DAY ONE: Pleasant Hill > Barstow

We're on our way!

Today was pretty chaotic trying to get out of the house and on the road. After picking up the rental SUV (Hertz gave us a roomy new Nissan Pathfinder) it was packing and checking off items from the list and getting last minute groceries and odds and ends. Lisa was absolutely amazing with her help. We couldn't have done it without her. Love you!

Then it was off to Adler's last swim lesson at 2pm which finished 20 minutes later--best lesson yet! Then after a quick towel off and change into dry clothes Adler and dad hit the road promptly at 2:30 for a six-ish our drive to Barstow. I've been through the Altamont Pass and the windmills more times than I can count but was surprised to find a more impressive mountain of windmills along the Tehachapi pass on highway 58. You feel much closer to the large spinning turbine blades then you do along Altamont. And the smaller ones all rotate in unison which is slightly disorienting to the eye because it feels like you're in a video game with the horizon all shifting in unison. 

After the pass we drove down into Mojave and off on the horizon we saw the hundreds of airplanes in the graveyard far away from the highway. We were always driving below them so we could only make out their tails but it would be something worth returning for. I pointed out to Adler that we were in the desert to which he asked, "Where is the cactus?" Instead we found plenty of Joshua Trees along the road and snapped this great shot at dusk.  

As we made our due east deeper into the dessert it seemed appropriate to capture the sunset directly behind us as our month-long journey was just beginning. 

Today's Miles: 400