550 Miles, L.A. Hell, and We Are in Sister's Backyard

Very quiet night at Chiriaco Summit.  Good coffee at the Gas Station before we left this morning at 6:30 am.  The last time I drove through L.A. area was around 1996, give or take a year or two.  As I get older and older the more I don't want to drive through large cities...and you can't get much bigger size ways than L.A,

 

By 9:15 we were on I-5 headed north on the Grapevine.  By the time we got over the pass and at the split for Highway 99 and I-5 traffic thinned out.  Did not have any problems driving through L.A. other than it is long, and traffic was getting worse and worse the further west we traveled.  Gas just as before we hit the Grapevine was $85 for 16 gallons...we just paid $50 for 17 gallons at Quartzsite.  Go figure.

 

Traffic got thick as we got to Tracy area due to San Francisco traffic headed east, but it was not too bad.  Stopped in Lodi for another Van Wash at Blue Beacon...same price as it was in Casa Grande a few days earlier.  So many bugs, especially moths and butterflies splattered all over the window and front of the van.  Made it Sacramento around 5 pm, and had a few splattered bugs after just 40 miles of travel...it is what it is.  Nice to be back in Sacramento...

Florida to California With No Commercial RV Parks

Cracker Barrel was another good dinner Thursday night, and not very many RVs stayed the night.  Other than a couple of ambulance sirens going down the road, it was a quiet night.  Without looking back on our blog, I think this was the fifth Cracker Barrel out of seven nights being on the road.  Back home we have a Cracker Barrel down the street about 4.3 miles from the condo...but we rarely have eaten there.  We save our Cracker Barrel visits for trips.

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Friday mid-morning we met Laurie at a GOOD restaurant (not that Cracker Barrel is bad...just a good change of pace) called U.S. Egg.  There are five locations in the general Phoenix area, but one was damaged by a fire.  They are owned by these Armenian Brothers, and this is the second time we ate there.  The food is good, portions are large, and staff are GREAT!  After a few hours of visiting, off we went towards California.

In Quartzsite Arizona we stopped for the last of our "less expensive" gas...$3.049 at the Pilot/Flying J.  I expect to pay around $4.50 - $5.00 for gas in California.  We continued on to Chiriaco Summit (General Patton Museum area) and we dry camping at the free campground there.  By-the-way, still a good number of RVs around the Quartzsite area...perhaps 35-40% of normal Wintertime camping.

Saturday we 550 miles to my sister's house (Sandy and Arny), and we plan to leave very early to try and beat any L.A. traffic as we continue along I-10 to highway 57, to I-210 to I-5, which will take us up and into Sacramento.  We have about 200 miles from here to where we no longer have to worry about L.A. traffic...figure if we hit the road by 6:30, we should avoid most traffic problems.  I have driven in L.A. many times, and pretty much refuse to drive it during morning or evening traffic jams...jams which can last ALL DAY.  Thank goodness it is Saturday, or we would be going another way (Sunday would be fine too).

Finally, this is our first trip from Florida to California without staying at a RV Campground.  With our other RVs, I don't think it would be as easy as it is with the Camper Van.  Also, we typically drove 62 mph with the larger motorhomes because the HHR is not suppose to be towed at speeds above 65 mph for prolong periods of time.  With the Van, when it says 80 mph, we can drive 80...although high winds make me bring it down to around 70.  Today is our 8th day on the road...had we not stopped to visit anyone, we could make it from our place to my sisters in 6 to 7 days.