We left El Centro this morning about 9:30. We had hoped to fly the drone of my pulling out of the park but Scott took some video that I’ll post tomorrow once I get the camera.
We drove to Barstow and stamped my passport book of the Mojave Desert. We didn’t drive through the Mojave since we’ve done that many times before. But, I will say the very best time to view the Mojave is now...during the spring when the flowers are in bloom. If you wait until June and through the summer, it's just WAY TOO HOT to want go there for you or your tires. I had my passport stamped at the Barstow Visitors Center - it's a new building they recently opened. The best place see all of the Mojave is in the town of Kelso, CA, a ghost town and defunct railroad depot. Mojave does have a few trails to enjoy: Lava Tube Trail at Cinder Cone National Natural Landmark and Castle Mountains National Monument that you can access through Walking Box Ranch Road of CA-164. Also, at Barber Peak, there are a few trails there to enjoy: Hole-in-the-Wall Nature Trail, Barber Peak Loop Trail and Rock Springs Loop Trail, to name a few, where there is also a campground and all are located just off I-40 and Essex Road. Here are a few photos that others have taken of the Mojave Desert in spring:
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| Photo: Steve Berardi |
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| Photo: National Park Service |
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| Photo: Rennett Stowe |
We continued on to Keene, CA where we were very fortunate to just get into the Cesar E. Chavez National Monument Visitors Center one minute before they closed!! They close their doors at 4 pm which I think is much to early. The parking lot was exceedingly small and I just barely could get the rig in it. There is a larger lot farther down the road but this road was so narrow you almost have a heart attack hoping that you can get yourself out of the area unscathed!
Once inside the visitors center I stamped my book in the bookstore and while the ranger was helping two other ladies I took that time to see the exhibit and things on display. It was a small but informative exhibit on the lifelong dream of Chavez and others to pursue their dreams of a farm worker's union.
Cesar Chavez was born in 1927 to Mexican immigrant parents outside of Yuma, Arizona. His family lost their farm in the 1930 during the depression and so they joined thousands of other migrant farmers streaming into California from the Southwest and Midwest. He quit school after 8th grade but never lost his desire to learn and was a life-long avid reader.
In in 1946 Cesar Chavez joined to Navy and then in 1948 her married his wife, Helen Fabela, a gal he met while working in the fields and vineyards. Eventually, they made their way to San Jose. After ten years as a community organizer throughout California with Dolores Huerta, Gilbert Padillo and other farm activists, Cesar Chavez decided to pursue his dream of a farm worker's union.
In 1962, he left his secure job and moved Helen and their eight children to Delano. There, he founded the National Farm Workers Association with Huerta, Padilla, Manuel Chavez, Jim Drake and Julio Hernandez. NFW was then renamed to the United Farm Workers in 1966. In 1965, Larry Itliong led Filipino American grape workers in a strike against growers. They were soon joined by the NFWA along with other unions, college students, church groups, civil rights leaders as they had a summer-long boycott and a 300 mile march from Delano to Sacramento - the longest protest march in US history. It also led to the nation's first union contracts between farm workers and growers, securing better pay, health benefits, protections against pesticides and safer working conditions. All this eventually led to the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975. Chavez worked until the day he died, April 23, 1993. He was a man who stood for equality, justice and dignity for all Americans (Info courtesy of National Park Service).
I walked the grounds and took in the beauty of the location! The trees were full of blossoms and the water features and garden were lovely. Through the gates was the final resting spot of Cesar and his wife Helena in a lush garden with waterfall with tranquil gurgles; a serene and tranquil final resting spot.
After we left Keene, we drove to Bakersfield, our final place for the day. We stayed in the Golden West Casino parking lot for the night. It's a small mom and pop casino and we had a little bite to eat and then rested up. The girls were in doggie heaven since there was a nice big patch of REAL grass at the rear of the coach and they were so happy to just roll around in grass after three months of no grass except in the doggie park.
We did take the opportunity to do something that has bugged us since we bought our Montana and raised the rear jacks two notches. We just bought jack pads and Scott installed them before we left. When we fueled up at a Pilot, the dip to get back on the road was enough that both read pads came off and since Scott had already gone ahead with the dogs, I had to get out of the truck and walked way back to where they came off and carry them back to the truck bed. They aren't light. When we stop for a longer period of time, we'll probably raise the middle jacks just one notch and we should be riding much better.
Now, the sun is setting and we're off for a long-deserved sleep after a long drive today. Sunsets never get old. We heard the churn of the "grasshopper" all night which lulled us to sleep. My dad used to call oil drills "grasshoppers" when we would travel the country. It was a fond remembrance.
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