Day 1 - Boulder Creek to Calico Ghost Town

Our goal was to hit the road at the crack of dawn.  Goals can often be laughable.

We hit the road by the crack of 10:30 which actually is pretty darn good.

Good-bye Santa Cruz County!

Leaving Santa Cruz's beauty is tough but we were all so excited to get on the road.  The longest day is always the one where we try to get out of California.  Heading south on I-5 is a long, hot slog with lots of big trucks on the road.  We weren't excited about it so we took by-ways instead.  It probably cost us some time but our sanity is worth it, don't you think?

Oil Fields along Hwy 33

We drove through some pretty countryside and some not so pretty countryside. Eventually, though, you have to drop into the Dread Central Valley.

The Central Valley . . . Dread it.

 When we finally got out to I-5, just north of Bakersfield, we were immediately reminded of why we had avoided it.  Tons of cars, tons of big rigs, and construction that took it down to 1 southbound lane.  Oh joy.

Desert Dusk with Joshua Tree

We finally escaped and headed out towards Tehachapi.  Climbing in the heat is always stressful in the FMC but it performed beautifully.  We had dinner at Del Taco in Tehachapi and got back on the road for the last leg to Calico (which is outside of Barstow).  We pulled in at around 10:30pm.

A good, if tiring, first day!