December 5–9, 2013 Woodward Lake-Bakersfield, California

Heading south still. The cold snap is still happening. 50’s/20’s.

In Chico John turned the key to start the bus and nothing happened. He diagnosed it to be the ignition switch. He spent 3 hours getting the old one out, running to the parts store for a new one and installing it. He has more patience than anyone I know. It worked perfectly.  We drove till almost dusk to Woodward Lake Park, arrived at sunset.

The bus on Woodward Lake. It is a lovely county park on the city’s water supply. Full hookups, 50 amps. Almost no one there. Sunset with a eucalyptus tree , a crescent moon and evening star.

It was a long drive. I decided to use up the needles left over from the last basket, got the bottom of another basket made before I ran out. Here is another bundle of needles ready to soak in boiling water, then I can behead them to use.

A few sights from the drive. A truck full of tangerines. They are just harvesting them now. They grow them south of Chico. We saw tons of birds on these rice paddies. We were surprised that there were huge flocks of swans. Never have seen a flock of swans before, the bottom of the photo is the skyline of Sacramento.  In a downtown Oakdale thrift store, near the lake John found this wig, he will wear it as part of his costume of the Kirk Douglas character in 20,000 leagues under the sea, the theme of the fruitcake festival we are enroute to. He had wanted blond, but this is what they had.

The lake on an evening walk. Wild life from the lake, turkeys in the campground, a great horned owl and raccoon tracks.

It rained all last night. They had predicted snow, but looks like the snow line was just above us. In the afternoon it cleared up to blue sky with puffy clouds. I have been working for days on my mermaid tail made from a flashy dress I got at the thrift shop,for the fruitcake festival, it came out kind of funky, the design makes my hips and waist look huge. But what the heck, it will work.

Sunset on the lake. After a long weekend at the lake we headed south again to Bakersfield, California. We are parked at The Orange Grove RV park. It is in a grove of oranges and you can pick as many as you want. We picked 3 large grocery bags full. They are as big as grapefruits.  It has gotten below freezing a few times, but not enough to freeze the trees or fruit.

John in his Kirk Douglas wig under an orange tree. On the way down we drove through raisin country. Near Selma (raisin capital of the world their sign in town announced) and Kingsburg they grow grapes for raisins. Miles and miles of grapes. The Sun Maid factory is pictured in the middle of the photo, the grapevines below. They don’t have tours of their factory. Too bad, it would be interesting to see how they process them.

The pool at the Orange Grove RV park. These oranges were the view I woke up outside the bedroom window.  I could reach out the window  and pick some fresh orange juice.

 

It was a 5 hour drive from the lake to Bakersfield. Way too long, but I got this much done on the basket. John decided to squeeze up a little drink tonight. Fresh squeezed, from fresh picked is the best.