Jimmy Byrd and students
This was not to be a fund raiserride, but two things changed that. First, due to drought, we must build a water tower for the school and second, the Richard Mascarello family has offered to match any donations up to the total number miles ridden. So keep the water flowing for the kids and hit the donate button.

Also, instructor Kevin Lee is a auctioning off a 2 week paragliding course in southern Oregon to support the school.

See it here.


TO READ THE FLORIDA TO CALIFORNIA LEG CLICK here or go to lostboater.blogspot.com

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

This morning the fog lifted and the sun came out. I decided, what the heck, lets make a run for it and head for Florida. So, I loaded Scoot, chased off the cat, and headed east.

We were going to have to retrace our route to Vegas, but we could pick a few different roads to get there.

We started on CA-41 and it was a nice ride with not much traffic. Then turned right to get back on CA-58 and the connecting road took us through wine country.
CA-58 we did in the rain and cold coming out. Today it was sunny and great. We rode down the road.

Climbed a hill.
Rode down the road and the hills were covered with wildflowers.
Stopped to talk to Chuck. He is with USGS and they are measuring the fault shift with the GPS tracking. He comes out here once a year, and several other locations, sets up his machine and sits for 6 hours.

Then we rode down the road.
Then we climbed up another pass and descended down the other side into the California farming country.

We passed some cows and after finishing this part we passed the sign that said "no services for the next 70 miles."




The main crop in the farming area seems to power lines.


After stopping to eat at Gonzalo's food stand we drove through Bakersfield. Bakersfield is no better looking in the sun than it was in the rain and cold.


I was little concerned about climbing up the twisty 2 lane road along the Kern River gorge. But Scoot did a great job and the traffic was light. (pictures riding the gorge did not turn out except this one)

We rode down the road and then climbed the Walker Pass again. This time we took a picture of the plaque that you cannot read at the top. And then we rode off the back side again.

We rolled into China Lake in time for happy hour. Thought there would be a cheap hotel, but the excessive military spending here keeps them all full and the prices up.


View Larger Map