Halfway Home: Los Angeles to Bishop
Nov. 29th, 2021 10:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kevin_standleeI was up at 4 AM once again on Monday morning to put in four hours of Day Jobbe work before waking Lisa, getting breakfast, and packing out of the room. As we'd already moved nearly everything back to the van, we only had one cart-load left to move.
Lisa put together the 3D puzzle that is our convention gear, managing to fit everything back into the Astro.
We finally were on the road about 11 AM. Having seen from online traffic that I-405 was at a near-standstill, we elected to take the surface street route over CA-1 and CA-2. Along the way, we stopped and refueled the Astro and stopped to buy some cold drinks.
v
Our route took us past the western end of what was once Route 66. (I didn't get a chance to photograph the west end; this photo is some distance later when the route turned onto Santa Monica Blvd.) At the rate we were progressing, if we had set off for the other end of 66 in Chicago today, we might have made it there in time for next year's Worldcon.
After two hours we finally made it to CA-14 and Santa Clarita. Along the way, we saw a Metrolink commuter train in the distance, but this is the only photo I managed to take of it.
In Mojave, which was about the halfway point of today's trip, we detoured over to the airport before stopping for a late lunch.
The full name of the airport is the "Mojave Air and Space Port."
Mojave is an important "mothball" location for airplanes. The dry climate makes it easier to store aircraft.
Lisa perched on the minivan to try and get a better photo of the stored aircraft.
Also at the air/space port is a replica of SpaceShipOne and a one-fifth scale model of the round-the-world Voyager aircraft.
But surely the most striking thing on display is the experimental Roton rotary rocket that was built at Mojave and made three test flights before funding ran out.
On our way out of the port, we found ourselves in the industrial park, where we spotted rails and followed them to what I later found was Progress Rail's wheel plant, one of nine they operate around the country. The industrial park has a single switch engine, and the railroad wheels appear to be shipped out by both rail and by truck.
The sun was setting as we continued on from Mojave for the second half of today's drive. Lisa did all of the driving today. We got to Bishop about 7:30 PM. Alas, as the Holiday Inn Express was pretty full tonight, so we scored only a mini-suite (oversize room) upgrade. The clerk had no problem accepting my passport, and was astonished that anyone would say that "only a driver's license is acceptable."
Unfortunately, this hotel appears to have gone the way of many other hotels in having only showers, not tub/shower combos. Because we don't have a full-sized bathtub at home, one of the things Lisa wants in hotel rooms when we travel is a bathtub. So while I'm grateful for having this HIX room on points, if we make this trip again, we're going to have to do a bit more shopping around for a hotel room with a bathtub.
Tomorrow I need to work another half-day, after which we'll head for home for the short time between Westercon and Worldcon.
Lisa put together the 3D puzzle that is our convention gear, managing to fit everything back into the Astro.
We finally were on the road about 11 AM. Having seen from online traffic that I-405 was at a near-standstill, we elected to take the surface street route over CA-1 and CA-2. Along the way, we stopped and refueled the Astro and stopped to buy some cold drinks.
v
Our route took us past the western end of what was once Route 66. (I didn't get a chance to photograph the west end; this photo is some distance later when the route turned onto Santa Monica Blvd.) At the rate we were progressing, if we had set off for the other end of 66 in Chicago today, we might have made it there in time for next year's Worldcon.
After two hours we finally made it to CA-14 and Santa Clarita. Along the way, we saw a Metrolink commuter train in the distance, but this is the only photo I managed to take of it.
In Mojave, which was about the halfway point of today's trip, we detoured over to the airport before stopping for a late lunch.
The full name of the airport is the "Mojave Air and Space Port."
Mojave is an important "mothball" location for airplanes. The dry climate makes it easier to store aircraft.
Lisa perched on the minivan to try and get a better photo of the stored aircraft.
Also at the air/space port is a replica of SpaceShipOne and a one-fifth scale model of the round-the-world Voyager aircraft.
But surely the most striking thing on display is the experimental Roton rotary rocket that was built at Mojave and made three test flights before funding ran out.
On our way out of the port, we found ourselves in the industrial park, where we spotted rails and followed them to what I later found was Progress Rail's wheel plant, one of nine they operate around the country. The industrial park has a single switch engine, and the railroad wheels appear to be shipped out by both rail and by truck.
The sun was setting as we continued on from Mojave for the second half of today's drive. Lisa did all of the driving today. We got to Bishop about 7:30 PM. Alas, as the Holiday Inn Express was pretty full tonight, so we scored only a mini-suite (oversize room) upgrade. The clerk had no problem accepting my passport, and was astonished that anyone would say that "only a driver's license is acceptable."
Unfortunately, this hotel appears to have gone the way of many other hotels in having only showers, not tub/shower combos. Because we don't have a full-sized bathtub at home, one of the things Lisa wants in hotel rooms when we travel is a bathtub. So while I'm grateful for having this HIX room on points, if we make this trip again, we're going to have to do a bit more shopping around for a hotel room with a bathtub.
Tomorrow I need to work another half-day, after which we'll head for home for the short time between Westercon and Worldcon.
