Coalinga to Newberry Springs, CA

Today was a shorter drive than the two previous days.  That was a good thing.  It’s more uninteresting scenery on frequently rough roads.  The route was I5 to CA58 to I15 to I40.  I think next time we come through here we may cut over towards Wasco on CA46 instead of on CA58.  There are a lot of traffic lights on the west side of Bakersfield.  But then that increases the time spent on 99, which is also a horrible stretch of road.  Or maybe we’ll go somewhere else.

The most scenic part of the drive is in the Tehachapi Pass area.  It's about 22 miles of climbing to the top, going down the eastern side, the descent is gentle with no hair raising grades.



This is the site of the Tehachapi Loop.  It was built in the mid-1800s to get the trains up the considerable grades in the area.



We lucked out and got to see a train on the loop.  It’s a miserable picture, taken out of a dirty window on a moving RV, but it was so cool to see this.  One layer of the train is moving to the left, and the other to the right.  It’s the same train, doing the loop.



This is near Mojave, where the wind always blows.



Just past Kramer Junction at the intersection of US395 and CA58, there is new pavement.  This goes all the way to I15 and is a very nice surface.



We’re back at the Newberry Mountain RV park in Newberry Springs.  We like this park, despite its proximity to the freeway and the train tracks.  It’s easy on, easy off.  I would reiterate that the utilities are way in the back, it was another 25 foot sewer run because we did not want to take the truck off the RV.

Sunset tonight.