Vagabonding in the San Joaquin Valley

By Chris

True! I thought this water tank was quite cool - it had very interesting elements.

The last two weeks of vagabonding have been a mixed bag. Staying in Bakersfield in the extreme heat has been especially challenging in terms of getting exercise and being able to cook, as well as being outside.* The air unit in our studio AirBnB has barely been able to keep up. Turning on the stove was unthinkable! 

*Vagabond Learning for Chris: A component of outdoor living in my home is critically important!

Why Bakersfield? So many friends have asked. Well, we're pensioners now, so we have a budget. We were looking for something within that budget to fill the two weeks between our last stop (Emily's place) and our next (July Santa Barbara AirBnB). We were looking within a 3 hour radius, because we didn't want to drive far from where we were coming from and returning to. Southern California was out for the time being because of curfews and general unrest (at the time we were reserving) and Covid numbers. West is the ocean, so we only had east and north to choose from. Pickings were slim because more people are 'staycationing,' so this was our best option.

Despite the challenges, we've tried to make the best of it and have had some nice days. Nearly every day we get up early, while it's still in the 80s, and go for a short walk and then sit for 1-2 hours in the shade and read books on our Kindles. There are many neighborhood parks within a few miles, but we seem to have found the one we favor - having the right amount of shade, few people, and a clean restroom. It also has very fun street signs.

We did expand out and try a couple of other parks, including the county park that is about 20 miles from our lodging. This park has a river and a lake, and lots of waterfowl.

Also really enjoyable was a visit to the nearby Tule Elk State Reserve. Being there earlier in the day, we were able to sit and observe some elk for quite some time. They are quite beautiful, very observant, and their vocalizations always make me laugh. I learned that elk (and moose!) are members of the deer family. The elk are native to only California, and at one time they were nearly extinct, before conservation efforts were made to protect them. 

Such a lovely view, accompanied by the sounds of the elk, birds, and other creatures. 

We have seen all types of crops in our adventures around the Valley - stone fruits, lemons, grapes, almonds, corn - as well as dairy farms. Most of these are huge industrial farms. Here's a shot of grapes as far as the eye can see, as well as the product on the vine:

Did you know that California grows the majority of fruits and vegetables for the entire country? We already knew about the vegetables, having visited "the salad bowl"  a couple of years ago. This time around, we took a day trip to the heart of the San Joaquin Valley, about 90 miles north, nicknamed "the fruit bowl." There were grapes everywhere, and we imagine that they mostly are used to make raisins, as opposed to wine, as this area holds the headquarters of Sun-Maid Raisins, which we popped over to for a quick looksee. Unfortunately, because of COVID, the public store was closed, but we were able to take some fun piccies. (No worries, later in the day we were able to obtain local golden raisins for Chris and chocolate-covered raisins for John at Circle K Ranch.)

This world's largest box of raisins was actually filled with raisins to make a record in The Guinness Book of World Records. It held 16,500 pounds of raisins!

Now, all of the industrial farms were interesting enough, but it was really fun to come across a local female farmer at her Sweet Girl Farms roadside stand. Liset Garcia was so charming and enthusiastic about her farm (especially her upcoming goal to grow more olives) that I liked her Facebook page. There I discovered she had recently been interviewed for a podcast on small farms (scroll down for episode 275). If you have time, her story is very interesting and inspirational. Here is some of the delicious fruit we purchased from her (also a juicy, sweet watermelon that we've been eating for days):

If you read the last blog post, you may remember us learning about the shaka hand gesture. On this trip, we learned another hand gesture, although the experience was not as pleasant. For those who don't know, in California, motorcyclists are allowed to split lanes i.e. drive between car lanes on the expressway. Crazy, right?! (You have to be really cognizant about changing lanes.) While we were en route for our day trip, we suddenly saw 3 motorcyclists getting ready to do this between our car and a semi, current speed approximately 70! John just remained steady and let them engage in this dangerous, yet legal, behavior. As the last guy manuevered in front of us and then over in front of the semi, he held his left arm down with the two 'peace fingers' extended. We learned this is a way of saying thank you for letting the cyclist split lanes, which was happening in our case, but also for hello and peace. 

Our last bit of entertainment has been trying out local foods. We've been to a variety of fruit stands, picking up all kinds of stone fruits, tomatoes, watermelon, pistachios, and raisins. We also tried Bakersfield 'top' doughnuts and ice cream, which were both very good. Unexpectedly, we found some fantastic Mediterranean food, with the best falafel I've ever had. We also decided to do the chicken fingers challenges. In the southeast, Zaxby's is the chicken finger king. As we headed west, we kept seeing a place called Raising Cane's, often with a long line. Unlike Zaxby's, they only do chicken fingers, and this is a good strategy (similar to how In N Out sticks to their core business). Aside from the fries, Raising Cane's won out over Zaxby's. Finally, we tried the local taco truck, Taquitos Jesus. Very good, but spi-ceeee!

When we aren't out exploring in the afternoons, I've been working on genealogy and some other projects. I have a very in-depth project going on right now, with 3 of John's distant cousins, trying to figure out how everyone is related. This is through his Moschitto line, his paternal great-grandmother's family name. I also made some fun discoveries in my line, including a distant great-grandfather's account of his time in the American Revolutionary War, as well as discovering that another owned two farms on the Detroit River, located right where I used to work at MichCon headquarters. I spent a lot of time walking the same places my ancestors had!

Next stop: Santa Barbara