Tuesday, October 29
Today, we traveled from Newberry Mountain RV Park to Caistic Lake RV Park. We had several concerns about this part of the trip. First, one of the routes to LA took us across the Cajon Pass, which is pretty steep, with a descent of 6% for over 4 miles. Though I think the truck is sufficient for the task, I always like better alternatives. The second worry was that this was a bustling route with lots of traffic and trucks that could get in the way.
We decided to get off the highway and take Highway 18 from Victorville around the north side of the San Gabriel Mountains through the Soledad Pass to Santa Clarita. It ended up being a good choice as the road was excellent, and there was not a lot of traffic. Along the way, we saw some burnt-out hillsides, which was another worry since there were a lot of fires in the foothills of LA.
Most campers were full-timers, but they had a couple of overnight spots near the front. They had a nice pool and hot tub, which Lisa and I took advantage of when we set up our trailer. My daughter was able to come out later that evening, so we picked up some pizza and went to Pocock Brewing Company for dinner.
Wednesday, October 30
Today we had reservations to go to the Channel Islands, but the wind was so strong that they canceled all ferry trips to the island. Unfortunately, I did not know that until I reached Ventura. I learned that they had tried to call me. but I must have ignored them because I thought they were spam.
The Channel Island visitor center was near there, so we went there and bought a magnet and talked with the park rangers. We tried to watch a movie but the electricity went out in the center halfway through it. We decided to go up into the observation tower where we felt the strong winds.
We decided to drive to the Santa Monica pier to finish our Route 66 trip. We decided to take the Pacific Coast Highway, which we found beautiful last time in California. As we drove south, the wind maintained its substantial strength. At one point, I got out to take pictures, but my glasses blew off my face and flew across the highway. The wind died down as we got closer to the Santa Monica pier.
Once we got to the Santa Monica pier, we parked and spent some time there. We watched some of the street performers and had lunch at Pier Burgers.
We decided to return to our trailer by way of the PCH, and on the way back, we looked for some fruit stands. Surprisingly, we did not find many; they only seemed to sell strawberries. We stopped at two fruit stands and bought some strawberries at the second. Bought strawberries at the second one. This fruit stand also had a small backyard with a koi pond.
When we returned to Caistic Lake, we stopped at Ralph for Ice Cream and groceries.