The road home

after another great breakfast by Juanita

We hit the road, this time with a more sensible route back home (247-15-58-223-5) which was also a lot more scenic. There were high winds most of the way

We passed Edwards AFB along 58, and the AFRL test area along Leuman ridge. From wiki:

The Air Force Research Laboratory maintains a rocket engine testing site on and around Leuhman Ridge, just east of Rogers Lake. Initially constructed for use in the Apollo Program, the test site now has 12 facilities for testing full-size rocket engines, engine components, and liquid and solid propellants. The Edwards Research Site has tested booster rockets for ICBMs and the Space Shuttle. The site has recently benefited from an $18.5 million upgrade completed in 2003. The facility now boasts multiple test stands, and the only U.S. Government test stand capable of holding 1 million pounds-force (4.5 MN) of static thrust.

One other fun thing: apparently Edwards has the largest compass rose in the world
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I wonder if they discourage people from driving out onto it and doing donuts and fishtails?


We also passed the 165 megawatt solar thermal facility at Kramer junction.

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Links here and here. Very cool.

Next, I saw a sign for the Hyundai/Kia California Proving grounds -- a $50 million facility in the middle of nowhere:

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Finally, we passed the Mojave Air and Space Port, which looks like a traffic jam of jumbos!


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There is so much cool stuff in the desert!

As we made our way through the mountains leading to Tehachapi



I noticed boulders along the side of the road -- which looked like limestone! I also saw a cliff band off in the distance. The exit was "sand canyon/Monolith". hmmm. The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful. We stopped as often as we could, tickling Zoe's toes to keep her awake. I5 was filled with bastards in minivans holding up the fast lane, as usual. It only took us 9:15 this time though.