Arizona Trip - Day 4

Long day today.  When we got up this morning we discovered the storm did turn east into Southern California as predicted and dumped up to 4" of snow on the two passes out of the San Joaquin Valley into the LA Basin and farther East.  Both passes were closed this morning and even when opened were forecast be slick and treacherous with accompanying high winds.  We didn't particularly feel like experiencing winter driving in the RV over icy mountain roads, dodging crazy LA drivers who think chains are something you wear around your neck.  So, we decided to take the coastal route in order to keep moving.

We finally got on the road about 10:00 am after deciding what to do.  It rained all night at Lemoore and was still sprinkling when we left.  We headed SW to Paso Robles on the coast then South and East through Ventura to LA. 

We originally planned to be in Palm Desert tonight, so I called the RV Park to tell them we couldn't make it due to weather and discovered they made a mistake on the reservation and thought we were coming in last night. They were full for tonight anyway so I guess it was best we didn't show-up expecting a reservation that they didn't have and couldn't fill.  We did find an alternate park near San Bernardino however.  This park is about 2 hours west of Palm Desert so we will have a longer trip tomorrow to the Phoenix area, although the drive should be easy, The route is Interstate all the way and mostly open space well within the range of our driving capabilities.

The weather along the route was mostly partly cloudy with little wind and occasional rain showers here-and-there. We stopped for lunch at Pea Soup Anderson's in Buellton, near Santa Barbara. Driving through LA during rush hour on a Friday afternoon is another story.  We were doing pretty good coming into LA from the West.  It was sort of a reverse commute, but after going through the center of town and heading East it slowed to a stop-and-go experience for almost two hours.  As we approached San Bernardino, it was dark and raining again.  We arrived here tired, but glad to be here without incident.  After a quick dinner in the RV, it is early to bed.

Day 4 Pictures