Palm Desert to Santa Nella, California – 17 April 2024

Castaic, California

16 April 2024

Arrived late at the Castaic RV Park but without incident. This was a decent sized RV Park with a nice hot tub that we were able to make use of. We had originally booked to stay at the Castaic lake State Park but with all the brake problems could not change our reservation.

Unfortunately there was no time to explore this area.

Santa Nella, California

17-18 April 2024

The scenery into Santa Nella was gorgeous. Lots of green mountains with red sands and blue lakes and aquaducts. Along the way we say a large transport truck carrying several Tessler Cybertrucks. While this is the first time we have seen one of these Cybertrucks on our travels, there are about 200 driving all over the US. They have some interesting features of this truck: Stainless steel exterior and all glass roof; It has a 6’ x 4’ truck bed, front trunk, as well as storage on the roof and in a hidden gear locker; Can tow 11,000 lbs with a payload of 2500 lbs; Electric – you can travel 340 miles on a single charge. You can actually charge your home (keep the lights on) from the truck; Can go from 0 – 60 mph in 2.6 seconds; Don’t want to miss your favorite show – there is a 18.5” Infinity touchscreen in the front and a 9.4” touchscreen in the back. Before you get too excited – the price of the 2024 Tesla Cybertruck starts at $81,895 and goes up to $101,985 depending on the trim and options.

Santa Nella is known as a favourite rest stop for truckers travelling in California and has many garages, rest stops and fast food stores. Across from our campground was a hotel that was built by Jesus Monroy who was inspired to recreate a Mission that was in his Father’s home town in Mexico. When it first opened in the 1970’s it was called Mission Tesoro but it was later converted to Hotel Mission de Oro. The Mission was supposed to be one of many that Jesus planned to build but he subsequently passed away. We wandered around the outside of the hotel admiring the architecture. I would have loved to go into the bell tower. A great concept and very peaceful surroundings.

The following day we visited the San Luis Reservoir State Recreation Area which consists of three lakes: San Luis Reservoir, O’Neill Forebay, and Los Banos Creek Reservoir and is situated in the San Joaquin Valley near historic Pacheco Pass. The San Luis Reservoir was constructed as a storage reservoir for the federal Central Valley Project and the California State Water Project. It stores runoff water from the Delta that would otherwise flow into the ocean. The water arrives through the California Aqueduct and the Delta-Mendota Canal, and is pumped from the O’Neill Forebay into the main reservoir during the winter and spring. The Los Banos Creek Reservoir was built to prevent storm runoff from flooding the canals.

The area is stunning this time of the year. The mountains are so green, the sand so red in contrast and the water grey/blue. So glad we are hear in the spring and can see all the wild flowers in bloom. As we walked along the trail we could hear the loud sound of bees pollinating the flowers.

We walked to an overlook at the San Luis Reservoir and then drove to O’Neill Forebay which is a campground and day use area, very popular boating, board sailing, camping, fishing and picnicking. There we walked along a trail at the water’s edge. The place was empty apart from a few fisherman. I can imagine that it will be very busy in the summer. What a lovely place!