller than what we’ve seen in Arizona. Where any of the top layer of soil had been scraped away, you could see that it was all sand.
By 10:30 am we were ready to stop for coffee and took the off-ramp to Boron. It turned out to be the most amazing and informative stop we’ve made! We turned left at the only stop sign in town and Boron looked like it had died a long time ago. When we made a U-turn, I noticed a front yard FILLED with ‘stuff’ like hundreds of planters (of all ages and descriptions) filled with artificial flowers, buckets, plants…you could barely see the front door. PHOTO OP! While we were parked a man came out of the small hardware store and asked if we were looking for gas. No, says we, we’re looking for coffee. He pointed us down the street and said we had to go to K&L Diner, which we did, and ended up having a spectacular breakfast made by his cousin. The front of the menu gave a short history of Boron and it was amazing! First…the important information…the diner was originally built in 1953 as a Frostee Freeze by Lulu Kline. Boron is also the borate capital of the world and the BORAX…yes, BORAX (our mothers and g-mothers used it to make their clothes cleaner) Company. Remember the box with the 20-mule team on the front? While Wayne made a reservation in Las Vegas, I went across the street to the little museum. It was incredible! Here’s a brief history lesson on borax:
Borax was discovered in California in 1881. This mineral, used for thousands of years in ceramics and in the working of gold, previously had come from Tibet and Italy. Its discovery in California’s Death Valley resulted in a rapid increase in the use of borax as a household cleaner in the US. To meet public demand, a practical and economical method had to be devised for freighting borax ore from the mines in Death Valley’s vast dry lake beds to the railroad 165 miles away….hence the 20-mule teams that moved 25 tons through the desert in temperatures ranging from 135-150 degrees! They did 16-18 miles a day pulling 2 huge wagons of the mineral as well as a 1200 gal water tank on wheels. They also had to carry hay, grain and other provision for the 10-day trip!
The girl in the museum gave me a flyer with a list of things Borax in used in: adhesives, bone china, brake fluid, charcoal briquettes, dyes, eyewash, mouthwash, plywood, starch, skin cream…the list is endless. Edwards AFB is also right there and we were tempted to drive to the dry lake bed where the space shuttle lands but the big signs warning against trespassing put us off!
As we got closer to the Mojave Desert, there were some small desert storms and although it seemed to be surrounded by mountains, there was a huge area of sand and went as far as they eye could see. There were lots of clouds and when they were over the mountains the combination of shade and sun made the whole landscape magical. There was a preservation area that I would have liked to visit but we wanted to get to Vegas before dark, and rain, fell.
We pulled in the KOA, situated right on the strip and were surprised to see lots of empty spaces. I had thought that because it was Friday, it might be busy which is why we’d called ahead to make a reservation. Last year, we paid $40 a night, which isn’t that much considering we’ve paid that in much less desirable places. When Wayne came out of the office, he was smiling and it turned out they’d put a special on for February because people are just not traveling……$19 a night for full hook-up! When we turned on the television the local news reported that many of the hotels are hurting and offering big specials to the locals…trying to get them to ‘holiday’ in their own back yard. I’ll be interested to see…and I intend on asking…if the same deals hold for tourists. I’ve figured that if we can find a cheap buffet it makes more sense for us to spend the month of Feb in Las Vegas…no groceries or gas and only $19 a night! Ha ha.
We’ve had supper and decided we’ll hunker down for the evening and build up our energy for tomorrow. I haven’t looked to see who is performing at the hotels yet, although I know Cher is here….she is supposed to put on a pretty spectacular show.
Until next time, love and hugs to all. xx