Big America: Monterey to Barstow

Sunset over the Mojave. Photo: Arlo

Barstow, California. Today’s theme was energy. The first day of our cross-country road trip started with high hopes and enthusiasm along Monterey’s verdant Pacific coast. It ended in fatigue in the Mojave’s brown and bone-dry desert expanses. Boca, who’s doing all the driving on the trip, didn’t make it onto the Monterey Peninsula until around 3am. Although his flight from Florida landed on time – just before 10pm in San Jose – a fatal highway accident kept his shuttle transfer in gridlock for hours on end. I waited up for him, catching up on writing and trip planning, and we both ended up with less than desired sleep before our first full day of driving.

Oil rigs in Lost Hills, California. Photo: Arlo

Today was also focused on energy because of what the California landscape had to offer us. Driving along back-country roads through California’s central valleys, we passed through a town called Lost Hills, which seemed to be nothing other than one large oil field. Oil rigs littered the landscape as far as the eye could see, north and south across the pancake-flat valley floor. It was a harsh and uninviting landscape, but what seemed most odd about was its proximity to rich agricultural lands. The oil fields were surrounded by almond groves and dairy farms, which gave way in each direction to other crops such as cotton, leafy greens and vineyards full of wine grapes. In some areas, mounds of freshly harvested almonds seemed literally piled up alongside oil wells – something to think about next time you bite into a plate of almond-crusted halibut.

Wind turbines litter the hills east of Bakersfield, CA. Photo: Arlo

As dramatic as the oil fields were, so was California’s next big display of energy. Just east of Bakersfield, on the mountain pass into the Mojave Desert, lies hills littered in wind turbines. Thousands of them dot the landscape, twirling away in the breeze while providing a hopefully cleaner alternative to the State’s energy needs. We were joined on Twitter at the time by Tom Gray, who informed us that the two distinct types of wind turbine we were seeing represented varying stages of technology. The smaller, meshed looking turbines have been in place since the 80′s, while the larger, more cost effective jumbo-size turbines are the industry standard today.

Margarita at Los Domingos, Barstow. Photo: Arlo

Somewhat ironically, the contrast between these two forms of energy was reflected in the environmental health of the State’s ecosystems we passed through. Whereas the clear and sunny day on the Monterey Bay revealed forest-covered hills, rich marine life and unpolluted skies, the air above and around Bakersfield was the exact opposite. A thick smog hung over that city like an evil gloom, and the entire ride through smelled of fumes and toxins. And then in the end we escaped that foul air, into the crisp, dry and mystically beautiful wilderness expanses of the Mojave, where we sleep tonight. Resting peacefully, looking forward to more of Big America tomorrow.