March 28, 2005

March 28, 2005

Bakersfield to Lompoc, California

DAY 283

 

Today was partially cloudy, with a bit of intermittent, light rain.

Things didn't start out too well in Bakersfield this morning. I was up at 5:30, fed the animals, walked Bo, showered, dressed, had breakfast, and was at the front door of the Camping World / Venture Out RV building at 7:30, awaiting their 8:00 A.M. opening. Camping world wasn't able to service the water heater. Their one water heater technician was off on a 9 week training course. I went next door to Venture Out RV. Their service department was fully booked up for today < sigh >. I had a propane tank filled, emptied the holding tanks, and refilled the fresh water before pulling out of their parking lot. We drove across Bakersfield to the Visitor's Centre to see if we could get any tourist information, and a California state map. California is the most tourist unfriendly state we've been in. There was no Tourist Information Centre as we crossed in from Arizona, and we crossed in on an Interstate ! We still don't have a California road map. We've been using our road atlas. Joanne went into the Bakersfield Visitor’s Centre and picked up an information book which has a small amount of incomplete information on state parks. They didn’t have a state road map. Without a road map, and a state park campground guide, we feel really handicapped.

We left Bakersfield heading south on Hwy. 99, then turned west on Hwy. 166. We stopped at Maricopa to fill up with diesel, then started climbing up, and around, and through the Sierra Madre Mountains. They're green, and lush, and beautiful ! We stopped for lunch, and I took a brief nap while Joanne made some phone calls to campgrounds to check on rates and site availability. We drove out of the Sierra Madre Mountains at the town of Santa Maria, where Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch is. We turned south on Hwy. 101 through the Santa Ynez Mountains towards Santa Barbara. At Buellton we turned east towards Lompoc on Hwy. 246. We are in the Santa Ynez Valley, an area of vineyards and orchards. We are camped for the night at River Park, a city park on the outskirts of Lompoc. Behind our campsite is the Santa Ynez River. Surrounding the park is a cauliflower farm.

We unhooked the trailer, then took Bo for an obedience training session in the lush green grass park. Bo has missed grass, since we've been in the desert for the last 3 months.

We drove about 20 miles to the town of Solvang, our reason for being in this area. We bought fresh, local strawberries at a road side stand at Buellton, on the way to Solvang. They're really huge strawberries. Solvang is a Danish settlement, and resembles an old village in Denmark. We walked around, browsing, then went into The Red Viking Restaurant and had an authentic Danish Smorgasbord dinner.

On the way back to the trailer, we stopped in Buellton to buy some groceries. Back at the trailer, I did today's accounting, and blog, then we watched a bit of TV.

DSK