Day 38-Thurs, 5 Feb 09-Morro to Bakersfield, California
Photos: (1) One of the beautiful views along Hwy 58 (2) Buffalo, Eagle and Mom w/baby Otter. Woo-hoo….what a day we had….it was spectacular and more!
We left Morro and headed for San Luis Obispo to the local Dodge dealer to get the brakes checked. They had been making a real squeely noise when we turned the wheel but turned out the bearing were a bit loose so no big problem..or expense in the end. They had a very luxurious waiting area, complete with internet room, coffee room, TV room, kids’ room, etc. Not a hard place to sit and wait. We got on the internet to check the weather. There’s another cold front moving in for a couple of days and Las Vegas is cool and rainy for the weekend. Do we go or not? Well, I can’t think of a better place to spend a rainy weekend that in Las Vegas so we headed out.
Rather than doing the interstate, we decided to head cross country on Highway 58 which goes through the La Panza, Coastal and Temblor Ranges. It turned out to be the most wonderful 80 miles we’ve driven on this trip. We’d only driven a short while when I spotted something BIG in a dead tree along the road. I did one of those “OMG, stop the van” things and Wayne pulled over while I grabbed my camera. It turned out to be a huge juvenile eagle and he didn’t move when I got out of the van. I wished the chicken I’d taken out for supper had been thawed as I would have used some of it to entice it to come a little closer. It was beautiful though and just sat on the limb like the king of the sky it is.
A little further down the road I did the OMG thing again and as soon as Wayne stopped the van I was out taking photos of a herd of buffalo grazing on a hill. There was one big bull who was clearly the boss of the group, a few younger bulls that were practicing head- butting, a bunch of females and a few small ones. It was not hard to believe they were a wild herd just wandering the hills vice belonging to someone who supplies buffalo burgers to a local restaurant. I can dream.
The diversity of the terrain has always amazed me and it was certainly evident along this drive. We went in to a very green area with lots of pine trees that turned out to be the Las Padres National Forest. There were some huge pine cones along the road and we stopped to pick one up. I swear it weighs ½ lb and it’s massive. Within 5 miles the terrain changed and became big rolling hills covered in short green grass. At some points there were areas with tall yellow grass that swayed when the breeze would blow. Incredible! Another 5 miles and it changed again—to a hilly desert with scrub trees and tumbleweed. We saw all of this while weaving our way up and down the hills, sometimes with spectacular views of 100 miles or more.
There was a small town along the way called Buttonwillow that had huge fields of plants that were inserted in tubes set in the ground…about 12-18 inches high. I had no idea what they were until I saw a couple of buildings that said, ‘Co-operative Gining Assoc’ and had an inkling of what they might be. A while later there was a sign that said, “Buttonwillow—California’s Cotton Belt’. Mystery solved!
Bakersfield is quite a large place—350,000 people—and we are in a new RV Park that is very nice. After a few loads of laundry and supper, the geekie Corkum’s are each glued to their respective laptops doing whatever it is we do half the evening while trying to watch television at the same time. We’ll try to be on the road early tomorrow in order to drive the 500 kms to Vegas.Until next time, love and hugs to all. xx
We left Morro and headed for San Luis Obispo to the local Dodge dealer to get the brakes checked. They had been making a real squeely noise when we turned the wheel but turned out the bearing were a bit loose so no big problem..or expense in the end. They had a very luxurious waiting area, complete with internet room, coffee room, TV room, kids’ room, etc. Not a hard place to sit and wait. We got on the internet to check the weather. There’s another cold front moving in for a couple of days and Las Vegas is cool and rainy for the weekend. Do we go or not? Well, I can’t think of a better place to spend a rainy weekend that in Las Vegas so we headed out.
Rather than doing the interstate, we decided to head cross country on Highway 58 which goes through the La Panza, Coastal and Temblor Ranges. It turned out to be the most wonderful 80 miles we’ve driven on this trip. We’d only driven a short while when I spotted something BIG in a dead tree along the road. I did one of those “OMG, stop the van” things and Wayne pulled over while I grabbed my camera. It turned out to be a huge juvenile eagle and he didn’t move when I got out of the van. I wished the chicken I’d taken out for supper had been thawed as I would have used some of it to entice it to come a little closer. It was beautiful though and just sat on the limb like the king of the sky it is.
A little further down the road I did the OMG thing again and as soon as Wayne stopped the van I was out taking photos of a herd of buffalo grazing on a hill. There was one big bull who was clearly the boss of the group, a few younger bulls that were practicing head- butting, a bunch of females and a few small ones. It was not hard to believe they were a wild herd just wandering the hills vice belonging to someone who supplies buffalo burgers to a local restaurant. I can dream.
The diversity of the terrain has always amazed me and it was certainly evident along this drive. We went in to a very green area with lots of pine trees that turned out to be the Las Padres National Forest. There were some huge pine cones along the road and we stopped to pick one up. I swear it weighs ½ lb and it’s massive. Within 5 miles the terrain changed and became big rolling hills covered in short green grass. At some points there were areas with tall yellow grass that swayed when the breeze would blow. Incredible! Another 5 miles and it changed again—to a hilly desert with scrub trees and tumbleweed. We saw all of this while weaving our way up and down the hills, sometimes with spectacular views of 100 miles or more.
There was a small town along the way called Buttonwillow that had huge fields of plants that were inserted in tubes set in the ground…about 12-18 inches high. I had no idea what they were until I saw a couple of buildings that said, ‘Co-operative Gining Assoc’ and had an inkling of what they might be. A while later there was a sign that said, “Buttonwillow—California’s Cotton Belt’. Mystery solved!
Bakersfield is quite a large place—350,000 people—and we are in a new RV Park that is very nice. After a few loads of laundry and supper, the geekie Corkum’s are each glued to their respective laptops doing whatever it is we do half the evening while trying to watch television at the same time. We’ll try to be on the road early tomorrow in order to drive the 500 kms to Vegas.Until next time, love and hugs to all. xx
posted by Lynne @ 8:44 PM
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