December 12-14, 2018 Bakersfield to Independence, California

I love this country. Rolling green hills, huge oak trees and a ranch. Fog this am starting to burn off. 

This ranger at the park told John a shortcut to the highway 5. Said it would save us lots of miles and it was paved and no problem in the RV. It started out riddled with potholes, a bone jarring drive, then shrunk down to one lane with no shoulders. Nowhere to turn around a rig this big. But John drove it masterfully. This sign greeted us about 15 miles from the highway- San Benito county 41 Welcomes you.  

If possible the pot holes got worse. Then it changed to a one lane dirt road, no shoulders. Then unbelievably there was a river crossing. John got out to see if it was too deep, said it was ok, so over we went.  

Steep hills and very tight turns. Good thing the road was not wet. The sun came out right before the highway. The colors were lovely. We made it out, 67 miles in 3 hours. It did save us some distance, but not alot of time. . .  

We are camped in a RV park in Bakersfield in the middle of an orange grove. The oranges are ripe and we can pick as many as we want. We went into town to resupply. It will be a couple weeks before we come to a real grocery store again. Signs along the road California's Future depends on water. Build dams now. There was another one that said Is growing your food a waste of water?, we drove by Bravo Farms- Bravoland and John would not stop. . ., fields of flowers, and oil wells in downtown Bakersfield. 

 Sunset through the smog from probably LA was lovely. The top on is in traffic and the bottom one is from the Walmart parking lot. At the end of all this we stopped at Lengthwise Brewing Company for beverages and dinner.  John with his Octoberfest beer. He didn't like any of their IPA's. 

The view outside the bedroom window when I woke up today. We are staying in Orange Grove RV park and we can pick as many oranges as we want.  I picked a ton of oranges. We had fresh squeezed OJ this am. Some of these oranges are as big as grapefruits.  

We did not stay in Bakersfield long enough to take advantage of the pool. Bummer. They have these really strange shaped trees at the RV park. We woke up to smog in Bakersfield. There was an inversion going on. We drove above the smog and this is the view. I love the oak covered rolling hills. Then there was smog again on the other side of Tehachapi pass. 

The fruitcake festival is in Independence, California. Independence is located at the red arrow on the Eastern Sierra between Yosemite, Kings Canyon, Sequoia  and Death Valley National parks.  Sunset tonight from the Fort Indepence Indian reservation RV park. It is only 3 miles from Independence. 

We came for the Fruit cake festival. We helped decorate tonight. The set up so far.  My sister Judy with the Ask the Fruitcake Lady book.  

John wearing the fruit cake. I am working on this small basket. It started out as another basket that I did not like so I cut the center out of it and retired it. So I am not finishing it. I sewed in another center and put a top on it. It was such a irregular shape that I decided to add a couple decorative coils. It is still shaped weird but is more interesting. I am still working on it. 

The bus in our campsite at Fort Independence Indian Reservation. The view of the eastern Sierras from our campsite at Fort Independence Indian Reservation. 

The basket is done. A little lopsided but nice colors and interesting meandering coils. It sold this am too.  

Still decorating for the Fruit Cake Festival.  Judy preparing to perform delicate eye surgery on the dragon. She ended up doing bilateral  ocular implants. John and Judy hung the giant fruit cake from the stage this morning and John has been working on the lighting for the stage. 

Ceci, Nancy, Judy and I worked on the pyramid of wishes and dreams. First Judy and I had to do some skin grafts, then she amputated the nose and did plastic surgery for a more modern look. Ceci and I implanted green candied cherries on the skin and worked on the platform for the lighted star. Nancy- who is the town librarian  piled up a set of encyclopedias for the base. Attendees will write their wishes and dreams on a card and insert it into the magic pyramid and later the dragon will deliver them through the fruitcake on the stage. We know how to have fun. The schedule for the Fruit cake festival tomorrow. The logo and a cool cloud this morning.