Spring Vacation Day Nine – The Way Home

We woke up early (tried for 4:30AM, but it was really more like 5:00AM) and got the last of the things ready for the car.  Four trips later, the car was loaded up, so we went to the hotel kitchen to get a bite to eat for the road and got started.  The sun had only been up for a little while when we hit the road.

The drive through Arizona into Blythe was fairly quick, only a couple hours.  We loaded up on gas and went right back on the highway for another couple hours until Indio, where we stopped for breakfast/lunch at McDonalds and to switch driving duties.  To not waste any time, we ate in the car and again, went right back on the highway.  After Indio we ended up in a little sandstorm.  It was really windy like it had been on the way to Arizona a week ago, only this time the wind was throwing sand at the car.  We could hear it pelting off the windshield.  A few minutes into that, droplets of water started coming down too.  We drove out of the sandy area and continued on, all the way through the LA area and almost through the Grapevine before stopping.

Right before the Grapevine ends, we stopped at the rest area in Lebec.  It was cold outside, a real change from the past week.  It started snowing, with small flakes fluttering down.  As soon as they touched anything, they disappeared.  Within a few minutes, however, the snow turned into hail and the wind picked up.  It wasn’t anything we haven’t seen before, but it was still fun to see.

The rest of the trip home was fairly uneventful.  Hunter slept most of the way from Buttonwillow, where we stopped for an early dinner.  Lots of 18 wheelers on I5 made it slower than normal since everyone has to move over to get around them.  But we finally pulled into the driveway… and are looking forward to a relaxing Monday.