Trip 9 - California Dreamin'

On this trip we set out to immerse ourselves in the culture and the nature of California. To discover its textures and see some of its natural wonders. We discover that California is very big. It is not a state that you can just pass through, it is, more than any other place we have visited, more like another country. It is a land dominated by mountains, the spaces between and like nowhere else, water.
Our start in the heavily populated area to the East of Los Angeles, known as the Inland Empire, is crowded into the lowlands surrounded by magnificent mountains. The feeling is of a cauldron which is trying to boil over the mountains to the fresh air of the rest of the state.
To the South is a band of Desert, which is the buffer to Mexico, which we did not explore on this trip.
We travelled North through the mountains (everywhere in California you can see mountains) to the desert, and on again to the huge Central Valley, mile after mile of intensive agriculture. Culture here is dominated by food, flatness, low income and trying to impact on the 'sameness' of the flat lands through music and festival. It is the communication and administrative corridor that links all other areas of California.
To the East is the huge mountain chain of the Sierra Nevada which clearly demonstrates the magnificence of the natural world, both in its geology and nature, reflected in the pysche and pride of most Californians. It is Eldorado, dominated by Gold!
To the West of the Central Valley are the coastal mountains, San Francisco and the magnificent coast. More isolated cultures, from mixed resources, communities seperated by mountains.
To the North of the Central Valley more mountains and a culture which looks more North towards Oregon than South to Sacremento.
This blog details our journey through California, where we pick and choose, or just scratch the surface, of this diverse and beautiful state.

Friday, December 2, 2011

Back to Los Angeles

Friday
We have now arrived back in the Los Angeles area, after a three day drive which has taken us from the coast, on Route 101, through a vine growing region, to Paso Robles. At Paso Robles we stopped at the Fairground, we were the only people there and it was very quiet, though quite exposed as it is really a converted car park. In the evening we went out for a meal to McLintocks, which was just off the rather nice/quaint town square, where we had a plate of the daily special - Tuesday Chicken, a roasted half chicken with 'fixin's', we had one meal between us and an extra salad, which the divided into two plates. We were both full at the end of it. a great meal.
On Wednesday we drove down to the I5 from Paso Robles and then across to Lancaster. The scenery and weather now changed, approaching the I5 the ground became drier and as we rose higher the clouds started to close in. Once on the I5 we started to climb further and became enclosed in quite thick fog. When we headed East to Lancaster we cleared the fog and on looking back we could see that the road through the mountains was indeed covered with cloud. We now travelled through desert on a very straight road, in bright sunshine, but now the wind was increasing and becoming quite gusty, blowing the tumble weed and sand across the road.
In Lancaster we stayed at the Antelope Valley Fairground. Another converted car park with hookups, but OK. Lancaster is quite strange in that it seems to be huge, but with very few houses, as though someone laid out the infrastructure for a large city and no one moved there. Appearances can be deceptive, because the town is laid out on such a grand scale the several thousand people are spread quite thinly. Interesting place.
On Thursday we set out on the third part of our drive, through what I assume is the South Western part of the Mojave Desert, to reach I15 at Victorville and then drop down into San Bernardino, where we had booked a camp site for the weekend so that we can clean and make ready our rig for storage prior to flying home on Monday.

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