San Jose, CA 08

We left Las Vegas on Wednesday, Jan 23rd headed for San Jose, CA. We headed out I15, then took routes 58, 99, 46, I5 and route 152. After we left the Mohave Desert, the ride became very scenic. We thoroughly enjoyed the views. Our favorite part of the trip was going through the Tehachapi Pass (I5) and the Pacheco Pass (H152). TheTechachapi Pass contains a huge wind farm. The wind farm was started in the 1980's to generate electricity. The So. CA Edison plans to expand this wind farm to 50 sq miles. It was unbelievable to see all the windmills. The Tehachapi Pass runs between the Tehachapi Mountains and the Sierra NV Mountains; thus it connects the San Joaquin Valley to the Mohave Desert. It has some awesome railroad tunnels running through the mountains and along the mountains. We actually got to see trains passing as we rode along. The Pacheco Pass (H152) was also very beautiful and scenic. We learned it was home to the Aussymus Indians and was built by them as a trade route along the coast of CA. After gold was discovered in 1848 the pass became the main route from coastal CA to the mines. It is very plush land and there are many fruit, wineries, etc crops. Along the way we didn't hit any rain until we got to Pacheco Pass. By the time we reached San Jose the rain had stopped. While we were getting set up, a gaggle of turkeys came right up to our RV as if to say what are you doing here. They weren't even scared off by our dogs. After we got settled in, we went over to my aunt and uncle's house which is very close to the Thousand Trails campground we are staying at. My aunt Bev had made a wonderful dinner and after dinner we watched Americal Idol. Yep, I'm still into American Idol. By the time we left to go back to the RV it had started raining again hard. When we woke this morning we heard that I5 got a foot of snow and is closed down. Boy were we lucky or what! It's still raining here today but we'll make the best of it. We discovered the rains doesn't affect the turkeys and their morning route through the park, they were here again this morning checking us out!