Christmas 2009 - Part 8

Our last morning in Tehachapi was upon us, as was the drizzling rain with an amazingly cold wind. We had to be out of the hotel by 1pm, but were rather slow about it. Breakfast was provided downstairs as it was the previous day, and like the previous day, we barely made the 10am cutoff time, descending to feed in our jammies, with the sleep still in our eyes and he confused morning sensations still filling our sleepy heads. After feeding, we had some time on our hands, but not enough to leave and return, so we simply hung out and stayed. Exercising was on the menu, and for the first time in the week we have been vacationing, we actually accomplished this task. Showers were in order next, as well as loading up all our gear for the long road ahead of us. We had a few hours left in Tehachapi before we needed to get on the road and head to Mesquite. Christy brought the car around and started loading up.

Treyson, loving the hotel

Once all our miscellaneous gear was gathered, bagged, shuttled outside, and safely ensconced in the car, we got ready yo take off. As we began to depart from the hotel, I noticed the infamous 'Check Engine' light was illuminated. Crap. Turning off the car, and restarting it did not reset the light, as I had hoped. After opening the hood and checking all the things I could think of to check, we took off to find a Checker or AutoZone. As we approached the store, I could tell something was wrong, as there was a shake or shimmy in the engine. Worry creased my brow, as we drove to the auto part store, with a scared quiet nervousness wafting from the backseat. Once at the store and after describing my dilemna, they described theirs. They are not allowed, by law, to diagnose the 'Check Engine' light anymore. They are only allowed to sell me the device, with no refund so that I can determine what the problem is. This doesnt help me. I ask him to suggest a mechanic, realizing that I never visited a mechanic when I previously resided in this town. A mechanics shop was suggested, and we headed to it. This time, the car was acting normal, but the light remained on, glaring at me. Once at the location (J&H on Tehachapi Blvd) i described the dilemna I currently existed in. We were to hit a couple more spots to see sights, and then take off to Vegas and Mesquite. We had our day planned, had checked out of the hotel already, and needed to be moving, not stopped by vehicle problems. With our dilemna understood, and probably not heard for the first time, the owner grabbed his fancy dancy detector device to interpret what our car was trying to tell us. As we talked, we realized this this man was my parents neighbor. He knew my dad was a teacher, and I knew where his house was located. We had just been there the day previous, visiting my old home. He diagnosed the problem as a miss fire in cylinder 4. This could be all kinds of things... He investigated, and swapped out a plug as well as the cable. After a couple of attempts, got the right combination of products to try out. He reset the code, gave us back the original parts and said to drive around the block. If the light came back on we were to return to his shop, if not, we were to go about our business with his new years wishes. I couldnt not leave without paying him something, but he refused, claiming I was his Ex Ex Neighbor. Wow. What a Christmas present.

We went about our last few tasks, with a vigilant eye on the infamous light, and were pleased that it has not turned back on since. We went out to the Perryman's racquetball court, in the hopes of showing the kids where my love of the game was born. The building was still there, as I remember it, but was locked. The Perryman family was not present and the court was not open. Bummer. But in the grand scheme of things, we were driving our fixed car, and on schedule for the day. Pictures were taken and we departed. Lunch was had at a favorite restaurant, Domingoes. This is a favortie of the Belt family, and Christy spotted it the day previous, with desires to eat the vittles they prepare so well. A very full lunch settled in our bellies, and we took off on the long road to Mesquite. The valley was still socked in with clouds and fog, which prevented us from seeing the grand glory of the windmills dotting the hillsides. We were able to see some of the windmills and grabbed some photos of them as we departed the valley. The kids were amazed at the quantity of windmills they could actually see, and I was amazed at the memory of the vast quantity of true windmills. This is one of Christy's favorite parts of visiting Tehachapi.



Perryman racquetball court

Once out on the desert floor near Mojave, it was like reaching back into my memory of many other trips on these roads. There is not much to see out here in the desert, but its still reminds me of so much that I always enjoy the trek across the vastness. There is a new freeway system that circumvents the old highway which we decided to take, much to our chagrin later. The new freeway joins i-15 on its way to Vegas south of Barstow. The 15 minute road that we were to travel thru Barstow to the point that the old highway meets was so full of traffic at this hour, that it took us an incredible amount of time to traverse. An accident had caused a lot of congestion and backup, and we crawled along envying the snails that were probably winning this race. This was only a taste of what was to come. The road to Baker was as slow as we had just experienced, with bouts of speed, followed by huge periods of random brake checks. It seemed that the entire California populous was headed on the same road as we were. The funnest part of the entire trek from outside Barstow to outside baker was stopping on Zzyzx road to take an unplanned pee break. Once outside of Baker, for some reason, the beast that is traffic decided to spread out a bit, speed up a bit, and flow in a normal fashion. Speeds were again reached that caused our calm to become active again. We had lost an hour or more in slow traffic. This forced us to not swing by the Las Vegas temple as previously planned. This would have caused us even more of a delay, forcing our arrival at the hotel in Mesquite to occur after midnight. We skipped visiting the temple, drove straight thru Las Vegas with no stops, realizing that to traverse this town takes almost a half hour, as the town has grown and grown. I remember reaching Craig road on the north end of Las Vegas, then driving for 15 minutes before really hitting town. This is no longer the case. Town seems to stretch from Paruhmp to Craig road with few breaks.

Domingos

About to head from Tehachapi to Mesquite

The sun setting over the Tehachapi mountains, as seen from Mojave

The hills alive with windmills

Christy attempted to capture traffic

Christy attempted to capture traffic

A little around an hour later, we arrived at Mesquite, and settled down for the night. No food stops were necessary as we were still full from the great meal at Domingos in Golden Hills in my home town of Tehachapi. This sustained us amazingly for the entire 5 hour trek. That and a couple snacks, helped us make it. Bed, arguing, playing, wrestling, getting yelled at again by mom for messing around, and we all finally laid down to get some rest. This was our last sleep away from home, last night in a hotel, the vacation was almost over, and no one wanted it to be so.