Theresa had shown Kevin the route, location, and Good Sam's rating for the Lake Isabella RV Resort grounds. Kevin had a premonition that any site that far off the major highways may have challenges. Those challenges likely include; narrow roads, steep climbs, tight turns, no/limited services. The Good Sam's club app, nor Google maps app indicated any evidence of climbs nor descents that would make the destination less appealing. It was however 40 miles off the tried and true 395 corridor.
The address was plugged into Nora, the GPS. The team broke camp just after 12 pm. Temperatures were already tickling 90 degrees. The Toad was attached to the Smitanic. Theresa guided the Smitanic and Tow out of its slip and indicated all vessels ready to sail.
Kevin guided the vessels onto highway 395 headed south towards Southern California. After 50 miles on 395, Nora announced a right turn onto HWY 14. Visual signs indicated less than 150 miles to LA! So close to Kiehl and Madison and so close to their wedding only 18 days away!
Next Nora commanded another right turn onto Hwy 178. Instantly Kevin found a lump in his throat and found it hard to swallow. The road before him headed up and up a long unexpected climb. The Smitanic engine temp warning light came on as it reached 215 degrees! Kevin worked the transmission in an attempt to keep the rpms high and the speed low in an effort to stop the engine temps from climbing. 215 became 217 became 219, engine warning lights flashed, temp now 221. Time to pull off and let the engine cool and let the accumulation of vehicles behind him pass. With the engine temp back to 185, Kevin creeped back on the hwy and rooted (meaning lots of expletives) for overheated beast to reach the crest of the pass before blowing the engine!
It was a tie! The max of 220 (boiling point of water) was displayed on the instrument panel just as the crest of the hill was reached. Relief was insight until.... a sign warning 7% down hill grade was spied on the side of the road. Kevin put the engine break on and Theresa began bracing herself on each sharp turn. Nora indicated there were 30 more miles to go. This better be worth it!
Kevin maintained a reasonable speed but cars were accumulating behind him and there were no safe places to turn out to let them by. A Highway patrol was one of the vehicles to his rear. As the Smitanic headed across a bridge the lights on the patrol car started to flash. Alas Kevin found a safe place to pull over and the patrol car pulled in behind him. Kevin thought the trooper was just letting the lineup get by, but the trooper got out of the car and headed up towards the driver's side.
Kevin anticipated the scolding he was about to receive from the patrolman.
“I tried to get you to move over back there at the bridge”
“I did not see a pull off”
“You missed several pull offs”
“I did not recognize any pull offs, until this one”
“This is NOT a Pull Off, You know you can get a ticket for going too slow”
“Yes Sir, I was holding it back on the down hill to make the curves”
“We have lots of blind curves on this road and people go way to fast, I do not want them to run into the back of you”.
“There are several more Pull outs up ahead, make sure you use them to keep cars from piling up behind you”
“Where are you headed”
“Lake Isabella”
“There is no Lake at Lake Isabella” The officer smiled
“I am not surprised” replied Kevin.
Kevin anticipated the scolding he was about to receive from the patrolman.
“I tried to get you to move over back there at the bridge”
“I did not see a pull off”
“You missed several pull offs”
“I did not recognize any pull offs, until this one”
“This is NOT a Pull Off, You know you can get a ticket for going too slow”
“Yes Sir, I was holding it back on the down hill to make the curves”
“We have lots of blind curves on this road and people go way to fast, I do not want them to run into the back of you”.
“There are several more Pull outs up ahead, make sure you use them to keep cars from piling up behind you”
“Where are you headed”
“Lake Isabella”
“There is no Lake at Lake Isabella” The officer smiled
“I am not surprised” replied Kevin.
With that Kevin guided the Smitanic back onto highway 178 towards a lake that does not exist.
Kevin continued with his best efforts to maintain a legal speed while Theresa helped spot turnouts if needed. With 2 miles left the promised lake should be visible, but where is it? The RV 'Resort' indicated the lake was across the street.
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| This is the web site picture... wonder how many years ago this was taken? |
The RV park was sited and the Smitanic made the left turn into the entrance. It looked a bit empty... wonder why?
The lady at the desk lamented that the Lake once was just across the street but over the years has all but disappeared. Theresa checked in and toured a few available sites. One site met the minimal criteria. Theresa paid the Good Sam's club rate for just one day. One night is all this stay will be.
The rest of the evening was spent getting video and blog posts ready to publish and planning the entry into the Riverside County.
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