Thursday

Dan: On Thursday, December 10, I woke up to discover that I’d lost a credit card and found a migraine headache. Capitol One was great about cancelling the card and arranging to send a new one. The migraine, on the other hand, was much less accommodating. Fortunately, Alan felt great and, since we were both up early, he was designated driver as we hit the road at 6:30 and I tried to sleep off the headache. Alan drove all morning and repeatedly assured me that he was loving the drive. While I napped, he’d stop at scenic spots, get out and take videos, then hop back in and start driving again. By noon I felt good enough to drive. Our major concern was the weather. El Nino is hitting California pretty hard right now, and we weren't sure how we were going to get across the Sierra mountains (the Rockies were a breeze in comparison.) As we continued to drive south on Rt. 395 from Bishop CA, we kept learning from locals and rangers that all of the routes that we wanted to take across the mountains were either closed or required chains on the tires. All we could do was keep driving south. Of course, we still were loving the views of mountains and valleys, the rock formations and volcanic rock fields along the way. By the end of the day, however, we were changing drivers every ½ hour and feeling exhausted. We finally stopped at the La Quinta Inn in Tehachapi (elevation 4,064 feet), about an hour short of Bakersfield - looking forward to a good night’s sleep. It was another great day.