Day 33

     

Our camp at Carrizo Plain National Monument - van under tree on the right

     Bit of a hummer, compared to hanging in condo in the city.  Said a fond farewell to M and Palm Springs Dog Park. First it was wind. After a couple of hours it was wind and snow, by Palmdale. Soon S routed us into the mountains between the San Joaquin Valley at the latitude of Bakersfield and Santa Barbara in order to drop into the Carrizo Plain from the south. All fine but still snowing and 32º. 20 miles of bad road once we entered the monument. Wilderness, range upon range of low snow colored mountains. Hwy. 62, 138, 18, 247 and Frazier Mountain Hwy stood out and there were other numbers because taking the side roads is like that. One forgets how much more interesting the by roads and towns are than the interstate. About 20 miles into the Plain we came to the best camping spot with its own owl and nice toilets. The flowers at this time on the Plain are a half inch off the ground and are the size of a pencil eraser, but they are there. Having a dessert of dry Life cereal after a dinner of poached salmon, with mayo and a sprinkle of pickled blueberries, and asparagus .  It will be cold tonight and we have the window insulators in place and of course the heater on.  The owl was pretty hooty for quite a while earlier, but now it seems to have given it up.

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