Back Home Again 10/1/19 & Trip Summary

10/1/19, Tuesday. It was a cool morning in Williams, and became a warm day as we continued our journey westward.

Arizona Landscape

Barstow was our stop today, for lunch and for a visit to the Mojave River Valley Museum. This little treasure is in need of updating, but has interesting historic items, fossils, and baskets. There's also quite a few fine books about area history, geology, the desert, and more.

Mojave River Valley Museum

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

Baskets in the MRVM

Road construction on Hwy 18 added a half an hour to our drive, but we had a lovely view of Joshua trees, so we put on some U2.

Driving through Pearblossom, we were delighted to find that what was once the Valley Hungarian Sausage Company has reopened as Tibor's Gourmet European Deli. It opened last Thursday. Although it doesn't have the full variety of products as the last restaurant, they expect to have all of them by Christmas. We bought sandwiches to go for dinner, then back to the six lane highways as we entered the Los Angeles area and made it home safely.

Trip Summary:

North Dakota - Randy's & Bryn's 50th State! Sportsmobile's 48th State!
- oh! watch for an update; we'll have to check the odometer to see how many miles this trip actually was.
- the only van issue was needing a new battery.
- we had exceptionally good weather; one small shower in South Dakota; one heavy but short cloudburst in Texas
- the only gas station with flex fuel was our local Chevon. In 2009, we were able to get it around the country.
- Bryn learned how to use GPS via cell phone last year; on this trip, she learned how to connect to the aux port and play downloaded albums. We forgot to play Take It Easy when we went through Winslow, AZ.
- there's more trash alongside the roads in California than in any other place, but it's easier to recycle things in California than in any other place
- best gas price was $2.19 in Bartlesville, OK; on the day we got home, the local Arco (cheapest gas station around) was $4.35.
- we listened to the book Swiss Family Robinson; it was very detailed, and very long, and provides all sorts of innovative survival skills,quite useful should one find oneself shipwrecked. An interesting things was the diversity of animals the characters found on their equatorial island, from elephants and kangaroos to hippos and porcupines. Randy mentioned that at the time the book was written (1812), the idea that species were regional, not global, was not really understood.
- the order of states visited on this loop trip: CA, NV, AZ, UT, AZ, CO, WY, SD, ND, SD, NE, KS, OK, TX, NM, AZ, CA.
- friends and family visited: Pat, Nikki, Vanya, Shawn, Jenna, Justin, Lainie, Don, Rebecca, Joe Don, PSB, Stan, Sally, Catherine, Maureen, Kimberly, Adam, Mariella, Robin. Thanks to each of you for putting up with a whirlwind visit.
- as mentioned in earlier posts, many times, it's easy to find many interesting things to see and do in just about any place. Having to pick only one thing to do each day is tough, so we continue to make lists of things to see and do next time we pass that way again.
- and the next Sportmobile trip will be...? Wait and see!