Endless LA and wasteland with surprise General George Patton Museum & gas station

By Friday morning, I was desperate for my beloved Barq's Root Beer.  California has let me down on the root beer front on several occasions and, so far, I have only found it at the odd Subway restaurant and at Denny's.

So, we started today at Denny's and, oddly enough ended it at a Denny's farther down the road.  There is undoubtedly symmetry there.  In between, we passed through the California where the old cowboy movies were filmed - golden grass with a few trees here and there, madronas and many that we couldn't name - interesting rock formations and groupings of vegetation, horse and cattle country co-existing with vineyards and orchards.  We started to see many of the LA area names that appear in films: Pasadena, Cucamonga, San Bernadino.  [I found a great online map of all the sites where The Big Lewbowski was filmed for those who would love a Big Lebowski tour.  Just know that some of these places are private residences now.]  And, I found my birthplace on a map, finally.  Huntington Park is right next door to Inglewood.  I just didn't know where to look before, assuming it was over near Huntington Beach - what a maroon?.

My parents lived in LA proper; next door to a well-known old cowboy actor (his name was Uncle Bill, but Mom could never remember his last name), one of the character actors who seemed to be in the background of every cowboy movie in the 40s and 50s  He and Mom would have coffee and play pinocle almost every day before I was born.  When the time came, though, the nearest hospital was over the municipal line into Huntington Park.  Fact - I am a California girl and appear to have been born with a craving for caffeine.  Coincidence? I wonder.

If you haven't visited this part of the world, you would be surprised how many oil pumps you see in some areas.  Miles and miles of them; some not working, some rusty and worn, some very close together.  I was so slack-jawed that I did not get one photograph, but I will on the way back.

The end of our day took us through the Southern California Mars-like terrain - rocks, piles, and hills - an endless looking wasteland.  Now and then, there were dead or dying scrubby little trees and plants that made me think of the Zombie apocalypse for some reason.  There were surprises, though: the huge wind farms with white windmills for miles and the sudden appearance of a very large palm tree farm, and the biggest surprise - the General George Patton Museum sitting out in the middle of nowhere next to a gas station, with a dirt yard full of tanks and military equipment surrounded by steel fencing and nothing else for miles and miles.

These windmills went on for miles.

Palm tree starts for as far as you can see.

General George Patton, one of Steve's idols.

Tonight is spent in a much nicer motel, very close to Denny's where we sat in air conditioning (outside it was 108 F) and savored an ice cold soft drink before coming back to see if our room was less like an oven after turning on the AC.  Dinner, however, was at the appropriately named Sizzler Restaurant where the AC had broken down and they were trying to compensate with 4 big, free-standing room air conditioners, which really didn't do the job.  I inquired: the AC had been down for a whole month and the kitchen staff, slaving over the steak grill, had NO AC in 113 degree weather.  Criminal!

Sunset in Blythe, CA.  It hit 113 that day.

Tomorrow, Phoenix at last, where it's a cool 104 degrees.  We are arriving early by a couple of days and will be staying with my parents for that short period until we can move to our reserved BnB rooms on Monday, July 17.  It will be SO nice to stay in one place for a few weeks and explore the area without having to lug all our stuff around or wonder where we will sleep tonight.  I'm SO ready.