I-5 and the San Joaquin Valley

The San Joaquin Valley is something to behold. Miles and miles of orchards and fields spread between the Sierra Nevada and Coast Range Mountains in a patchwork of unnatural green. I say unnatural because interspursed between the cherry orchards and vegetable rows are abandoned fields, yellow and dry as a bone. These anti-oasis all have one thing in common. They are marked with yellow signs that place the blame for their sorry state in four words: "Congress Created DUST BOWL". I am not sure exactly what that's all about (and maybe I should look it up and post a blog on it).
My most recent drive through the San Joaquin was just this past week, and in the summer it can be as hot in Wasco, and Kettleman City as anywhere in the Southwest United States. (And feels even hotter when you have to keep the a/c off because of car problems. I happen to know this from recent personal experience.) The humidity is much higher though than Phoenix say, so the air feels thick and heavy with plant detritus. It's very...organic. Speaking of Wasco, the wind (when you drive through town on Highway 46 in the middle of the summer) is saturated with the mixture of fresh and rotting flowers. It's a strange combination, and I am not sure if I like it or not. Mostly the flowers along the road were carnations but there were several other variety of flora in neat rows that flew past my window too quickly to be identified. It reminded me of driving through central Florida in the summer past the miles and miles of sugar cane plantations (except that in Cali the mosquitoes are much smaller (thank God!)).
The spring is the best time to head out through the Valley though. Once during April or May I was heading south down I-5 and I drove past a fruit orchard just coming into bloom and the little white flowers blew through the air, and collected on the roadside like snow. It went on for miles. It was so pretty on that cool windy afternoon, I have never to this day forgotten it.
The Interstate itself is pretty nice. Granted the exits are few and far between, and "points of interest" are non-existent, but I-5 has basically everything you'd want in an American thoroughfare, wide lanes, straight road, lots of trucks and truckers, pretty sunsets and a nice mixture of scenery (mountains to the west, fields to the east). The only flaw of the road in my opinion is the cow concentration camp near Coalinga. The smell is disturbing enough, but when I think about all those poor cows waiting to die...it makes me want to drive through the fence and set them all free. I love meat, but it makes me sad that places like that are why I can get it for 5.99 a pound. Eessh...anyway.
I like stopping for gas and seeing what the little convenience stores have for sale. Lot's of times they sell post cards for cities that are 100 or more miles away. I happen to know you can get a post card for Yosemite or Lake Tahoe at the Highway 152 interchange with I-5. Or a post card for Death Valley and Las Vegas on Highway 99 just north of Bakersfield. Sometimes they sell NFL stuff, or t-shirts for Route 66 (which isn't anywhere close by) or beer coozies that say "I don't get drunk, I get AWESOME" and so on. There is a Love's Travel Stop that I frequent at the exit for Lost Hills because they always have random stuff for sale that would not normally be of interest, but which I find irresistible when traveling. Once I stopped there and they had giant stuffed tigers for sale for 25.00. I thought to myself what a deal! and almost bought one! (I only refrained because I realized both myself and my tiger would not have fit in the tent that was to be my home for the next six weeks.) But since then I have purchased (at the Love's) bumper stickers, a cowboy hat, and an 80's Jams CD. This trip was no exception. Photo is of a couple treasures I acquired on my drive through the Valley on my way to Las Vegas this year (the lobster is a magnet, and his legs and antenna wiggle when you shake him). Enjoy!