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........
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