This morning we found ourselves up fairly early, so we packed up and were on the road shortly after nine. When we reached Jean after about 20 miles, we saw a sign saying the 15 was closed between Baker and Barstow. Since there had been a lot of rain, we figured there might be a pass closed until the plows come. We pulled off in Barstow just in time to avoid the long backup of people taking the detour. During a short stop at the Mad Greek Cafe, I surfed around on my phone until I found some news indicating an underground gas line had exploded and resulted in the freeway closure and some evacuations. The detour took us through the Mojave National Preserve, which was pretty with the cacti blanketed in snow. We arrived in Barstow almost two hours behind schedule, and Jennifer is now driving. Hopefully another two hours will have us home, unless there’s an earthquake, or a plane crashes into the freeway or something.