We have had a few interesting stops in the last few days. Our van Patchwork has been a fantastic rolling cocoon that is also a very comfortable place to curl up and get a good nights sleep. We have tried to balance making good time with some fun side trips and “roadside oddities”. We left San Francisco and made our way into the hills of Southern California and decided to camp by Lake Isabella. On the map it looked like a beautiful area and we pulled into a free campsite that was right along the lake shore. We were in the dark of night when we arrived so we tried to find a spot that looked like we would wake up close to the water in the hopes that when we opened our curtains in the morning we’d have a beautiful view. Sadly, when we woke up we realized the lake had long ago dried up and we were in a grazing field for cows. I’m happy to report that we were parked far enough away from the herd that we didn’t open our doors into them but there were no fences between us and the them and they certainly gave us some odd looks as we drove right next to them to exit and get back on the highway.
We drove through the nearly abandoned gold rush town of Randsburg that was just quirky enough that I wished a few of the stores and bars were open so that we could explore a bit. A roadside oddity that caught my eye was Peggy Sue’s Diner-Saur Park. It was on the way and we were hungry so we popped in. What a fantastic stop! What was once a one room diner has grown into 4 dining areas full of crazy movie and pop culture memorabilia. The food is good and the Diner-Saur park in the back is worth a few cheesy photos, my favorite kind.
We spent a night in Tecopa Springs to enjoy the natural hot spring. We visited the spring that is truly au natural and in the middle of mud flats but decided it was more enjoyable to use the private pool at our campsite that has the hot mineral water pumped into a comfy facility with showers. The sun set at the campsite was beautiful and we managed to have a progressive dinner at three different establishments in town including Delights BBQ which was truly a trip highlight. It doesn’t look like much inside or out but the BBQ is on point. Another good nights sleep and we were up early to have coffee and oatmeal from the back of Patchwork and we were on our way to Las Vegas.
We drove through the nearly abandoned gold rush town of Randsburg that was just quirky enough that I wished a few of the stores and bars were open so that we could explore a bit. A roadside oddity that caught my eye was Peggy Sue’s Diner-Saur Park. It was on the way and we were hungry so we popped in. What a fantastic stop! What was once a one room diner has grown into 4 dining areas full of crazy movie and pop culture memorabilia. The food is good and the Diner-Saur park in the back is worth a few cheesy photos, my favorite kind.
We spent a night in Tecopa Springs to enjoy the natural hot spring. We visited the spring that is truly au natural and in the middle of mud flats but decided it was more enjoyable to use the private pool at our campsite that has the hot mineral water pumped into a comfy facility with showers. The sun set at the campsite was beautiful and we managed to have a progressive dinner at three different establishments in town including Delights BBQ which was truly a trip highlight. It doesn’t look like much inside or out but the BBQ is on point. Another good nights sleep and we were up early to have coffee and oatmeal from the back of Patchwork and we were on our way to Las Vegas.