A Wild Drive On The Way To Ridgecrest

“…Ridin’ along in my automobile” *

Breakfast is pretty poor again. No bananas, just apples and oranges. The granola is pretty ropey so I resort to scrambled eggs and sausage to supplement. I leave the hotel at 11 am, with my destination later being Ridgecrest. I buy lunch at Village Market just up the road next door to the pizza place. Is there any point in reporting how hot it is again already?

I initially drive on CA-198 W around Lake Kaweah, which is pretty but almost dried out, but once I turn left on CA-65 S I’m once again in farming country on flat and straight roads for 30 miles or so.

A left turn onto CA-155 E starts the same but after a town called Woody, oh boy, do things change. The drive to Wofford Heights is incredible. Winding through the Greenhorn Mountains, the southern end of the Sierra Nevada range, there are steep climbs to the eventual summit at 6102 feet. Before then however this is possibly the most twisty, curving road I’ve ever driven.

Maybe my Mt Hamilton drive beats it but – I hate to say this again – there are no straight sections but numerous 20/15/10 mph bends that are really, really tight. You just cannot push hard on any of these. As usual there are few safety barriers and 100s of feet drop off the mountain side for any mistakes. It is bloody good fun but requires 100% attention. I can’t recall having another car in front of me until just before Wofford Heights, when the dreaded road works allowed me to catch someone up.

It’s hot at Isabella Lake

It was an utterly, utterly brilliant drive. Over the summit, the descent is not as ‘tight’ but still challenging. Then Isabella Lake comes into view. It’s a reservoir created by damming the Kern River. It’s very scenic. It is only at an elevation of 2500 feet. I find a turnout to stop and eat lunch. The temperature has reached three figures at 100º F / 38º C.

Silver City Ghost Town

My next stop is a few miles up the road, Silver City Ghost Town. It is on the outskirts of Lake Isabella, the town, in a town called Bodfish. Must be confusing having a lake and town called the same name. I didn’t know much about the Ghost Town other than seeing it on a map, but thought it worth a stop as it was on my way. It is actually a recreation of a town from the 1880s mining era. They’ve acquired local original buildings from that time that were about to be destroyed and then moved them into the Bodfish location.

So effectively it is a museum to the Kern River Valley’s mining history. They’ve not attempted to restore any of the buildings, which is good, just trying to preserve them. Whilst not a real town then, because all the buildings are from different towns, it is quite well done. There are info sheets on each building giving its history. It was a short but interesting and worthwhile stop.

Across the Mojave Desert to Ridgecrest

From there I drive west on CA-178 E to Ridgecrest. There is some gentle climbing over some of the southern Sierra Nevada to the Walker Pass at 5250 feet. Then it’s downhill and into the really flat open plains of the Mojave Desert. I join up with CA-14 N for a while before an exit right to CA-178 W.

Ridgecrest has a US Naval base attached, Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, which I didn’t know. It’s a typical US town layout spread out along wide roads. The hotels are clustered together just off US-395 Business, which is also CA-178.

Having found the hotel, before check-in I drive to find the bar I’d identified for later and get some gas. Casey’s Steaks and Barbeques is eminently walkable from the hotel so that’s good. When I arrive back at the Hampton Inn & Suites, the still 100º F heat at 5.30 pm might mean a very warm walk later.

In my room there’s a problem with the electronic window blinds. They don’t work and won’t close. I call Reception and the guy insists on coming to see for himself. He agrees they are not working. I say I can’t stay in a room with window blinds fully open. I think to myself, why the hell did Housekeeping not report this earlier in the day? Evan says he’ll call Maintenance but they’ve gone home for the night so he’s not hopeful. The bigger problem is he tells me he’s got no spare rooms, they are fully booked. Problemo…

Later, Out to Casey’s

I tell him I need an answer quickly in that if he can’t get a solution, I need to try and find another room in another hotel. Five minutes later he calls me. He hasn’t heard from Maintenance but – miraculously – he’s just had a late cancellation. Funny that.

He says to come down to Reception and he’ll change room keys. I do and he exchanges the keys. Finally in a room – with normal manual window blinds – I start to sort stuff out.

Around 7.30 pm I leave the hotel for Casey’s. It takes me about 10 minutes to get there. From being very busy a couple of hours earlier, the road the bar is located on is now almost deserted.

The bar is almost empty. A couple of tables and bar seats are occupied and that’s it. The barman is not very smiley or friendly. I get Mojave Red beer, which is OK but I switch to Lagunitas IPA after another later, and eat a Philly Cheese Steak sandwich. It’s not bad when it arrives.

Some play-off baseball finishes on TV, the bar has emptied as has the rest of the restaurant. I do some diary whilst the barman ignores me. Some friends of his arrive which creates a bit of noise for a while but then they leave as well. A few minutes later, I do as well. It’s still very warm outside. Tomorrow night I will be in Las Vegas. But not by the route I originally planned…

Some wild driving today. Not sure how much more of that there will be ahead but there should still be quite a bit to see before the end of the trip.

* No Particular Place to Go by Chuck Berry