07-26-04
It's 8:30 or so on Monday evening. Sitting in a Flying J just
outside of Bakersfield, Ca. We left Lodi, Ca. today about
noon. We got up and I checked the air in the tires, and filled
with gas again. Yes, I know I just filled up last night when we
got there, but, we ran the generator about 6 hours last night to run
the air conditioner, and I wanted to get an idea how much gas it takes
per hour to do that. Turns out, it's about 1 gallon per
hour. By the time we turned it off, the temp had dropped enough
outside, that we could open up the windows and turn on a small
fan. Interesting thing about gas, last night we filled up at
$2.049 per gallon. This morning, when I filled up it was
$2.019. Go figure. Who knew? We then went down the street
and did a load of laundry. Ate lunch and headed for
Bakersfield. While I think of it, last night we had gone to bed,
and about midnight, I awoke with a start, thinking to myself, somebody
just ran into the motor home. I about half sat up in bed, and
said, naw, I'm dreaming. When I got up this morning, the drivers
mirror was flipped backwards, with the mirror part facing forward
instead of backwards. Turns out, someone pulled in beside us and
apparently his mirror bumped mine and just turned mine around. No
damage done, just had to get the wrench out and readjust it. Low
temp this morning was 65 degrees, high this afternoon was 105.
Interesting thing though, back in Pa. when the temp gets about about 80
degrees, after being in it for several hours, your whole body just gets
kind of "poofy", you know, kind of bloated feeling. That doesn't
happen that much here, even though the temperature is higher. I
think the humidity is lower and the body has a better change to cool
itself. Anyhow, it is still pretty warm. We drove mostly
down I 5 from just south of Sacramento, to a route 46 which runs east
and west. I wanted to get to I 99 before coming into Bakersfield,
because I wasn't sure exactly where the Flying J was. Turns out
that was a good call. After getting on I 99, the next exit was
where it happened to be. So here we are. We actually
treated ourselves to a "real meal" at the restaurant here. Got
the buffet, and probably ate a little too much. However, it was
good food. Came back to the coach and Sherry demanded a haircut,
which as a good husband, I was obligated to do. She now has
shorter hair than when we left home. Another sight we saw today
was part of the California aqueduct system. I remember reading
about it, but actually saw some of it today. What a setup.
If it wasn't for all the irrigation they do in this valley, there would
be no food coming out of here. We drove for miles and miles
today, and with the water they pump around and irrigate the fields with
makes all the difference in the world. Couple of pictures that I
plan to post tonight shows that without irrigation, there is nothing
but dry land and grass. With irrigation the fields are producing
untold amounts of food. Couple of pictures show truckloads of
what we think are tomatoes. We saw dozens of them today - with
double trailers - loaded. Sure gives one a new appreciation for
what water can do for you, or what happens with the lack of
it. Anyhow, for a while we thought we could have been in
Nebraska with all the farm land and crops and things. We could
see for miles and miles with nothing but farms and crops around.
Amazing sight if you've never seen it before. Well, this is
getting kind of lengthy, so I think I will try to post some pictures,
and upload this update. Later.
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