Day 486
Cesar Chavez
We both started the day in a low mood. The stresses of the previous few weeks have definitely impacted on us. Though the road was flat and the weather cooler we still struggled to feel relaxed. Would Tom (6)'s rim tape fix work? The scenery was not particularly stimulating, mile after mile of orange, lemon, olive, pomegranate and pistachio orchards as far as the eye could see. For the first time we saw workers packing the fruit. It looked a well organised set up, a gazebo to work under, a few portable toilets dotted about, and a line of cars. These fields were miles from anywhere. No one paused to wave, clearly time was of the essence. Tom had been craving a milkshake for several days and as we passed through the fairly large town of Bakersfield a McDonalds came into view. It looked a bit run down and neither of us were surprised that they had no milkshakes, it was that sort of day.
Finally as we rode away from Bakersfield the scenery improved and our mood lifted. Slowly we left behind the miles of litter-strewn roadsides, run-down neighbourhoods and got out into the foothills of the approaching mountains. Tom had a wild-camp spot in mind and around 4pm after 70+ miles we got there. Just out of sight of the few cars that were passing it seemed perfect. We were very close to the railway line but doubted there would be many trains and settled down for the night.
Well, 17 trains passed during the night, and when they passed we knew about every one. First the whistle warned us of their approach, then the tent was illuminated by the headlights, shining straight at us, we knew we were safe but it was somewhat disconcerting! The trains were all a mile or more long so they took quite some time to pass us by, their wheels clattering on the rails. Yet somehow it was OK, we slept, woke and slept again. Neither of us regretted our camp spot!
In the morning we knew that though we had some hills to climb it would be a shorter day so both felt quite relaxed. Away early to take advantage of cooler temperatures we soon had our first hill crested. On and upwards we went. The road was near deserted, the main highway just a few miles away was taking all the traffic. This was fantastic. Unfortunately our perfect road came to an end and Komoot had us turning off road onto a dirt track. When we got there the track was behind locked gates, ah! So we decided to head onto the freeway only to be greeted by a ‘No cycles’ sign. Blast! Tom had soon worked out another way onto the dirt track and off we went. The track was going to be a nightmare, about 2 miles straight uphill, between a 16-20 degree gradient. A nightmare on tarmac and even worse in the dirt. As we pushed upwards I heard an ancient pick-up rumbling behind us. ‘Bo’ pulled up along side me. “Do you know where you’re going? Attempting? Are you mad?”. I put of my most woeful expression, not hard and explained our predicament. Bo was having none of it, and though low on fuel offered us a lift to bypass the freeway. What a gent! The ride in the back of the truck was pretty hair-raising. There is a road in Bolivia called the Road of Death, with the wheels just a few feet of a sheer drop this felt as dangerous! Bo kindly dropped us back to safety outside a cafe and we staggered in to recover and have a second breakfast. No rush, we’d just saved a fair bit of time.
As we waited for our breakfast to arrive we read a local paper, just like reading the ‘Top Trader’ from home. It informed us we were near to a memorial to Cesar Chavez, set in beautiful gardens with fountains. Well as we had plenty of time off we went. Having never heard of Cesar the exhibition did an excellent job of informing us about just what he achieved. He dedicated his life to fighting for civil rights of the farm workers, just like the people we saw toiling in the heat yesterday. It proved to be a long and often very dangerous, and at times fatal, battle. The landowners pitted the different nationalities against each other, used every trick in the book to exploit the workers. Even when other industries slowly gained rights, time and again these basic civil rights were denied to the farm workers. Protesters paid the ultimate price, several were murdered during strike action and one of the stunning water features was created in their memory. It was an Incredibly moving experience and we felt privileged to be there.
The road was calling us though and up we went. Tom was very excited as we were going trainspotting. Yes 17 trains the previous night was not enough. Actually we were going to a unique feat of engineering, the Tehachapi Loop. It enables the trains to gain elevation and for us train spotters provides the sight of the front of the train passing the rear. Go look it up on line it’s awesome! We chatted away to fellow enthusiasts, meeting the cousin of the owner of a bar we ate in back in Jeffrey City, small world!
Then it was back to climbing. Both of us were starting to feel somewhat tired and Tom was still craving that elusive milkshake. As we exited the town of Tehachapi we spotted a Wendy’s. Well all I can say their milkshakes are the best, yum! By now it was 4pm and we still had 28 miles to go and a third of those uphill! Nearing 7pm we finally pulled into the drive of our Warmshowers hosts. Dianna was busy cooking a fantastic meal, and John with the assistance of Dewey the dog soon had us settled. Bliss!
