We've travelled 3,000 miles from home

We hit a milestone in our travels yesterday, having logged 3,000 miles since we left home. We also crossed another timezone. As well, as tourists crossing the desert we learned an important lesson; fuel up before you leave the city! No longer can we boast about low fuel prices as we paid $3.19 a gallon out in the desert, as we crossed into California. Talk about a cornered market! Even here in Los Angeles it’s $2.59 a gallon, which is quite a jump from Phoenix.

The journey from Phoenix to Los Angeles is about six hours driving time. Until we hit the Palm Springs area (more than half way into the journey), most of the scenery was sandy scrub with mountain ranges off in the distance either side.

We detoured off the interstate towards Palm Springs. The change in scenery was noticeable in that suddenly the natural desert terrain was overdeveloped.

It started raining and Greg started cheering. Why, you ask?

Notice the wind turbines in this and the first photo?

Greg’s always questioning how California and Arizona can continue their population growth and sustain their access to water supplies. Even with drought conditions, and posted warnings to conserve water, many people here continue to turn a blind eye to this problem.

   

We did consider going on the cable car in Palm Springs, but that wasn’t an option with the weather conditions, so we continued on to Los Angeles.

We spent the day catching up on old times with my friend and telling stories about our younger days. Having known each other since 11 years of age, we have lots of history. Greg’s hoping to learn some gems about me, but that’s not going to happen ... we won’t tell!

Tomorrow I'll add some embarrassing flash-back photos from the 70s that my friend was showing us today. A great way to start the new year!