"Doing things Differently"


07-27-04

Starting to write this at 7:16 pm.  Kinda early for us to be parked and supper done, dishes washed and time to relax.  Early morning temperature was about 68 just north of Bakersfield, Ca.  High temp was 108.2 degrees coming through the desert of California.  Believe it or not, it felt like it was about 85 degrees.  With the low humidity, it just doesn't feel as hot as you would think.  We left Bakersfield drive through a mountain range, and the difference was like night and day.  On the Bakersfield side, is where they irrigate and grow some wonderful crops.  On the other side of the mountain, nothing but desert, although on top of those mountain ranges along route 58, are an incredible amount of windmills.  I have a couple of pictures, haven't looked at them yet, so I don't know how they will turn out.  I thought that Wyoming had a bunch, but these numbered literally in the hundreds.  Anyway, we headed south east to Lancaster, Ca. to take the tour through the Rexhall Industries plant where they manufacture motor homes.  They have a neat new model out called the T-Rex.  It is a model that 80% of both sides, just slide out as a single unit.  So, when they are out - you have a motor home that is about 12 feet wide, almost the entire length of the coach.  Really cool.  The story goes that originally there was a Mr. Rex and he got together with a man named Hall.  That's how they came up with Rexhall.  Eventually, Mr. Hall wanted out and Mr. Rex bought out his half, but kept the Rexhall name.  Mr. Rex has a son, whose name is Paul T. Rex.  Hence the new coach's name is T-Rex, after his son.  Anyhow, they have a nice shop that can complete up to 6 units a day.  They are currently producing about 2 per day.  It is not a huge facility as you might think, but it is laid out well.  They mould all of their own bathtubs from fiberglass, as well as moulding their own front and rear end caps, the roof , and sidewalls.  That's one way to control your own quality of goods - make your own.  They also manufacture on site their own cabinets, countertops, upholstering, dashboard, etc.  About the only thing they don't make in-house is the two chairs for the driver and passenger, the sofa, and the toilet, and sinks - both kitchen and bath.  All in all, it looks like a nice operation.  They actually made 35 trailers (5th wheels, actually) called the Rolls Air a few years ago, but decided to quit because of weight concerns.  They still have 4 of them out back that were never finished.  I asked if we could look in them, and they showed us 2 of them - the other 2 were locked, and didn't know where the keys were.  Only one of them had a slide out - that one was locked (naturally).  The tour lasted about an hour or so, and we left there and drove down the road about 2 miles, stopped along the road and had lunch.  Hey, when you have your home with you - you can eat whenever and just about wherever you want.  After lunch we headed toward Barstow, Ca.  We got there about 2:00 or so, and decided, since it was early, that we would continue on to Las Vegas, Nevada, since it was less than 4 hours away.  It's kind of amazing, coming through the desert.  There is just nothing there.  You can see for miles and miles, and there is just nothing there.  Then all of a sudden there is a town, or something, in the middle of nowhere.  Go figure.  When we left California, and just crossed into Nevada, not 100 yards from the state is a couple of huge casino's.  Nothing else around, but these couple of casino's.  Looked kinda funny out in the middle of the desert.  We continued on into Las Vegas, where a truck passed me and a stone flew up and hit the drivers windshield at the bottom and put a quarter sized chip in it.  Hopefully, I can have it repaired before it does any additional damage.  The actual hole is about 1/16 of an inch in diameter, but the resulting damage is about the size of a quarter.  Stuff happens.  We found the Flying J and pulled in.  Went inside and asked the manager if we could stay the night, and he said yes, one night only.  That's fine with us.  It is now about 7:45 and a windstorm has kicked up, the temperature has dropped about 6 degrees in the last 15 minutes.  The motor home is rockin back and forth, Sherry's favorite movement (not).  Hope this wind stops before we go to bed, or before Sherry gets motion sick again, whichever comes first. Lost most of our sunlight in a short period of time, from the windstorm.  Anyhow, we plan to head toward Hoover Dam tomorrow.  Should be only a short distance from here.  After that - who knows.  We'll keep you informed though.  Later........