Driving south

South of Bakersfield, going over Tehachapi Pass looking toward Bear Mountain.

Still unwinding (back-wise) from the drive down from Oregon as we settle into our Tucson house and get used to 89°F.

When driving between our farm in Oregon and Tucson, we have alternate routes we can take. The decision this time to take I-5 through the big valley of California was made the morning we left for no particular reason. Weather was great for traveling whichever way we had chosen. California though did offer split pea soup at Anderson's in Santa Nella which is where we spent our first night.

I love the drive through the Siskiyous. Mt. Shasta is below, pretty mountain country with red soil from its volcanic past and especially at this time of the year, redbud blooming all over the hills.


Once we got south of Sacramento, it was interesting to see all the crops being raised but also irritating that the whining signs from past drought years were still up. Congress is turning this into a dust bowl. Excuse me but that's a lot of fields under irrigation for a dust bowl. I'd guess more like 3/4 of what can be seen from the freeway is in fruit, nut trees, and other crops. Not enough apparently and it's all Boxer and Pelosi's fault-- that is the few pieces of non-irrigated land but the crops that are planted and producing, not to their credit.

It gives me a bit of a smile to think how frustrated those sign producers must've been that both won their races. This area produces almonds, pistachios, citrus, rice, olives, and not sure what all else.

The whining signs popped up the whole route during the drought years when interests concerned about northern California rivers and farmers came into conflict. Irrigate or fill those big canals? The Klamath River went to such low levels that the salmon runs still haven't recovered as millions of fish died in water with insufficient oxygen. That didn't matter much to the farmers but fishermen get their living from that water also.

With the signs, I get that these folks are not happy because they are red state folks living in a state where most of the population is on the coast and that's blue state country. I feel their pain (actually not) except when I see all the land under usage. Lot of the ones that are not are so rough that it would take a lot of work to change their usage from cattle to crops.

To put land into production, to level, plow and put in the watering system is often subsidized by the USDA, which means those evil taxes. It's one of those instances of where government is bad except when it's doing something directly for them-- and a lot of people have no idea all it is doing directly for them.

Doubtless they were also unhappy (no signs yet on this one) about the price of gasoline. Wow, that was quite the travel expense. I heard one right wing radio type trying to blame that on Obama due to insufficient new drilling in the Gulf after the big spill. Amazing what they will come up with as a reason that somehow ties to him. Vote in Trump. He'll conquer countries to take the oil he wants.

The high cost of fuel (I think the most we paid was $4.29 for diesel) also though contributed to far less traffic on the freeway. It has been many years since I had seen so little traffic on I-5. Lots of semis but ordinary drivers seemed to be cutting back or taking that high cost into consideration before going somewhere.

Road work was everywhere in the northern part of the state. It seemed some team was working on a road project every so many miles. At least those jobs are doing well unfortunately everyone doesn't have the skill or strength to do them.

Those freeways, with all the heavy truck traffic, would be potholes from end to end without government. The motto of the right has been government stay out of our business-- until we personally need something and that often is something they don't even know they are using.

Try individually arranging for canals that can deliver and manage the kind of water it takes to run all these agricultural projects going on in the central valley. In California they were mostly paid for through bonds voted on by the people, which the users will repay fully. In Arizona the canal was a federal project begun under Carter.

The problem with canals has always been not always taking into account droughts. In California, the northern part doesn't have uniform, guaranteed rainfall (which is why some looked greedily toward Oregon who glared back.

This year it appears there has been plenty to keep the canals flowing. Lake Shasta was as full as I've seen it recently; but whenever there hasn't been enough flowing into the dams from the rivers, a new motto appears-- blame government. What matters is all about us. That's what the right wing should admit they stand for these days. This is all happening in a region that naturally would only produce beef (they still have those big feed lots that turn the stomach of anybody who loves cattle).

The first time I was on I-5 was not long after it opened and there was nothing along that road except grass and once in awhile an exit with some food and gasoline-- and I do mean once in awhile.

Today acre after acre are full of orchards with only a few blank spots for the signs to whine. I thought maybe they'd take them down in the rich water years and reapply them next time there isn't enough water but no. There was no end to the complaining, and it lasted until Wasco area when agriculture was replaced by industry (the prison one is booming).

So the orchards are beautiful to see as we drove south. I wondered where all the produce was sent. I was amazed at the evidences of different agricultural methods (they trim the top of orange trees evidently so they can be picked mechanically, we guessed). It is a very productive region due to that water and most in the hands of corporate farms which doesn't mean they aren't family owned but does mean they are big.

The plan for driving to Tucson changed at Needles, well a few miles outside of it. Photos and more on that coming.