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A Tale of Two Highways. Christmas Dinner.
Dec. 28th, 2022 10:55 pm5 Days in the Desert travelog #16
Back at the hotel - Sun, 25 Dec 2022, 8pm
After quite a busy day in the desert wilderness— climbing Kelso Dunes and shooting video coming back down, visiting a filk-inspiring historic train depot, and driving miles of dirt roads to a lava tube then a journey beneath the earth and a drive of miles more on dirt roads— we returned back to civilization. "Civilization" was, in this case, the comfort of being on an interstate highway; I-15 in this case.
Two interstates form a "V" shape heading east from Barstow. I-40 runs due east, 2,554 miles to Wilmington on the Atlantic Coast. I-15 runs northeast to Las Vegas and points beyond. We've driven I-40 in this area a few times between yesterday and today. I-40 has been a pretty sedate road. More than half the vehicles are big rig trucks, piloted by professional drivers. Traffic overall is light. I-15, by comparison, is an overcrowded day care center for antsy toddlers with car keys. Traffic is packed in all lanes in both directions, and everyone's jockeying to get that one extra car length ahead.
"What's got this road so packed on Christmas?" we wondered. Southbound, we figured, is people returning to Los Angeles and the rest of Southern California from Christmas in Las Vegas. Northbound is... people heading to Las Vegas after Christmas. Yes, I-15 between the LA basin and Las Vegas is a mess on any weekend or holiday. We were happy to get back to Barstow and be done with it.
Oh, and since it is still Christmas day.... We found more restaurants that are open than just cheap, mediocre Chinese. There's also a cheap, mediocre Mexican restaurant right next to our hotel that's open today. We had dinner there this evening in lieu of eating microwaveable food in our hotel room. And TBF, what we consider "mediocre" Mexican food in California is 4 out of 5 stars in most of the rest of the country.
Back at the hotel - Sun, 25 Dec 2022, 8pm
After quite a busy day in the desert wilderness— climbing Kelso Dunes and shooting video coming back down, visiting a filk-inspiring historic train depot, and driving miles of dirt roads to a lava tube then a journey beneath the earth and a drive of miles more on dirt roads— we returned back to civilization. "Civilization" was, in this case, the comfort of being on an interstate highway; I-15 in this case.
Two interstates form a "V" shape heading east from Barstow. I-40 runs due east, 2,554 miles to Wilmington on the Atlantic Coast. I-15 runs northeast to Las Vegas and points beyond. We've driven I-40 in this area a few times between yesterday and today. I-40 has been a pretty sedate road. More than half the vehicles are big rig trucks, piloted by professional drivers. Traffic overall is light. I-15, by comparison, is an overcrowded day care center for antsy toddlers with car keys. Traffic is packed in all lanes in both directions, and everyone's jockeying to get that one extra car length ahead.
"What's got this road so packed on Christmas?" we wondered. Southbound, we figured, is people returning to Los Angeles and the rest of Southern California from Christmas in Las Vegas. Northbound is... people heading to Las Vegas after Christmas. Yes, I-15 between the LA basin and Las Vegas is a mess on any weekend or holiday. We were happy to get back to Barstow and be done with it.
Oh, and since it is still Christmas day.... We found more restaurants that are open than just cheap, mediocre Chinese. There's also a cheap, mediocre Mexican restaurant right next to our hotel that's open today. We had dinner there this evening in lieu of eating microwaveable food in our hotel room. And TBF, what we consider "mediocre" Mexican food in California is 4 out of 5 stars in most of the rest of the country.
