On the drive to Mojave, CA to the Sierra Trails RV Park, I tried to make contact with Gary (childhood friend) several times. To my disappointment and frustration with the lack of phone service, our plan to meet along the way failed to happen. Thoughout the drive, I kept trying to update Gary on our travel progress but with limited service, our texts and calls failed. When we got north of San Bernardina I was able to get a message sent (or I thought) noting our location and was hoping we could meet somewhere around Victorville. Again, as it happened, he did not receive my message until we were already nearing Edwards Air Force Base which was more than an hour north of him. Over the last few weeks we tried to remember how long it had been since we had last seen each other and we decided that it was well over 30 years . I was hoping to see him, meet his wife and share some stories of long ago. Gary's sister, Susie and I were childhood friends and classmates and after I left Pikeville we lost contact; many years later we found each other through Facebook and have kept in contact ever since. It would have been nice to reconnect with someone who was also from my neck of the woods and share stories about the mountains of Eastern KY.

By the tiime we got to our overnight camp at Sierra Trails RV Park, the day was almost exhausted just as we were. Dan checked in with the owner; he found her very pleasant and forthcoming with information about the area...the water was drinkable but not very tasty. We got settled in to camp but still needed to fuel up, both the truck and our bellies so we headed for the cheapest gas station which was just a few miles away.

When we pulled in to the gas station we saw the price was $3.87/gal (great price for the area); then we saw the credit price - $4.99/gal. We pulled out and drove another block and found fuel for $3.93/gal and a recommendation for the best Mexican restaurant in town. As we were pulling out from the gas station, a couple of police cars went flying by us with sirens blowing and lights flashing; then, four more unmarked cars with lights on passed us and again, more police cars...all heading the same direction as us. Two blocks away we saw police cars turning into a small subdivision, several officers with rifles drawn and ready to fire, a couple more policemen were running down different streets as they chambered their rounds. All of the police activity had definitely gotten our attention and what ever had happened was right across the street from the Mexican restaurant in which we were headed. As we parked, we could see policemen still in position and more arriving. We were thinking that for such a small area they sure had a lot of police officers and something major was happening.

While we waited for our meal at Gloria's Mexican Restaurant, we asked our server if he knew what was going on across the street. He said, "Yes, the gas station on the corner was just robbed". Dan and I looked at each other and knew that we were just at that gas station getting ready to pump fuel when all of this was going on. If we hadn't noticed the extreme price difference between cash and credit and pulled out, we could have been right in the middle of the robbery. Neddless to say, we were spared potential harm and yet came out with a story about our short time in Mojave.

Though the day was long and the night short, we knew the drive to Kingsburg, CA would be an easy 3 hours and we were just a day away from seeing the giant sequoias.