Always more to discover

'Tis the season so I got a crew to come up to the Super Secret Place with me: my son Evan, his buddy Ryan and my trusted friend Jorgy.

Waiting to cross the tracks at the gateway, we noticed for the first time all the crates on the train with "China Shipping" written on them. I wonder if they have trains with "USA Shipping" or "Euro Shipping" containers in remote areas of China... Speaking of trains, here's a great photographic essay on hobo youth. Keep clicking on the photo for a journey you won't forget.

Anyway, just down the road from there, we saw our first calf branding. I had seen pictures but never seen it in person. What's different from the photos one may see is the crying of the calves being a little freaked out, the mothers being really freaked out and the smell of burnt hair. Other than that, I saw the cowboys give the calves a shot before being branded so I assume it was a pain killer.



There was a small crew of younger cowboys and cowgirls catching the calves with lariats. The best one was a cowgirl.



As a kid, I loved Westerns and cowboys. Now I know that cowboys are cool but so are cowgirls. : )



We took the creek road on the way to the SSP and Evan noticed a few waterfalls on the way. Of course, he and Ryan had to go investigate and they found another waterfall higher up the hill feeding the one we saw from the road. Jorgy, as always, was concerned: where are they going? Is that safe?



There are a bunch of things of interest on the way. Here's a cute stone cabin of yesteryear, a rarity in So. Cal. where everythign over fifty years old gets bulldozed (as for example my neighborhood being demolished to make way for... McMansions!)


I had a request so we stopped at the mine, the guys went up and I took a couple stills just for fun. Some of you may not appreciate graffiti art but I think there's a lot of talent out there. That said, it's another thing to spray paint "Shaka" all over town. That's not art, that's defacing.



I had gone up 2 or 3 weeks before and wasn't sure if the landscape got greener or browner so I didn't know what to excpect. I keep an eye on the webcam pointed toward the SSP but it is a little blurry. Driving up we had a surprise however: a pretty carpet of yellow flowers everywhere.



Here's a close up of the yellow flowers. I don't know what they're called so if someone does, let me know.



There were also little purple flowers, taller purple ones and some California poppies. The poppies had their own area. The point is, beautiful wild flowers everywhere. Below is a general view of the SSP.



Rain has been sparse so the creek is unfortunately starting to dwindle already. Too bad. We went down and saw all kinds all life there. We even found a Hillbilly Wally playing his Strumstick. Weird looking creature with odd-looking hairy legs... I guess the hair is an evolutionary thing to protect from ticks and mosquitoes.



We unpacked the multitude of necessities we're accustomed to, settled, ate our sandwich and went on a walk around the neighborhood. The roads are not paved which is nice, it makes for smooth walking. There are horses everywhere so the guys petted and fed the friendly ones who got close to us with the green grass on our side. Yes, the grass is greener on the other side of the fence.





Jorgy went along and he was quite taken by these big creatures. There were lotsa doggies too, all barking as we walked by. Good doggies doing their job but with their tails wagging, a sure give away. Oddly, two young dogs were chained together at one place, a simplified Cerberus version. We later met two nice ladies who told us they had shown up at their place like that. I helped unchain them and Jorgy had two friends to play with.



Of course, Evan wanted to adopt them both but... The two nice ladies had three llamas; two white females and a black male. They told us they were the original lamas, not messed with genetically or bred for traits. They were very distinguished and quite interested in us. I was afraid they would spit on us and kept my distance but we were told that they only do that when people lack respect, for example overburdening them. The black one took a particular interest in Jorgy and followed us all the way around the property. He made a big impression on me because he came to me in my dreams that night and talked to me (I swear, I didn't do drugs.) He said something about respecting animals. Here they are:



The place is very pretty, pastoral as one would say, Here's a pastoral scene I took for my friend Michael, from Tennessee, who loves tractors:



And of course, this is the West so you see this:



We went back, I barbecued thick pork chops and veggies, and watched the sun go down as the frogs in the creek were having a party. It was another full moon but we could still see the gazillion stars in the sky (sorry, no photo.) Funny thing about the outdoors, our natural rhythms come back quickly; we must have gone to bed early, close to 9.

The next morning the guys wanted to check out Lake Isabella so up we went. We stopped in Havilah at the courthouse and spoke to a local historian. Apparently, the town had in its heyday over 3,000 people, 3 hotels, a hospital and a couple bars. Mind you, the courthouse was THE Kern County courthouse, not Bakersfield. The place was full of memorabilia, photos and more. The historian showed us a model he had built of the town and shared what he knew for the little time we were there. I could have spent all day hanging out with that guy but we went on. I showed the guys the lake, we had lunch in Kernville and went to the river. Some folks were having fun in the water.





We went back to the SSP and hung out.



The guys took out the guns, lined up some Coke cans and executed them. Jorgy gets a little freaked out by the sound but he was OK. We made sure he stood behind the line of fire, we ain't no Dick Cheneys.



Here's the crew minus the photographer; aren't they handsome?



I went around and took some photos of the oaks. I love trees.





We packed everything, it was time to go. We said bye to the place,



and drove back via the Lion's Trail. The hills and mountains by the trail are spectacular and it was all vibrantly green. It reminded me of France.



We saw a mama cow with two calves and a bunch of other cows on the road. One has to drive carefully because the road has many hairpins, steep terrain on the sides, squirrels and cows.



The blue rock marks the entrance to the Central Valley.



'Til next time!