Terri and Peter's RV Adventures

Hot. Hot. Hot. 423 miles, 9 hours, 115 degrees at the hottest point of the day. It was a mercifully easy drive but long, tedious and especially challenging for the dogs. We got a fairly early start, 7:45 am with the hopes of making it all the way to Bakersfield (rather than Barstow), making our final leg home a relatively easy four hour, 250 mile drive. All went fairly well until we got to Barstow where we missed the main exit and therefore the hope of getting any kind of decent food and a place for the dogs to stretch their legs and drink water.

(My morning meditation view in Flagstaff.)

As we searched for all of the above, Lily began spitting foam and both dogs looked a little off. So we took the next exit and with no real options, pulled over on a sandy edge of desert and took them out. The poor things couldn’t stand on the hot sand, lifting one leg after another, clearly in distress. So back into the truck they went and we continued our search for some kind of restaurant that might let us bring in the dogs. By this time it was 3 pm. Within a few minutes we saw an exit for US 395 and “Kramer’s Corner.” Down a half a block was the Roadhouse Restaurant. We parked in a huge empty lot and ran the dogs into the front entrance of the restaurant.

We hardly had to plead our case as it was clear what our needs were. The place was nearly empty and the waitress motioned us quickly through the restaurant, past the sign that said “no dogs except service dogs” and into the bar area. She gave them (and us) water, cautioned us that they needed to stay next to us and not eat off our plates (no worry about that). We had breakfast at 3 pm and were filled with gratitude for this respite and the kindness of the waitress who gave all of us what we needed to finish the final hour and a half of our drive.

We arrived at Bakersfield KOA at 5:30 pm where it was a sweltering 103. Fiona, our trailer, performed admirably, the AC cooling her down within a few minutes and we’re settling in for our final night on the road. The truck was awesome driving through high and low desert, extreme heat and elevations ranging from 0 to 7,000 feet. Not one problem from the truck or the trailer. We feel very lucky, and very ready to be home. One more day. Until the next trip.