Near 20 Mule Team road

On my way home last week, I passed through the Mojave Desert of Southern California.  This pic is from just off CA 58, the highway from Bakersfield to Las Vegas:

By the way, there really is a Twenty Mule Team Road, in Mojave, California.

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The rain here has supposedly ended and the waters will recede.  I-5 is still closed some dozens of miles north of here, at Chehalis, Washington.  All road traffic between Portland and Seattle is stalled.  AMTRAK is not running; landslides have blocked the rails.  People who bought train tickets are being flown to Seattle on AMTRAK’s dime.  Greyhound buses are sidelined too.

Johnson Creek got pretty high; I cross it a couple of times in my bus to pick up kids for school, but it didn’t overtop the channels in my areas.

Meawhile, on the coast health advisories have been issued for the coast – overflowing septic tanks have polluted the ocean beaches.

Winter 08-09 is one for the record books.

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