DAY 7

We left Yosemite today. The early morning weather was cold and we had to cancel our route east over the Tioga Pass road because of icy conditions; so, it was back down the 6-7% grade hill we had come up a few days ago. Fortunately there was road work in progress and we had to follow a lead car more than half way down the hill. That gave me an excuse for only going fifteen mph.

Once down on the flat, we followed Hwy 99 the rest of the way into Bakersfield, CA. At first there were small back roads going through the farmlands of CA, a good change from the sterile I-5 route. Later on we were on a good freeway, but still more rural than I-5. Our destination for the night was to be Twin Lakes RV, about twenty miles outside of Barstow. We arrived in Barstow, got a partial fill up of diesel with the intent of topping it off when we got to Twin Lakes.

Twin Lakes was interesting. Turns out that the twin lakes were two ponds two feet deep and of about one acre each, scrapped out of the desert floor. Other than the campground, there was nothing. This was in the middle of the desert. Not a desert like the Sonora desert of AZ, but the Mohave Desert, where the summer temperatures are 120 plus, and absolutely nothing grows.

We found our spot and set up camp for the night. As I was returning from the office where I settled up our camping fees, I noticed a rut scraped in the dirt road, as if someone had been dragging a heavy stick. I followed it right into one of the trailer spots. A 5th wheel trailer had just come in with a blown out tire. They were just at the front gate when the tire blew so they just continued to drive on the tire, which was now just the rim. I talked with them for a while to see if they need any help, but they said they had it under control, which was no control at all. It turns out that the previous day they had had a blowout. The garage where they had it repaired told them that all the tires were several years old and should be replaced. RV trailers deteriorate within five to seven years to the point where they may not be safe.

To be on the save side they replaced all four tires. On their trip today, they had blown out three of the new tires, and now this one was the fourth. They had no more spares and were waiting for a service truck to bring them some new tires. The garage that just sold them the four new tires must have sold them automobile tires. I guess that the old desert service station false repair tactics are still alive and well.