Day 8

Today drove through the center of California and mainly saw fields of various types of fruits and vegetables – Almond Trees, Orange Trees, potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, grapes, artichokes, and lots of stuff that I didn’t recognize. 

Towards evening we were getting close to the Mojave National Preserve and decided to spend the night there.  Camping is allowed in many places on land controlled by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), even outside of organized campgrounds.  We stopped at the BLM office in Barstow to make sure we knew the rules and then set out for a place to stay.  The photo was taken a little after we stopped and shows our “campsite”.  We had dinner, watched the sun set and the stars come out and then went to bed.  From the time that we stopped until we went to bed (about 3 hours), there were 10 cars that went by.  Needless to say, it was a really quiet night.

Even though we were in the desert, it was very comfortable.  There was a nice breeze and it cooled down at dark.  If you look close in the photo, you can see me in the window of the cab.