Wednesday was a day of contrasts. We started by driving an hour across the
Mojave desert and through the Morongo Valley. Flat, sparse, dry,
lonely. Mid morning we picked up I-10 toward LA and were suddenly
immersed in the kind of traffic we see during rush hour on the Jersey
Turnpike. Four lanes each direction, bumper to bumper at 80 miles an
hour. We saw more cars today than we did on the rest of our trip.
Seriously, some times even on I-40 we could drive for several miles and
not see another vehicle. 
The landscape turned into bumper to bumper commercial strips and
big box stores. We stopped in San Bernardino to pick up a short piece of
Rt. 66 and visit the "unofficial" Rt. 66 McDonald's Museum. It's the
location of the first ever McDonald's (pre Ray Kroc). They must have
one each of every kid's premium they ever gave away.
Off the interstates again we drove US 101, and watched the traffic
thin as we headed north. Now the landscape is rolling hills and
mountains, one of which we drove over, but now instead of the dry rocky
crags of AZ or NM, the hills are covered in lush green. Grassland,
forests, and eventually miles of grape vines.
We made farm market day in the admittedly tourist trap town of
Solvang, CA. Think Alpine village but the signs for wooden shoes and
Belgian chocolate are all in English. We purchased hand made, free
range pasta; local organic cheeses and breads and artisan sun dried
black olives to bring with us to Matthew & Saana's home in San Francisco. We discovered that the Hitching
Post restaurant featured in the movie "Sideways" was only two miles from
Solvang so we picked up some wine too.
We drove 358.7 miles today and saw 9 Corvettes! Our day ended on our hotel (they call it a "Spa retreat") room deck
in the hot tub with a bottle of Champagne. Ahhhh....
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