Blythe California and beyond!

     Blythe was our next stop where we set up for the night. It was a pretty nice KOA right on the Colorado River on the Border of Arizona and California.

     From there we drove to Joshua Tree National Park. We had a great time there. It is a very nice drive thru the Park with awesome views and desert plants. They also have some great camping area's there set up in a really nice part of the park, very scenic with a comfortable feel to it.

   

     After our ride through Joshua Tree we drove to the Lake Isabella KOA because it looked like an even spot between Death Valley and Sequoia National Parks. Little did we know that the ride, although scenic, was very long and winding. Not to mention that it wasn't a very nice KOA either. It was expensive and very dirty. Some of the sinks were clogged and overflowing at the time of our visit. I would never stay there again, that's for sure. So, after spending the night there, we drove to Death Valley the next morning. It was further from Lake Isabella than we thought also. I forgot to buy gas before we left the last halfway descent sized town before getting into Death Valley. All the small towns on the way, for some reason were out of gas. When we arrived to the entrance I stopped for gas, yes it was a little pricey, but not as bad as in the Park. You will see the prices in the youtube video I posted below.

     I really enjoyed Death Valley, it was a little chilly in the morning, but it got to be 109 in the shade later on that day. My kind of weather! I did not get to do any hiking there, other than a 40 minute hike in one of the canyons, and man did I love that. My wife can't hike far, and it took all day to go through the park without hiking anymore than I did. You could easily spent a week there hiking and camping.

     After leaving Death Valley, we drove to Pismo Beach area to visit my sister for three days. It was a nice and relaxing visit. It was good to take a break from the road, visit family, eat some homemade meals and do a little sightseeing in that area again. My sister took us to Morro Bay, and the Elfin Forest in Los Osos one day, and I did a hike over the mountain from her house. It was about a one or two hour hike. It was a good time!

     As I stated earlier, we went to Los Osos to the Elfin Forest, so named because of the Pigmy Oaks that grow in that area. We also went to the Morro Rock area, below is a video of that day's  adventure.