Beautiful Bakersfield

So here I am just chillin' in beautiful Bakersfield among the orange trees.  I cruised out of Indio at an early 7:00 (Arizona Time) into the madhouse that is their freeway system.  In spite of the early hour, it wasn't too bad until I hit Beaumont.  Next time I'm going through Havasu up to Highway 40.  I just HATE the rough roads and crazy drivers of Southern California.

By the way, I've been sticking to Arizona time.  I think the time changes in California tonight, or maybe tomorrow and I'm trying hard to keep up my non-existent sleeping habits.

Naturally, in spite of my GPS system AND my phone, I missed the first exit to Hwy 210.  It gets me every time!  You would think after all these trips, I would have it figured out, but lucky for me, the next exit is easier and takes you to the same place.  Up the steep hills to the high desert I went, passing trucks right and left.  There is something to be said about having a big engine and not a lot of weight (not counting me) since I emptied all the cupboards of the canned food I never seemed to eat.

Suddenly, there was a big CRASH!!  NOOOOOOOOO!!!  I had instant flashbacks of Jonathan walking up the aisle!!  I could tell from the pings on the floor that Jon was safe however.  Cooper on the other hand was trying to climb the child gate and get in my lap.  I pulled over to find my junk basket full of what else ... junk ... had dumped it's contents on the floor before resting nicely on my new chair.  

I crawled around on hands and knees picking up twelve empty bobbin spools from the embroidery machine ... because you know, I just might need them some time ... six pens and assorted computer thingies.  Maybe Cooper will recover in a week or two.

As soon as I turned off on Highway 395, it was smooth sailing along the roller coaster highway to the lovely smell of creosote bushes in the 86 degree heat.  I didn't mind at all.  For some weird reason, creosote smells good ... like being home.

Tehachapi was a cinch with no wind, no rain and no snow.  In fact, there was no wind my entire trip.  At long last ... a five hour drive ... I landed in the orange groves at Orange Grove RV Park.  They have the friendliest girls here, the longest, widest parking spaces and oranges for you to pick free.  Unfortunately, they have been on the trees a little too long and tasted like something between a watermelon and an overripe tomato.

Remember I mentioned the cupboards and refrigerator were bare?  Except for frozen Ugly Steaks, I was going to actually have to COOK something for dinner.  All I had was some turkey sausage and one bleak russet potato.  With Chef Patty not in the house, I actually had to figure out what to do with them.  I chopped it all up and threw it in a pan with as many spices as I thought she would use, which is just about everything in my spice drawer.    It didn't matter whether it was edible or not, I ate it.

Bakersfield may not be the prettiest town around, but they do put on a good sunset show over the trees.   I was dead tired and sleepy when the train whistle brought me back to reality.  There IS a train that runs VERY close by ... but at least it doesn't run at night.  

Up at 4:30 to let the dogs out, I'll be doing the dump dance with my 5 gallon bucket.  Might as well get that out of the way since I'll be home about three hours after leaving this wonderful park.  I'm pretty sure we will ALL be happy to have solid ground under our feet again and a back yard to run around in WITHOUT leashes.