7:57pm We stopped in Flagstaff to fill up and get a good bite from the local McDonalds chain. In the Mojave Desert it was 98 degrees - yea I said 98! We just filled up again in Needles California. Needles is a good name for a town that charges $4 for a gallon of gas. I knew California was higher, but geez! I asked the clerk how California put up with high gas prices? She said that California is just a messed up state – they’re the only ones that charge you to turn in your cans for recycling! “Why pay for recycling if you can just throw it away?” is not a good attitude.

Fumi just paid $45 for 11 gallons of gas. These prices are going to use up our budget severely. Now I have to go to Vegas to try and get some of my money back. We are going to try and make it to Santa Maria tonight. We have about 250 miles to LA and maybe another 100 miles to our hotel. The sunset is very beautiful! I wish my girl was here with me because she would love it.

Something that’s been bugging me while we were in Arizona and New Mexico: We kept seeing signs saying “Watch for ice on Bridge.” It’s hot in those two states; do they even know what snow is or they have some skewed perception of what ice is?

We had to stop at an inspection site upon entering California. The lady there said the inspection there is to keep seeds and bugs not native to California out so they don’t cause problems. She asked if we had an ice cooler or any produce and asked where we were driving from. I told her and she let us on our merry way. She didn’t have a dog or look in the car. I could have had 100 little black widow spider babies I could of brought and set them free and they would have never known. Note to self: next time you get stopped at an inspection site, give them a bag of fire ants…

3am (Western time)
We finally made it!! I am so tired. We drove thru the concrete city of Los Anglos. It’s very pretty at night but at day I bet it is just like any other city: over crowded, few trees, and covered in smog . Mmm, I’m tired. -- Joel