I left the farm at 1:06... then, within 2 minutes stopped for gas... 3 minutes later i was pulling on to the freeway... my goal today was to escape from the Bay Area... Through Altimont Pass, the wind turbans still... and into the San Joaquin.. to get to the desert where this adventure could begin...
A San Francisco radio station said they were having occasional showers and thunder storms were possible... In the valley you could see the virga to the west and occasionally overhead, teasing the farmers… promising rain but never reaching the ground, clouds piling up against the Sierras to the east, and broken clouds ahead...
Sings along I- 5 said "Stop the congress caused dust bowl"… "water = Jobs" (in English and Spanish) and "Less Water = Higher Food Cost" but the aqueducts were full, and growers seemed to have enough water to grow alfalfa... There were some dead orchards... Claims have been made that these orchards are victims of the drought... I suspect that they are older less viable orchards... Due for replacement, but blamed on drought for political reasons... In several spots there were new orchards planted nearby… The West side, along I 5 is controlled by large corporations, controlled by a few families... They seem to have entitlement issues... Believing that the government owes them cheap water... Even in times of drought... They may have conservative leanings…. I find the signs currish…
I reach the Kern County line at 4:00, 215 miles from home. I cross the valley at Wasco… heading over to hwy 99… You don’t seem so see the water signs on the east side… I forget how industrial Bakersfield is… as I pass through at 65 miles per hour… I am still in Bakersfield when I pick up Hwy 58 towards Tehachapi… the road starts to climb out of the valley… I pause in Arvin for gas… In my youth this would have been “Pumpkin Corners” and the site of a labor camp and a cotton gin… Steinbeck was never far away…
There were lots of trains on the mountain… slow trains of flats carrying containers… crawling up the mountain. One was on the loop as I passed by but I didn’t pause. Over the top, I pass through a stand of Joshua trees in sand canyon... Icon of the northern Mojave ... They thin as I drop Into the Mojave desert at Mojave. There are rows of stored jets at the airport… Edwards Air Force base is to the south… I consider wandering off the road and looking for the ruins of Poncho Barnes’ Happy Bottom riding club… I have found them on Google Earth… but the road calls and Poncho will have to wait...
There are lots of CDF trucks heading west, probably heading home after the San Diego fires… a good sign for San Diego but a reminder of fire season…. I cross into San Bernardino county... Road changes to two lanes, and I find myself slowed by trucks, unable to get by...
Finally, I reached Barstow about 7:00... 405 miles a bit under 6 hours…I checked in to my motel... (The Best Western) .... Drove down the Main Street... Old Rt 66, checked out the railroad station with its museums (two) a railroad museum and a rt 66 museum, both closed... Three trains went by in less than 5 minutes... Then back up to the main drag, where I found a pizza place.... Before heading back to the motel....
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