It was a bit noisy at Flying J last night but the kids said they slept all night.  Nole and I woke up a couple of times thanks to out neighbor’s generator, a few air brakes and some laughing and talking of people walking by. 

We had some spare time this morning so I made bacon and french toast.  Then we filled our water tank and headed to Elmer’s Bottle Ranch.  Elmer made this eclectic permanent art exhibit on his property. He passed away but some of his fans have been keeping his memory alive and the property maintained.

After looking around there we decided to head to Rosamond, California to see what we could see. 

We weren’t sure what would be open with it being Christmas Eve but there was a big cat rescue and horseback riding place on our way.  The big cat place was open so we went there.  Also, they were having their annual turkey dinner where they feed the cats whole chickens and turkeys.  We toured the place and read all the posted info about the cats. 

Then we took a siesta in the parking lot in our RV to wait for feeding time.  Lots of people showed up for the turkey dinner.  We went cage to cage with the trainers while they gave each cat their dinner.  It was pretty exciting to watch because the cats were all active and anticipating their food. 

They were growling and hissing too which added to the excitement and they did other interesting behaviors like spraying, jumping and climbing with a whole chicken in there jaws. 

The kids decided to spend a little of their Christmas money in the shop.  Cal has a love for Garfield and found an adorable antique plush.  The woman working at the gift shop let each kid pick out a photograph of one of the cats. 

We stopped to pick up more groceries and then headed to our stop for the night, a Boondockers Welcome stay.  Boondocking is basically staying somewhere free usually without hookups (i.e. electric, water, sewer).  We were boondocking in the desert and technically at Walmart and Flying J as well.  Boondockers Welcome is the same thing except you’re staying on someone’s property.  We have been hosting people through BW in our driveway for two years.  It’s a fun way to meet people and it’s nice to help a fellow wanderer out in a pretty low-risk way.  Anyway, tonight is our first time staying with someone using this service. We didn’t get to chat much due to a late arrival tonight and early departure tomorrow (not to mention the holiday) but it’s nice to have a safe place to park that will hopefully be a bit quieter than the Flying J.

In other news, we had a check engine light come on but have been reassured by Tobias, who has rented us this beast, that it happens with motorhomes and not to do anything about it except tighten the gas cap. He said it’s usually caused by an air bubble in the gasline.

Nole drove all day today and we arrived in Bakersfield. We had spaghetti for dinner tonight and tuckedvin early so we can get an early start on the road tomorrow. Tomorrow is our longest driving day with 246 miles to drive.