Salinas to Bakersfield

Monday January 7th

I was up early and took the Suburban to Salinas to get a few groceries and get the gas tank filled.  It didn't take too long to get everything stowed and get hooked up.  I noticed on our way here from Sacramento that my driver's side blinker on the trailer was not working. I looked up some RV places along our route today and wrote their phone numbers down so we could stop and get that fixed as soon as possible.  Our route took us back to Salinas and from there S on US-101.  Salinas is a very agriculture centered town.  According to the internet, 70% of the world's lettuce is grown in the Salinas valley.  (Apparently the Chinese and the Indians don't eat lettuce.)  Artichokes are also a major crop for this area.  The valley narrowed as we headed S and there were fewer row crops and more grapes and olives and other fruit trees.

Mid afternoon we came into Paso Robles and Cathey called one of the RV places that I had listed earlier and we got an appointment to get the directional light fixed.  While he was working on it, we went next door to Vic's Cafe and had a good "Monday" Meatloaf special.  

The problem with the directional light turned out to be a pinched wire in the cable that plugs into the Suburban trailer light receptacle.  It had probably been pinched some time ago but finally parted due to flexing of the cable.  It wasn't cheap because he replaced the whole cable from the truck to wherever the wires split up and go their individual ways.  10 feet @ $5/ft plus labor - but it probably would have cost more to get picked up by the police for not having directional lights.  In talking to the mechanic I learned that he did not recommend the highway (CA-58) that I was planning on taking to Bakersfield.  So we travelled E on CA-46 from Paso Robles to I-5 and then S on I-5 to the Stockdale Highway that runs E & W through the South side of Bakersfield.  We called ahead to an RV Park on the SE side of Bakersfield and got there just before dark.  Bakersfield is California's petroleum center.  Lots of oil wells around Bakersfield as well as refineries and other petro-industries.  Cathey says it smells like Texas.