Day 15-16

We took two days to drive from Las Vegas to Playa del Rey. We could have made the drive in one day, but we are trying to go easy on Hobbs (as well as ourselves) by limiting our driving time to four hours or less.

After crossing the Nevada border into California we came across the Ivanpah Solar Power Facility. This is a solar energy power plant that doesn't use photovoltaic panels to obtain electricity. Instead, they have about 350,000 mirrors focusing the sun's light all onto these three towers, which raises the temperature in the tower to 550 degrees centigrade. This creates steam and runs turbines.

You can read more about this here:

And this shot captures the image of "The Wrecker" and "The Snow Trac"

Our stopover was in Palmdale, where we stayed at a Harvest Host Golf Course.

The next day we pressed on, driving through Los Angeles to get to the ocean and Playa del Rey.

We're staying at Dockweiler State Beach. The good news is this allows us to camp right on the edge of the beach. The bad news is that the airplanes taking off from LAX fly right overhead and the noise is very annoying. The planes fly continuously from 6 AM to midnight.

Playa del Rey is where I grew up from the age of 6 to 18. I went to nearby Westchester High School. Many of my classmates still live nearby and some of them get together regularly for dinner at a nearby restaurant. My friend, Randy, is the instigator for these gatherings. Randy had scheduled one such dinner gathering to coincide with my visit, so, we'll be seeing a dozen or so of my alums this evening.

We checked into our campsite at Dockweiler Beach. In my youth I would ride my bicycle (and later my motorcycle) a couple of miles from my home to this exact beach and spend the day bodysurfing. So, plenty of fond memories. They built this bike path called "The Strand" right on the beach sand. It stretches for 22 miles, all along some of the best beaches in America, and it was only 12 feet from our trailer back door! So, I unloaded my e-bike and took Hobbs for a run on it.

Further along we stopped at Eddie World for gas, where we paid $6.39 for premium unleaded. Ouch. Welcome back to California!

We later met Allan & Patricia at a Mexican Restaurant in nearby Henderson called Ay Ay Ay! This is where we part ways with Allan & Patricia, as we continue on our trip for a third week while they head home. So, we had an excellent dinner together and said our goodbyes.

After Hobbs had had enough, I dropped him off with Susan, and then decided to continue riding The Strand on my own. I'd ridden about a mile when this guy that looked familiar passed me going the other direction. It was Miguel! - one of my classmates that I would be seeing tonight! I couldn't believe the coincidence! I turned around and caught up with Miguel. Yep, that was him! We rode back to the trailer and Miguel hung out with us for about an hour before he had to get going. It was great to catch up with him, but, of course, I would see him again in a few hours.

We got to the restaurant and there were a lot of familiar faces, including Randy, Joi, Miguel, and George. But also Blanche was there! I hadn't seen Blanche since we graduated high school. It was a special treat to see Blanche and catch-up on 52 years!

Tomorrow we drive about 100 miles to Escondido.