Back to Oregon we go.

We made it back to California, to Long Beach.  The journey was interesting.  Tom decided to listen to the GPS lady and we ended up on a dead end street.  At the end of this street was the garbage dump, or as they want to call it the reclamation center.  It is just a few blocks from a public elementary school.  Now if the wind was blowing just right what a sweet smell those at the school would get.  Only in California.  Back to the dead end.  The street should have gone through, but there was the dump.  So, back up and turn around and go back to the freeway and the next exit.  There was the customer at ...yep..another dead end.  I imagine that that area is just full of dead ends, just to drive those from out of the area nuts.  I wouldn't be surprised if there weren't cameras mounted on poles so that some university student could observe the traffic,like they would rats in a maze.  It was a nice area to wait in, though.  There was a Target and other shops that I could go in and look at what they had.  From there we were directed to Redlands to pick up a trailer load of cat food to take to Clackmas, Oregon.  Yep, back to Oregon we go. 

As we were taking the back road to catch I-5 North we went through this town of Phelan, California.  They have an interesting way of helping the school children across a busy road.  They have women mounted on horses walk across the street with the children. Now if that wouldn't get a drivers attention, I don't know what would.  It is a unique idea and one that would work in many areas.  Especially in  those areas where there are high rates of accidents or speeders in school zones.

As you can see by the picture above, the riders take their job seriously, but they also

waved as I was taking the pictures as we drove by.  What a nice community to live in.

As we continued on our journey the scenery was beautiful.  I could look off into the distance and see the mountains and clouds and the valley below us. 

The road to the town on Pearblossom was just to the left of us.  I tried to see if there were any pear trees, but couldn't see any.  Maybe they all died do the lack of water.  As we traveled I kept on seeing signs along the road that would comment on the lack of water.  That crops needed water and there wasn't any.

The road was like a rollercoster up and down up and down for the longest way.  It is a good thing that I don't get car sick.

I noticed the sign for sausage and thought that this is a place that I would like to go and visit and see what Hungarian sausage tasted like.  Something else to go on my "bucket list".

Now what would you think if you saw these towers sticking up in the sky.  We at first thought it might be towers that were part of a prison.  Nope.

Some type of "Big Brother" spy thing that was collecting information, but not so.

It was a solar collecting station.  There were row after row of mirrors facing the sun that collects the energy and that in turns powers homes or other things.  Very interesting to see.

As I looked off towards the hills, they were a golden color.  It was beautiful, but the color meant that the grass was dead and fuel for fires, if there were ever to be a lighting storm.  As I was admiring the beauty around me I would notice signs along side the road about water.  It appears that the government has taken the water away from the farming area to use as drinking water elsewhere.  Now that doesn't make sense to me.  Here we are importing all types of produce from various countries, and we could have farmers growing the product right here in the good ol' U S of A.  Now what is wrong with this picture,...once again?

I've made this picture a little bit bigger, so that you might be able to read the sign.  It has to do with the loss of water to the area by year.  In just about every area that has some type of farming in California, these signs pop up.

We passed by several orchards that were barren.  It appeared to be due to the lack of water.  It is sad to see row after row of dead trees, when they could be producing fruit, if they had water.

Areas along the interstate were charred from fire.  The land is soo dry that anything with a spark will set off a fire. Don't you think that if there were producing crops there would be less chance of fire.  There were many such spots along the way that were just like this picture.  What is wrong with people?  Don't they listen to those who are in farming industry?

So maybe one day all of the farming areas will look like this; water pumps with no water to pump and a lone tree, all for the sake of water being diverted somewhere else for personal use.

    Well we are just about to the end of our days journey.  Tomorrow we return to Clackamas, Oregon and deliver the product in the trailer.  So, until the next time, I will see you on the Other side.