Today we left Barstow and started the next to last leg of our journey. We gassed up before hitting the highway. Upon seeing the per gallon price I had gas!
We got off the highway before San Bernadino to take a different route to Arcadia via both the San Gabriel and Sierra Pelona mountains of the Angeles National Forest. The scenery was absolutely stunning and the roads were made for the cars we were driving.
Along the way, we stopped to regroup and check our route at a small US Post Office in Valyermo, an unincorporated rural community of about 450 in the Mojave desert. While there a local woman who has lived in the area for 50 years stopped into the post office and upon exiting struck up a conversation and asked about the graphics on our cars. After explaining the charities we are supporting she took one of our flyers and resolutely stated she’d be happy to make a donation. She was emblematic of so many of the gracious folks we have met and spoke with on this journey.
Michael had issues with his allergies today that affected his eyes. Upon arriving in Arcadia John walked to a very close local pharmacy to buy some eye drops for Mike while he rested with some cool compresses on his eyes. I laid down to simply rest for a moment. Apparently Mike and I fell asleep as soon as John left, and when he returned he found us both out like lights. John said it looked like a morgue when he returned, lol!
John had found a local restaurant, Matt Dennys, on his walk back from the pharmacy. He stopped in and spoke with two of the servers there who shared a menu with him. The two were sisters and have two other sisters who work at the restaurant. We went back for dinner and had a very good meal.
The manager at the Springhill Suites we stayed in was enamored with the cars when we drove in and offered to let us park them under the portico. We have met similarly accommodating folks at several of the hotels we have stayed at on this journey.
Tomorrow we are on our way to Santa Monica by way of Culver City, the last stop on our cross country trek. My youngest son Jonathan is flying into LAX tomorrow to help his old dad drive back to Ohio. Looking forward to spending time with him our our trip home. More tomorrow.
