Our last legs to Hemet

Time to leave the coastal region and head toward the Mojave desert. And hopefully out of the fog. 

The drive started out foggy, as usual, and around noon, we climbed about 4000 feet over the Tehacapi mountain range and were greeted with glorious sun. First time we've taken Harvey through real sun for weeks.

Our last stop before our wintering grounds is at Mojave CA, in the middle of the Mojave desert. A rustic spot, but sunny and a completely different ecosystem. 

I've probably said it before, but I'll say it again, sometimes you arrive at a location with no idea that there's anything special about it. Well, If you've heard of the X prize (a million dollar award to the first private company to send a manned vehicle into space and back), two major contenders used the Mojave airport as their base. SpaceShipOne was the winner and one of the space craft is on display there. Who Knew? 

The other major contender to be based at Mojave was the Rotary Rocket which was a vertical takeoff and landing craft which never flew and was beaten to the award by SpaceShipOne. 

This was the pilots chairs on the Rotary Rocket. It would take guts to sit there as the rocket headed towards space.  Certainly not as impressive as the space shuttle.

The Mojave desert is know for its Joshua trees. The story is that the Mormons on their pilgrimage west first saw the trees and thought they looked like Joshua pointing the way. On the western edge of the Mojave desert, the hills are covered with wind generators and all the power lines are taking this power to L.A.

Last day of  travel for awhile as we finally head to Hemet where we'll spend our winter. Although there's snow in them thar hills, we're sure that it doesn't get low enough where we're going. Any bets? We lost about 4000 feet of altitude as we headed south to the San Jacinto Valley which will put us well below the snow line.

Our first night at our new home. Beautiful and sunny, what more could you want? Well, we've made it. Its taken 6 weeks and a few adventures. Now, its time to start exploring this part of the world. I'm sure there must be something to write about in California. Keep viewing.