Heat Warning

I checked the weather for today's travels.  We have a extreme heat warning all the way to Bakersfield, CA.
We have set that as our destination today.  From there we will go up to Sequoia NP.  There is a shuttle service to the park out of Visalia, CA.  We will check into using that for our tour of the park as the roads are very crooked and steep.

We are getting things ready to hit the road now.  The temperature outside is already approaching 100 degrees.   Who needs this!

I never knew so much of this country was desert.  We have been in it since mid-Texas.   The scene around here gives credence to the idea that the moon landing was really a hoax and it was shot somewhere in the desert.  There is hardly a living thing here.  The hills are brown rock piles.  Homes sit in the middle of a huge sand pit.  We are so sick of looking at it.  We have decided to get out of the desert today if we have to drive into the night.

As we approached Bakersfield, CA the landscape began to change for the better.  The tops of the hills had these green thing on top of them.  We suspected they might be little trees.  The further we went confirmed it to be true.  The hills were covered with grass, though brown, and there were the deepest green trees sprinkled about midst the grass.  It was really quite beautiful.

At one point we came to big lighted signs that warned of high wind area.  Moterhomes should not proceed etc etc.  The wind has been blowing a gale since we left home so unless it was going to be hurricane force, I was going through.  As we climbed the mountain, we began to see hillsides covered with windmills.  At first we thought there must be hundreds.  But the further we went we concluded there were more like a couple of thousand.  Seriously.  They were on every hillside spaced so close you would think their blades would touch.  Darlie tried to snap some photos out the window but they didn't turn out too good.   There was no place to pull over on the freeway and it would be much to dangerous to try.   The road was very busy.

Some of you must wonder why on earth we didn't stop at Las Vegas.  Truth is the place bills itself as Sin City.  Now being one who has had a problem with sin in the past I didn't think it necessary to tempt myself needlessly.  Truthfully, we would have looked around and had a meal at one of the casinos but with the heat and the lack of a car we decided this would be something we would have to return to see at another time.  Lord willing with it being Sin City and all.

As we descended the mountain to the beginning of the San Joaquin Valley at Bakersfield the fruit trees and vineyards spread out below forming a carpet of green as far as the eye could see.  It was a beautiful sight, GREEN!   It was still early in the day so we decided to push on to Visalia, CA where we will catch the shuttle to Sequoia NP.

We stopped at the Country Manor Mobile Home Village for seniors.  They accept senior RVers also.  It is a pleasant park with a very helpful host in the front office.   Our concern was finding a place to leave the RV while we went on the shuttle.  They don't come by the RV park.  I called the transit supervisor at our hosts suggestion to get advice.   The gentleman was very helpful.   He called a major hotel where the shuttle stops and asked if we could park in their lot for the day.  They obliged.  He went on to make our reservations for tomorrow.  So far all the Californians we have met have been very nice folks.

While I was doing the phone calling, Darlie was cooking up a delicious meal of pork chops with black beans, southwestern corn and rice.   She is doing the dishes now as I write this.  My arms and shoulders still ache from fighting the wheel all day.  So I will conclude this post and go relax till bedtime.  No photos today.  Tomorrow I will make up for it.