Snow and Wind

We drove up to Tehachapi to see three parks.  Tehachapi is 35 miles east-southeast of Bakersfield and west of Mojave.  It is still winter up there at 3,970 feet above sea level.  One park we went to called Indian Hills Ranch still has snow on the hills above it.  It was cold!  I suspect we will see more of that in the future although the snow pack in California is very, very light.

With California Governor Brown’s new water restrictions and the general reaction to the lack of water by the population here, we can see California adjusting to its new reality.  One has to wonder how long it will be before the production of agriculture will migrate back to seasonal production in other areas of the country and how much of what we accept as normal produce year round will become a thing of fond memory?  By the time we reached Santa Paula, we could see that the farmers are working hard to provide us with everything from strawberries and cabbages to oranges and lemons.  All of which have been plucked from the earth and trees by back breaking work.  It causes me to pause and be grateful for what I take for granted pushing a grocery cart.

One thing California is getting right are acres and acres of wind generators in remote areas.  We passed hundreds of them all working away making electricity with the free source of energy created by the wind and bothering no one by their presence in the process.  Pretty awesome!

Las Cruces NM to Tucson AZ

Today’s trip covered the ground between Las Cruces and Tucson under slightly cloudy skies.  Two things were prevalent today.  The first was trains-lots of them.  We saw the parts of wind generators loaded onto one train traveling westerly and an Amtrak train going easterly.  Potential energy versus people all moving across the desert in opposite directions, interspersed with boxcar after boxcar of who knows what on other trains.  When you think of the amount of double-decker boxcars traversing mile after mile of track and then add in the trucks on the road, we have an amazing amount of transportation going on in this part of the country.  It is impressive and speaks to the improved economy I suspect.  Hurray for the U.S.A.

We saw cattle and horses being transported also.  Snoopy was particularly impressed with the horses while we were stopped next to their trailer for lunch.  I believe that is as close as he as ever been to them in his brief life covering an enormous number of miles on the road.  He also enjoyed sitting on the bottom step of the coach gazing out through the screen door this evening after we arrived in Tucson and opened all the windows and front door to bring in the delightful breeze and comfortable temperature.  It is nice to enjoy the world in just a T-shirt again.

About a half hour out from Tucson, where we stopped for lunch at a rest stop there are the most interesting rock formations.  I love what erosion has created and the colors revealed in these rocks.  These are the type of views in Arizona that make the desert beautiful to experience here.  The desert is somewhat green now and sprinkled with yellow flowers as we passed over the miles today.  Add to that the rugged mountains on our horizon in shades of gray and steel blue for most of the day and you have a painting in the making, even if it is only in your mind.

Another day traveled ending with a good dinner and a walk about the RV Park and now we are ready to turn in for the day.  Changing an hour a day with time zones and with Daylight Savings Time has our internal clocks really confused.  At seven p.m. we feel like it is time to go to bed.  Go figure!

Tomorrow will be a day with friends in Casa Grande and I can hardly wait.  This will be one of the highlights of crossing the country.  If only we could have beignets too!