Day 52 - Palmdale to somewhere along Angeles Crest Hwy. 9/28/15, Monday

48 miles, 4792 up

We stopped by to check out an airplane museum on the way out of Palmdale. It wasn't open on Monday, so I took photos through the fence of some planes I've heard of for years.

Then we headed for the San Gabriel Wilderness, uphill.

It's hard to believe that just days ago we were riding through Sequoias.

Turn to your left, turn to your right, up, down, up, down!

By 4, it was too late to ride to the campground we'd hoped to reach, so we set up camp in a little picnic area for the night.

Day 51 Tehachapi to Palmdale - 9/27/15, Sunday

47 miles, 1277 up

Our flattest ride day in quite a while, kinda windy, though.

We checked the maps last night and discovered that we didn't have any camping options unless we rode a really long ways! At the last minute, we decided to call Evelyn and Rob, Warmshowers hosts in Palmdale. They said yes! Whew. They were the 3rd hosts we've stayed with and all have been an incredible experience.

We left early to avoid the wind, but worked up a pretty good sweat riding over Tehachapi Pass. The wind picked up as we headed down hill, which was fine because it cooled us off and slowed us down as we headed downhill.

Rose thought wind power was awesome.

Charley prefers solar.

There must be thousands of wind turbines spread across the hills.

As we got closer to Palmdale, the scenery changed a lot.

Rob and Evelyn gave us a very warm welcome, showed us around to showers, laundry and a guest bedroom, then included us in their family dinner plans!

What a fantastic experience our "drop in" visit was!

Day 50 - Lake Isabella to Tehachapi - 9/26/15, Saturday

57 miles, 6352 up

We get by with a little help from our friends, or a lot!

I maybe forgot to mention that to take a dip in the Kern river we went to a campground that was 3 miles off course, downhill, with the final 1/2 mile being REALLY downhill! That would mean a bike push start to the day today!

The camp host, Randy, came by in the afternoon,  and after visiting a while, he offered to give us a lift out of the camp.

He came by at 7:30 and said "as long as I have your gear loaded up, I'm going to give you a ride to the top of Hooper Hill!"

Now, that's not only getting us back on course but up to the top of a 3 mile, narrow, 1500 ft uphill! A huge head start on what turned out to be a hilly day, anyway.

We're into hot, dry, hilly country now at 2500 to 4200 feet elevation.

This is the road through Walker Basin, a beautiful area that's been a family run cattle ranch since the late 1800s.

We rode over that ridge in the distance, which took us down to about 1500 feet elevation, so we were lower, later in the day which means it became really hot!

We started uphill again along highway 58, and had to ride for 5 miles on the highway to reach Keene, home to the Cesar Chavez memorial and the famous Tehachpi Loop, where a train loops around over itself in order to achieve a doable grade (2%) in order to get over the pass - 36 trains per day still use it - it was engineered and completed in 1874!

Charley and Rose thought it was awesome!

Us, too...

We rode through Tehachpi with one quick stop to pick up essential supplies - a cold beer and a bag of chips- before we landed at an RV Park on the far side of town.

We can see LOTS of wind turbines along the pass we have to ride tomorrow.

Uh, oh!

Day 49 - Kernville to Sandy Flat campground (Lake Isabella) - 9/25/15, Friday

22 miles, 1164 up

When we looked at the upcoming maps, we found it was over 70 miles to our next destination, with some campgrounds fairly close to us, then a long gap. The temperatures have been in the mid nineties. We decided to make it an easier day today and dawdled along, stopping at stores, having brunch, taking a few photos and making tomorrow's ride shorter.

These are stuffed animals from children who visited the campground where we stayed. Notice that Charley is hiding!

This is Lake Isabella...

Here's the town of Lake Isabella..

Now, this is the Kern River!

Here's what we did when we got there...

Oh, yeah!

Day 48 - Camp Nelson to Kernville - 9/24/15, Thursday

53 miles, 3695 up

2300 ft of climbing in the first 11 miles!

As pooped out as we were at the end of the day yesterday, we weren't finished yet. So, onward we went!

If there's one thing to describe this route: it's up or down. The scenery is spectacular, but we either have all the time in the world to enjoy it or it's flying by as a blur.

Not that we're counting...

The top is 7250 ft.

Finally!

We decided a reward was in order!

A "rest stop" never tasted so good!

Charley and Rose appreciated the break, too!

There are a lot of camps around the summit, and this was the store / restaurant.

This one is just because...

It's when we started to descend into the Kern River valley, like this...

The wiggle is our road ahead.

Just after I took this, a fighter jet flew through the valley!

Here's the Kern River, first sighting.

Another one of those...

Heading in at the end of the day.

We stayed at a campground just before Kernville, we were the only campers because it was midweek. The host told us that school groups come in over weekends at this time of year. The campground is really geared toward rafting groups, but the water hasn't been there for several years.

Well, it was quiet and the showers were great!

Day 47 - Three Rivers to Camp Nelson - 9/23/15, Wednesday

The 65 miles, 6848 up - that makes it a long day!

It all started out nicely enough, a nice rolling climb around what's left of Lake Kaweah.

After we passed the dam, we rolled through miles of lemon orchards.

Then we turned onto Yokohl Dr., and the ride gradually became more intense. 

The view from the driver's seat.

Then, this. 

Hmmm - come to think of it, the only car I've seen was at the moment I pulled over to take a leak. 

Here's the valley we came from.

I just thought this looked good.

So, on we rolled... A twenty mile climb, then a ten mile decent into Springville, where we found a Mexican restaurant that served burritos that were so big, I could only eat half! So, I added about 5 pounds of leftovers to my baggage...

The next available campground was 15 miles away - uphill, seriously uphill!

Trudy said "I've got another 15 miles in me!"

Not so... There were pitches so steep she had to push her bike. Not fun, 57 miles into the day (or any time!)

It was so tempting to drop the bike and jump in here.

Unfortunately, it was about 75 feet down a steep embankment.

Here's fortitude!

With about 7-8 miles to go, Trudy was done. We decided she would try to get a ride to Camp Nelson. I would ride on and if she didn't get a ride, I would recruit someone or, worst case, dump my baggage and come back to carry hers up. It was 4:30, so we didn't have much daylight left!

Fortunately, Road Angels Gary and Cindy appeared with a pickup to give her a lift. 

They stopped when they reached me to let me know she was all right and where to find her.

I kept riding - it took me two hours to finish the ride, 6:30, and it was starting to get dark.

With about two miles to go, the "face flies" came to torment me!

When I reached town, I asked someone for directions to our camping spot. Within ten minutes of my getting there, he came by and offered to let us stay at his place!

Trudy had already unpacked and set up, so we declined, but we're running into this kind o generosity all the time, so I wanted to mention it.