Day 49, August 29...Ridgecrest, CA to Kingman,AZ

I headed south out of Ridgecrest on US 395 to the big city of Kramer Junction and then east on CA 58 to Barstow, where I picked up I-40 to Kingman. I had intended to take part of "Historic Route 66", which runs more or less parallel with I-40 just for the experience of being on the Mother Road, but every time I got off the Interstate and onto Route 66, I'd come upon a sign that said the road was closed x-number of miles from this point.  Since I had no idea where "x-number of miles" was and if I could get back on the Interstate or not, that pretty much threw a monkey wrench into my plans.  But...tomorrow...Route 66 is more or less intact from Kingman to Flagstaff.

The day was hot, just like yesterday, topping out around 108 or so.  Wasn't I complaining about being cold just a couple weeks ago? Well, anyway, I'm not cold now.  The land is dry and if you ever wondered what the Mojave Desert looks like, here it is, somewhere along I-40:

I did meet one of California's finest while I was stopped on the shoulder of the highway.  He stopped to see if I was OK and after thanking him for the consideration, we both went on our ways.

I thought this was interesting.  The little town of Kramer Junction sits at the intersection of US395 and CA 58 and is also right at the northeast corner of Edwards Air Force Base.  Well, coming down US395 off to my right was a giant solar power installation.  It's known as the Solar Electric Generating System, and this installation is part of three separate sites that are within about 40 miles of each other.  These sites produce about 350 megawatts of electricity between them, not with solar panels, but with parabolic mirrors that focus the sun's energy on a tube, which heats a liquid which generates steam, which produces power.  The installations were completed in the 1980's and were the only solar thermal plants in the US until others were built in the mid-2000's.

Anyway, here's a pic:

Anyway, tomorrow it's off to Flagstaff and then to Phoenix on Thursday to meet up with Pat and Patrick!

Miles today:  326
Total:  12,317