#40 Bakersfield CA

Instead of traveling down Hwy. 99 after we left Porterville we decided to take Hwy. 65 toward Bakersfield. Our friend, Barbara Musser, told us about the Kern River County Park outside of Bakersfield near Oildale. The drive was beautiful until we got to Oildale where there is nothing but ugly oil wells. But the beauty of the Kern River and Lake Ming, which was just upstream from the campground, made everything perfect.

Robbie, the campground host and his ancient Pit Bull Missy put us into the best campsite right next to the singing rapids on the river. I loved going to sleep with those soothing sounds each nite. We stayed a total of two weeks during the football playoffs and Super Bowl eating our way at a local Applebees through the agony of the 49ers’ loss. Luckily we had food and beer to comfort us! 

I found the bird population to be very interesting and entertaining: Mallards, Cormorants, Canada Geese, Crows, Owls, Hummingbirds, Eagles and an amazing congregation of Buzzards. These big graceful beauties came one evening by the dozens to land on a sand bar just across from our campsite where they drank and bathed in the cooling waters of the Kern. They reminded me of a meeting of elders coming together to discuss the times and ways of the community and resolve any disputes that may have arisen. None of the pictures I took turned out because it was too late in the day. They then slowly departed in ones and twos with the dignity and grace that belies their physical appearance. I love these totem brothers who watch over us and clean up our messes!

Our first trip into beautiful downtown Bakersfield was to find something interesting about Merle Haggard. Our friend, Cat, is a BIG fan. Our first stop was the Chamber of Commerce and they pointed us to the Kern County Museum where Merle’s boyhood home now resides. There were a lot of interesting structures there.

We went to C.A.L.M., California Living Museum. It was a great thought of saving injured animals, helping them to recover and be released back to the wild and keeping the others so they could retire in safety.  However, we were sad and disappointed that the museum suffered from deferred maintenance which created an unpleasant experience with the animals.

Cokie rode her bike all over the hills around us and took more of her amazing pictures of the surroundings. There were a BUNCH of bike trails and safe places to ride. So enjoy and may you sense the quiet beauty of this sweet place! 

Our campsite.

Bike trail to Hart Park

Bike trail around Lake Ming

Lake at Hart Park

#39 Porterville CA

Well, here we go:

Cokie has been the voice of our blogs so far but she thought I should tell the Porterville story as I actually lived there when it was, back in1960, a small farm town. I graduated from good old PUHS (that’s right PU) in that year but never really connected with the school or the town. What I remember was a kind of laid back, almost sleepy, atmosphere in a town of about 6,000. Now it’s a vibrant, busy burg of nearly 60,000! Truthfully I really couldn’t recognize much of anything! I maybe found the old high school but there are now at least two plus a college.

Driving east out of town we found an Army Corps of Engineers Reservoir known as Success Lake on the Tule River. We love the Corps campgrounds because they always have all of the amenities at half price for us two old P’s in a Pod!

One day we took a ride out through Success Valley to discover the Tule Indian community. They have settled in the winding canyons along the river and creeks. Their’s is a community of very mixed structures and delightful local art murals. Cokie took lots of pictures painted on the school bus stops. They were whimsical and delightful! The entrance to their world was worthy of a stop and photos for the sculptures and the story. They, thankfully, have an apparently very successful casino which is helpful in providing a higher standard of living for their community. We also noted that the signs around town for people running for the tribal counsel were ALL women! It was a long and beautiful drive thru the green countyside back to our pretty but not too crowded campground.

We took a short ride to see beautiful downtown Springville just east of Success Lake. Nice little town with available ice cream. What more do you need?