Day 16 – Vegas to L.A.

271 Miles

The letters “L” and “A” are not only an abbreviation for “Los Angeles”, but also the first two letters of “laundry”, which was something we hadn’t done in about a week. So this blog entry will be fairly short — unless you want to watch the dryer for a bit.

We drove south on I-15, skirting the edge of the Mojave National Preserve, about fifty miles south of Death Valley. And in case there were any doubt about where we were, the thermometer reminded us. It was hot — closing in on 100 F — when we left Las Vegas. But as our altitude went down, the temperature went up. It was June 20, not officially summer yet, and “The World’s Tallest Thermometer” in Baker, California (134 feet tall, and quite visible from the interstate) read 107 degrees. Our car’s thermometer concurred.

Fortunately, the temperature soon dropped. But then it dropped some more. And even more. By the time we reached a monster traffic jam due to a fire in San Bernardino, the temperature was down to 74. When we reached “Sunny L.A.”, it was a disappointing 67 and cloudy. I would have called management, but we’re from Florida, the original Sunshine State, so we decided to enjoy the break from desert heat instead.

We arrived at the hotel, went out to a nice little Vietnamese place for dinner, and finally — wait for it — hit the laundromat.