We got up early and watched the sunrise from Conrad's front window. There is a wildlife refuge across the street that leads to the Sacramento River. We drove down to the boat launch -- less than a half mile from his house. It is very peaceful, with birds singing and the sound of the water.
Then we drove through the development. It is called Lake California and goes on for miles. We drove by the club house and pool and the community center. They even have an airstrip. I'd say the place is about 1/3 to 1/2 developed. Groups of houses and then lots of empty space.
Teresa said Conrad found the place himself. When he had his realtor show him the house, he asked him how in the world he found the place. Conrad has always been good at finding and catching things. One summer at the beach Conrad came rushing in with a live seagull he had caught by burying himself in the sand and had baiting his trap with bread crumbs.
We got back onto I5 and stayed on I5 most of the day. California is a LONG state. The sun was shining in our faces most of the day as we headed south. It felt good. The landscape flattened out and Teresa said, "If you don't look far to the left or right, it looks like Kansas." That is, the valley was very flat with short vegetation (ie., no tall trees). If you don't live in the Pacific NW you may not realize that the tall trees there block out the horizon. I grew up in Kansas and noticed that right away when I moved to Vancouver-- it is disconcerting not to see the horizon when you are used to a 360 view. Hello horizon.
We passed an exit for Corning which is called Olive City. There are numerous olive and nut orchards in this area. The trees had been clipped at the top so that the whole field looked like a giant hedge. I don't know how they did that -- maybe a special machine.
Next we passed by the Willows area which has a large wildlife refuge. there were swarms of birds everywhere. The land looked like wetlands with miles of rice fields covered with birds.
We live close to a wildlife refuge in Ridgefield that serves as a stopping point for many birds on their way north and south. I always wondered where they ended up-- evidently in northern California. This area is the terminus of the "Pacific Flyway." Lodi hosts 7,000 sandhill cranes each winter.
When we stopped at Lodi to gas up, I told Teresa I'd stay in the car. Just after she left, I opened the door to step outside and the alarm went off. Teresa turned around and turned it off -- and I closed the door again. She turned around, I opened the door again and the alarm went off. I thought Teresa was locking me in the car, but she told me that the car behaves this way when it is unlocked, doors shut, then a door opens. So it was the car. I've figured out how to outsmart it now -- just have to open the door and leave it ajar.
On to Sacramento. We could see the skyline from miles away. In 1963 a deep-water channel was completed which connects Sacramento and Stockton to the San Francisco Bay making these cities major inland ports. In addition, the Sacramento - San Joaquin River Delta was reclaimed in the 19th century by Chinese workers making the area a water sports destination. We passed by a number of channels and waterways in addition to orchards and farmlands.
As we travelled south in the San Joaquin Valley it got dryer and browner. Then we started seeing signs saying things like "Congress Created Dust Bowl" and "Food grows where water flows." I'm not sure what is going on, but it is definitely making a desert out of the crop fields and area farmers blame Congress. The landscape began to look like a desert with small towns looking very much like an oasis. There no vegetation on the hillsides, but you could see tall palm trees in the distance announcing an area of motels and truck stops.
We got off I5 at the oasis of Buttonwillow and headed east on SR 58 towards Bakersfield heading to Mojave. We had a directional malfunction at Bakersfield -- Map Quest disagreed with Teresa's GPS and they both disagreed with the highway signage resulting in a rushed attempt to cross two lanes of traffic. We didn't make it, but we managed to make a "legal U turn" of sorts and get back on track.
We got into the mountains after Bakersfield going from an elevation of 400 feet to 4000 feet quickly. There is a train line that weaves back and forth beside the freeway then up the hills and through a number of tunnels. I think I was on that train an number of years ago traveling from Kansas to Vancouver. I remember that the train was very late so they took us off the train at Bakersfield and bused us to meet the train we were going to miss in San Luis Obispo. It was actually great. We didn't have to change trains in Los Angeles. And since the train tracks follow the same path as the highway, we could see the train from the bus as we literally chased after it. Quite an adventure.
As we got closer to Mojave, we saw hilltops covered with all different sizes of wind mills. We finally pulled into the Best Western here about 5 pm. Long day. We had dinner at Mikes RoadHouse, a 50's style diner displaying a large number of old toy metal pedal cars. Very unique place with good food.
Tomorrow we head for Las Vegas.
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