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2011-03-26 tl;dr: It's sad when a good day is one where you were not as wet or cold as you expected to be. It wasn't supposed to start raining until 10 AM, but when I poked my head outside the motel room shortly after sunrise it was already drizzling. Sigh. I packed up, put on my rain poncho, and hit the road.I did not get rained on as much as I expected. The sky misted for part of the morning, but the predicted downpour never materialized. As I made my way farther into California's interior I seemed to separate myself from the coastal rains. It almost got sunny a few times, but it never quite got warm. The rear hub of my bicycle continued to slip gears. I figured out that 1st and 3rd gears didn't slip as bad as 2nd. So I just used those. It wasn't that bad. I've been places seemingly without trees. But really, if you looked hard enough there was always a tree somewhere. Even in the Dakotas trees could be found almost everywhere in the form of land boundaries or wind breaks. But today I biked literal miles without seeing a single tree and often not even a bush. There were a lot of cows, though. And some sheep. I am finding that if you can get onto back roads in California the cycling is very pleasant. I was expecting more daunting hill climbs on Bitterwater Road, but it never came to be. A gentle slope was balanced out by a strong tailwind for the twenty or so miles I was going uphill. I've also been a lot of places that were perfectly flat. The area west of Bakersfield CA can now be added to that list. In the future I will cease to be impressed by flat expanses. As I moved closer to Bakersfield the miles and miles of treeless pastures gave way to miles and miles of orchards and groves. That then gave way to miles and miles of cotton and other crops along roads with such literal names as Main Drain Road, and through towns with really awesome names like Buttonwillow. As it was getting dark I didn't know if I would find a convenient campsite as all the orchards had seemingly evaporated. Eventually I spotted trees in the distance. This may be the first time I've camped in a month. I'm in some sort of orchard. And apparently it was raining last time I camped as my tent had a bit of mold in it. I knew I should have taken the time to air it out. And speaking of letting the air out, Big Bertha seems to have sprung a leak. I paid good money for this sleeping pad last year. I guess I did get my money's worth, but that doesn't leave a satisfied feeling when I am sleeping on the hard ground. |
 Clayhouse Wines  doing tech support from a rest area bathroom  ground squirrels are really hard to photograph   colorful  no trees  sheep  I'd rather not be fishing here  is that door locked? are you sure?  looking back  camping in an orchard |