Those are the "sights" (read stops) we have encountered since my last blog from Travis AFB, and there will be one more when we move on to Casa Grande on Thursday.
We spent one night in the parking lot at the Wal Mart in Bakersfield before moving on to the Salton Sea and the Fountain of Youth. While in Bakersfield we went to Buck Owens' Crystal Palace for dinner and to have a look around at all the memorabilia from his musical career. We also spent a few hours at the Kern County Museum in Bakersfield which is a sixty-acre outdoor facility with lots of little historical houses that have been moved to the property and set up as various businesses with everything from a harness shop to a blacksmith shop. There was a great emphasis on the oil, and I didn't realize what a huge impact it had on the area.
The most interesting stop on this trip was our two-day stay at the Fountain of Youth near the Salton Sea. That entire area is very desolate and foresaken, but this park was most enjoyable with its mineral water spa. We drove through Bombay Beach which had been a desirable resort area when the Salton Sea was created, but after a massive flood some twenty years ago, most everyone just picked up and abandoned their properties. But with great surprise, we found by looking closer that a number of those ramshackle places were occupied by what to look like squatters.
Rod and Karen drove to Slab City which was originally a military base that the government razed and just left the concrete slabs. That too has taken on a life of its own with numerous societal misfits taking up residence there living in everything from tents to big motor homes.
While on the desert, we endured the worst storm of twenty years with howling winds and driving rain. We pulled the slides in for the better part of one day and all night to protect the awnings from the wind. There were a number of folks who saw their slide awnings blow away. There was some sunshine for our last day before coming to Yuma yesterday. And on Thursday it is on to Casa Grande.
Cooper is doing well, and with his incredibly expensive dog food, his coat looks gorgeous. We never fail to have folks stop and ask about him or comment on him when we are out walking.
Karen and I need a quilting fix since we have been on the desert with no power for our machines so we are off today for pedicures and quilt shop hopping. I am also keeping my eyes open for a different machine since I have come to the conclusion that mine is underpowered and the source of a lot of frustration.
Unitl next time.............ciao.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Moving On
We will depart Travis on Thursday morning and probably stay in Bakersfield that night before going on to the Salton Sea on Friday. We have been busy and entertained while here with the arrival of both the Spragues and the Ouseys within an hour of each other last Friday.
Gary and Carolyn took a look at the map and decided it was a pretty short side trip to hop off I-5 and come visit, so it has been the six of us. There is lots of available space here in the Famcamp so we had no problem getting either the Spragues or the Ouseys in.
In addition to spending time visiting, Karen and I have worked on a small quilting project, and this afternoon she, Rod, and I went to see Invictus which was an awesome movie. But then I don't think any of Morgan Freeman's movies are anything but awesome.
The six of us toured the Jelly Belly factory here in Fairfield this week, and it was an OK tour, but they offer a complete tour down on the floor of the production area for a mere $47/person. We settled for the free tour which gave us an overhead perspective on the entire operation. Every one of those little jelly beans exits the production line with Jelly Belly stamped on it!! The gift shop had a plethora of Jelly Belly items, all appropriately over-priced, but I did purchase a two-pound bag of Belly Flops, the misshapen beans that didn't make it out the door.
Finally this morning I am seeing some blue sky and sunshine which is a vast improvement over the past five or six days of fog, damp, and dank. And the weather is bound to get more appealing as we move south.
Cooper has been a happy trooper. We weren't sure he was going to live to travel with us this year, but he has rallied and is as happy as a clam having the both of us confined to an area where he can keep an eye on us. He hardly looks fifteen when we take him outside and he bounds around in the grass looking for rabbits. He has lived to hunt another day.
There is an interesting phenomenon next door. A man arrived with a small older used motor home last weekend, and obviously knew NOTHING about an RV, but he said it was something he had always wanted to do, and had just purchased and driven this over from someone's driveway in the area.
Now it is the middle of the week, and I have gotten a glimpse of a woman and at least one teenager, but the curtains stay drawn and there is very limited activity except for the car being away during the day. My speculation is that it is a family who has lost their home, and have had to succumb to living in a small RV. No one goes out on their maiden voyage in an old RV they know nothing about just for the fun of it during the winter months. I will probably never know the entire story since we are leaving tomorrow. Ken helped him set up when he first arrived.
I need to get on with laundry and shopping to be ready to leave tomorrow. Ciao.
Gary and Carolyn took a look at the map and decided it was a pretty short side trip to hop off I-5 and come visit, so it has been the six of us. There is lots of available space here in the Famcamp so we had no problem getting either the Spragues or the Ouseys in.
In addition to spending time visiting, Karen and I have worked on a small quilting project, and this afternoon she, Rod, and I went to see Invictus which was an awesome movie. But then I don't think any of Morgan Freeman's movies are anything but awesome.
The six of us toured the Jelly Belly factory here in Fairfield this week, and it was an OK tour, but they offer a complete tour down on the floor of the production area for a mere $47/person. We settled for the free tour which gave us an overhead perspective on the entire operation. Every one of those little jelly beans exits the production line with Jelly Belly stamped on it!! The gift shop had a plethora of Jelly Belly items, all appropriately over-priced, but I did purchase a two-pound bag of Belly Flops, the misshapen beans that didn't make it out the door.
Finally this morning I am seeing some blue sky and sunshine which is a vast improvement over the past five or six days of fog, damp, and dank. And the weather is bound to get more appealing as we move south.
Cooper has been a happy trooper. We weren't sure he was going to live to travel with us this year, but he has rallied and is as happy as a clam having the both of us confined to an area where he can keep an eye on us. He hardly looks fifteen when we take him outside and he bounds around in the grass looking for rabbits. He has lived to hunt another day.
There is an interesting phenomenon next door. A man arrived with a small older used motor home last weekend, and obviously knew NOTHING about an RV, but he said it was something he had always wanted to do, and had just purchased and driven this over from someone's driveway in the area.
Now it is the middle of the week, and I have gotten a glimpse of a woman and at least one teenager, but the curtains stay drawn and there is very limited activity except for the car being away during the day. My speculation is that it is a family who has lost their home, and have had to succumb to living in a small RV. No one goes out on their maiden voyage in an old RV they know nothing about just for the fun of it during the winter months. I will probably never know the entire story since we are leaving tomorrow. Ken helped him set up when he first arrived.
I need to get on with laundry and shopping to be ready to leave tomorrow. Ciao.
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