Finally on the Blue Highways!

Today we took the opportunity to get off the interstate system and travel on real “blue highways.”  Leaving I-5 south of Bakersfield, we crossed the Tehachapi Mountains, at the southern end of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and dropped down into the Mojave Desert.  When we left Bakersfield we were at 300 feet, and by the time we got to the base of the mountains we were already at 1800 feet.  The highest elevation we encountered crossing the mountains was 4000 feet before coming down a couple thousand feet into the high desert. 

We passed by the Mojave Air & Space and Edwards AFB, where we watched B-52s flying low circles around the base.  We passed 20 Mule Team Road, that takes you to the community of Boron named for the nearby mine operated by Pacific Coast Borax, the world’s largest open pit borax operation.

At Kramer Junction we turned south towards Victorville.  There we passed George Air Force Base, which was decommissioned in 1992.  It is now home to reserve air squadrons, a local public airport, a prison facility, and for storage of commercial transitional aircraft – an aircraft junkyard!

At Victorville we turned east and headed on to Yucca Valley, where we will visit my cousin for a couple of days.