Bakersfield, CA to Lake Havasu, AZ

Today we drove from Bakersfield to Lake Havasu.  Originally we had planned to stop in Needles, but when I was using GPS to look for truck plazas, I saw the Havasu RV Park, which was not too much farther and was on the route we were taking.  They're a condo style RV park; when I called and asked if they had availability for tonight, I was told with a faint lip fart of disdain that they aren't that sort of establishment.  Apparently it's a one week minimum.  She did tell me that we could stay at Havasu Falls. 
Anyway, the drive is improved over past years.  The bridge decks are level with the road surfaces on CA58.  Parts of I40 have been patched.  It still sucks when you cross the AZ border, they need to work on that surface. 
Parts of the drive are attractive.

This is the train going through tunnels over Tehachapi Pass.  This is a famous stretch of track.

Train nuts like to park at the over look at watch the trains do a 360.  It's how they manage the grade.  This was built in the late 1800s.  Pretty amazing considering the state of their technology. 

There are also wind turbines - a lot of wind turbines.

Finally we made it to the border.  There is the always lovely Colorado River.

We drove down to look at the London Bridge.  This actually came over from London in the late 60s.  It was taken apart, each brick was numbered, and they brought it over here. 

Hundreds of swallows live on the bridge.  Bats live under it.

The drive to get the bridge here was to attract tourists and promote growth.  It appears to be working. 

This was a longish day for us, but not staying in Needles is a good thing.