The drive through the Virgin River Canyon was breathtaking. Then we crossed into Nevada and entered Pacific time. Tucker needed a picture here too.
I feel like I need to mention that it reached 100 degrees before 10 am and stayed at least that hot all the way til our stop in the evening.
The traffic picked up as we got closer to Las Vegas. We could see a lot of the big casino/hotel signs from the interstate so we decided it was not worth driving down The Strip again (as we did in 2010). We did stop at Sin City Knit Shop in Las Vegas/Henderson. This shop was hopping and had a huge group of people knitting at the tables (like 30ish!). Apparently this many people come everyday to partake of the yarn community at this neat little store. I bought some local dyed worsted weight yarn for a hat and a t shirt. After a quick Starbucks stop, we launched out into the desert to continue our dive.
The hottest part of the day was at the California state line where we saw the strangest reflection for miles before. Turns out it was Ivanpah, the solar energy fields, that provides a gross capacity of 392 megawatt hours of electricity every day. Tucker got a picture at the California line as well. As we traveled across the Mojave it reached 110 and stayed that warm until we had lunch at Del Taco in Barstow.
The next notable sight was the Tehachapi Pass Wind Farm. Hundreds of wind turbines covered the pass and provide 705 MW/h a day of electrical energy to southern and central California. As we entered the San Juaquin Valley we stopped at Murray Family Farms for a fresh fruit break. Some of the best cherries and peaches I've ever had!!
We made it to Bakersfield, Ca and were able to do some laundry and enjoy take out from Frugatti's Italian. Yum!!
What We Learned: Today we learned about the Ivanpah Solar Power Facility. The facility is located just inside the California border in the open desert.
For the day we traveled 414.5 miles and saw 29 state license plates, Sonora, and 2 Canadian Provinces.
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