1:50 PM December 26, 2004

Why Bakersfield? It will soon be perfectly clear dear readers but first, I must say that the drive from Pleasanton was for me an unexpected surprise. Now, I didn't just fall off the turnip truck but I have been somewhat sheltered living in a small town at the south edge of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state for most of my life. My traveling over the years has for the most part been limited by strict time constraints and getting from point A to point B was more important than what was in between. Being retired and sitting up high in the big front window of our motorhome as we roll down the highway is a whole new prospective. What a view! And, on this segment of our adventure, the smells ... my farming ancestry kicks in and the smell of freshly turned soil and food growing is heaven to me! There are thousands of acres in the San Joaquin valley under cultivation with a huge variety of many things edible (they also grow animal feed) in all stages from planting to harvest between Pleasanton and Bakersfield. Almond and walnut trees; hops; peaches; carrots; avocados; pomegranate; persimmon; plums; raisin, table and wine grapes; nectarines; olives and of course, millions of pounds of oranges ripe for the picking and fields full of potatoes ready to be plucked from the ground this month! Some of the farmers are kind enough to put a sign on the fence to identify the crop which really makes it more interesting but others leave it to your imagination. As usual, it was nearly dark by the time we arrived at Bakersfield Palms RV Park so Phil attached our hookups in the semi-darkness. Before we started this adventure, this was the one thing we said we wanted to avoid and have somehow managed to make happen every time we've changed locations. We must try to get our act together earlier in the day! I'll keep you posted on our progress in that regard. The next day we went off to the visitor's information center and were told we shouldn't miss the Kern County Museum. Since it's "off season" we had the large complex to ourselves and the oil exhibit (that cost over a million to create) is very informative but the rest of it is the usual old houses, stores, etc. that have been dragged in and restored. There are "grasshoppers" (oil wells) everywhere in Bakersfield (the Kern River oilfield was discovered in 1899) and the surrounding area, pumping there little hearts out. You can smell and even taste oil in the air if you concentrate on it. Wish we had the deed to just one! There is a large Hispanic population (every sign is in two languages) due I'm sure to the agriculture in the area and the air pollution was palpable while we were there. Then there was the fog. Every day until around noon the visibility was less than a quarter mile unless you drove out of the city into the mountains. Once above the fog, the air was clean and the visibility was unlimited. I'm sure this disagreeable weather (it was also cold) is better at other times of the year but it's a well known fact that it gets very warm (much too hot for me) in the summer so spring and fall would probably be a better time to go back to continue our exploration of this area. When we returned from the museum, our Data Storm installer, Bill Adams was parked across the street and he'd left his card on our door. This is the reason we came to Bakersfield! Tomorrow would be the big day!