TWL Artichoke

Castroville, CA THE ARTICHOKE CENTER OF THE WORLD!!! Yes, they have that posted on a banner downtown. This little town is known for it's artichokes and boy are they proud. They the home to The World's Largest Artichoke as well as a market full of large produce-shaped stands full of produce. Fried Artichokes are the local delicacy and we indulged. Unfortunately the diner was closed but they did make us a fried artichoke to-go. So we ate Fried Artichoke in the car in the parking lot of the artichoke diner. It was tasty! Then since we needed dinner, we stopped in at the tiny Mexican restaurant across the street. There I enjoyed the flavorful concoction of Artichoke Enchiladas. Now that may sound gross to some, but I assure you that if you like marinaded artichoke hearts and you like enchiladas, you would love this! Thinking about it now tempts me to try replicating the creation here at home. Of course the artichokes would never be as fresh as direct from the fields in Castroville.

First Stop...Bakersfield Big Stuff

It was fitting that our road trip begin with a big object. In previous roadtrips we've seen such big objects as: The World's Largest (TWL) Ball of Twine, TWL Ball of Stamps, TWL Pecan, TWL Rocking Chair, TWL Ear of Corn, TWL Hand-Dug Well. So first stop this time: Bakersfield, CA for the Shoe-shaped Building. Now I've seen shoe-shaped cars but never a building so this was a good find. It's on the main drag in a seedier section of Bakersfield (note the graffiti), but it is BIG SHOE REPAIR. Supposedly this is the only shoe building in the US that features a shoelace. We didn't have time to investigate further as the locals began bird-calling (as opposed to cat-calling) us from an undisclosed location in one of the adjacent sketchy apartment buildings.

We then spent some time near the City Hall looking for a geocache (www.geocaching.com...for those interested in picking up the geekiest of hobbies!). This was our first caching experience and we were utter failures. Yet as we wandered perplexed by our GPS, a passerby asked us for directions. The irony that we were holding a GPS and were completely disoriented was lost on her.

On our way out of Bakerfield, we took a quirky backroad named China Grade Loop to Ethel's Old Corral Cafe which is home to The Indian Muffler Man. Fellow roadtrippers will understand the quest for the Muffler Men statues that are slowly disappearing into a relic of the past. Once an advertisement for Big Red Indian Tires, he now greets you on your arrival to a biker bar on the outskirts of town.

Death Valley Summer

The grand finale of our trip was an insane trip through Death Valley during the hottest time of the year. As the temperature climbed to 122 degrees F, we prayed our tough car, Subee, the Subaru would hold out. She only got hot when we had to climb to high elevations. Death Valley is a desert. Lots of rocks. Dust. Heat. Damn the heat. We took a five minute hike to the ghostly remains of a Borax Factory and promptly decided that we were dying and returned to the car. The five minutes it took us to get to the factory, took us 15 minutes on the walk back. The heat was that oppressive. It is the hottest I have ever been. It got up to 116 degrees one day in Israel when we were hiking on the road to Jericho. But 122 is worse.

After climbing back into Subee, being gentle with the A/C, we headed up the drive called Artist's Palette. It was a narrow drive past some colorful minerals in the rocks. Quite beautiful except for the sense of impending doom of realizing your road is a flash flood path and the clouds on high look rather ominous. After that drive, we headed to employee housing for the night because Carlie has a friend who works at Death Valley and he could put us up in air-conditioning.

That night around 11pm, we went to our car to fetch our sleeping bags. The sky was dark. No stars, complete cloud cover. Very few lights in the nearby houses. The temperature was 103 degrees. So much for cooling down. And the kicker was the wind. It was howling. A howling hot wind blowing at least 35 mph. It was terrifying. It was if the gates of hell had opened and swallowed us with Satan's fiery breath. Then there was a buzz and the power went out. It was only for a few seconds but during that time, you could not see your hand in front of your face. It was like being a cave with the lights out. Only you are outside, in a vast expanse of nothing with the wind of demons. We ran inside as fast as we could and were thankful not to be sleeping in a tent that night.

Good Coffee Addiction

I started drinking coffee at JPs when I was 16. First it was an attempt to be older, cooler than I actually was. Then it was to avoid being at home. I would camp out at JPs for hours at a time. Drinking and drinking. Then it became full blown coffee addiction. Unfortunately this is also an addiction to good coffee. Folgers and Maxwell House won't do. I hate Starbucks and their acid black liquid. But I dig the small houses and Dunkin Donuts. Dunkin Donuts doesn't have shops in SoCal, so we buy it online and have it delivered, 40 lbs. at a time. Whole bean. Recently, I've been introduced to Peets. They make a good coffee. I brew my own, with fresh ground whole beans in the morning. It's too expensive to drink at the shops anymore. So on the road trip, Carlie (who shares my addiction to good coffee) devised a coffee brewing method so that we wouldn't have to drink gas station coffee. The little thermos plugged into the cigarette lighter and would heat the water. Then we would pour the water over grounds and into our travel mugs. All while in the car! It was a great! Good coffee and cheap. Of course by the end of the trip we were tired and would get hot water from gas stations instead of waiting 20 minutes for the thermos to heat it. And eventually, we did drink shit coffee from the gas stations out of desperation. Well, my coffee pot just beeped so the coffee is done. Better go drink some.

Hippy Cheese Plug

After swinging through Napa Valley and purchasing more than our fair share of wine, we drove up the coast of California through the infamous, Humboldt County. That's right: hippie country. After learning from a hippy how to cheat the rangers and camp for free, we drove on and stopped spontaneously in a small, hippie town called Loleta to visit their cheese factory. Cheese-tasting sounded like fun after wine-tasting. (in the back of our minds, chocolate-tasting was next!) The cheese factory was quite small but had an incredible amount of cheese varieties. All made in house in small batches. Amazing! We snagged some Roasted Garlic Jack and promptly made wrap sandwiches out of the tail-gate of the Subaru before moving on. It was some of the best cheese I've had in my life. Way to go, Loleta Cheese Factory. One of the employees told me that we could buy some cheese and hang out in the garden out back and eat it all afternoon. I (being clever) smiled and said that would be great! Grab a bottle of wine out of the car, eat some cheese. Then she gave me a weird look and said, "you can't drink back there." So I bought my cheese and left. The picture is of Carlie watching the cheese makers stir up the cheese curds.

Evil Oil Empire

I've returned from my trek to Montana and back, tired and refreshed. And I've decided to record my discoveries on this trip in the blog. Not only to help me remember the trip but to give me something interesting to write about. The discoveries will not be in chronological order, but as I feel like relating an aspect of the trip.

COALINGA, CA -- After driving through fields and fields of oil pumps and pipelines, I realize what a blight on the environment the harvesting of oil is. I find a renewed sense of the need to find alternative fuel sources and in general to drive less. Oil dependancy is a horrible disease. Then to make the oil barons seem especially evil, we drove through a field of oil pumps that had been painted to look like zoo animals. Their heads bob up and down and in my head I can hear circus music. It is as if the pumps are saying: "Look kids, oil is fun!" We stop the car at a turn out to take a couple of photos and we find a sign that tells the truth. The field of zoo animals is a hazardous gas area and anyone working out there must wear a breathing apparatus. Wow, is oil dependancy fun!

Road Trip

I'm heading out on the road trip adventure on Saturday. Gotta start getting packed. I doubt I will update the blog from the road. But I'm certain I'll have all sorts of peculiar photos to share when I return. I'll be gone for a bit less than two weeks. Montana here we come!