5/20/08 Last night at El Capitan, Santa Barbara

We had originally thought that we would stay in Las Vegas for a day until the heat lifted, but it was just too darn hot. Sitting in the pool was an invitation to become a poached egg. So we decided to risk the predicted 110 degree temperature and long climb out of Las Vegas. We thought it would be nice to end our trip in a nice campground, and picked El Capitan, from our first camping trip ever.

Leaving Las Vegas went smoothly, even though it was pretty hot. We cruised up the steep incline out of Primm with no problems. However, I hadn't fully appreciated that the change in the weather pattern was associated with very strong winds between Baker and Santa Clarita. Most of the time it was a headwind (mileage dropped from about 18 mpg to 12+ and the engine had to shift into a lower gear to maintain 60 mph). At one point I knew we were in trouble because several sets of flags on the side of the road were standing straight out in opposite directions! -- a "little" wind devil type formation really grabbed the nose of the rv and tried to twist it off. Fortunately, that lasted only about a second, but it really got our attention.

We finally got to friendly highway 126 and made it to El Capitan, where there was only a breeze and 71 degrees. It was beautiful. The wind was just around the corner, however, and the ranger told everyone not to have any campfires. Good advice, as the wind picked up and blew a tent or two off of their stakes. We, however, just snuggled up in our very comfortable bed (after I became the domino champ of this trip).

Sadly, we had to come home on th 21st. A great trip is over.