Driving Home: Santa Barbara to Flagstaff

7:20 AM -- Early morning light. Our last look at the beautiful orchid garden
belonging to Delores, owner of our apartment.

Loading the car -- the garage belongs to Delores.
Our apartment was around the back and downstairs.

We got such an early start that we drove across LA instead of taking back roads to avoid the traffic, as we had planned. Our hunch about traffic paid off: we sailed through, and then on into the Mojave Desert, where our car thermometer measured a high of 102 degrees. We enjoyed the variety of desert scenery including mountains, some very dry landscapes, and areas with slightly greener desert plants.

4:00: Flagstaff, temperature down into the 70s.

Across the street (a little too close) -- freight trains go by rather often