April 22nd - Doc and Clara Ride the train in Railtown

Monday 22nd
Our weekend of Bluegrass fun is now over, we had a great time, renewed some old friendships and made some new ones.
We have stayed on at Turlock so that we could take a side trip back to Jamestown. We first visited here in October of 2011, but did not have the time to visit Railtown. This is a railway museum way up in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, in Gold Country. Not only is it a working railway museum it is also the location of many films that used railways in them. High Noon being one of list of 106 films shot here.
The most famous one for us was Back To The Future 3, released in 1990. All the real life train sequences were filmed here. However that is not all, the train used in the film was the Sierra No 3 Loco, which is still here. We opted to take the tour, which we found fascinating, John our tour guide was happy to tell us all sorts of things about the railway and we were happy to ask questions. There were four of us on the tour, which usually lasts an hour. We started at 12.20 and finished at 4.25.
The highlight for us was to not only see the Sierra No 3, but to be able to climb up into the cab and stand where Doc and Clara had been. We also saw some of the props, the different chimney stacks they used (complete and after the little explosion on the train).
We had a wonderful time and learned a lot about american railways of the last century.
We drove back down to Turlock in the evening, stopping in Oakdale, which as we all know is the Cowboy Capital Of The World (so they tell us), to eat in a very nice Chinese Restaurant where they serve dishes of gigantic proportion, such that we had to take half of our meal home with us.

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April 15tth - Bluegrass Campout at Turlock

Thursday 18th
Following our lovely weekend at Pete and Jan's we have driven the 17 miles to Turlock, where we are now camping. we are here for the California Bluegrass Association Spring Camp. It will last from Monday until next Sunday and everybody here has come to play, or listen to, bluegrass music. However, like back home the weather is playing a part, we have had a very windy couple of days., but now the wind has dropped and the weather is set fair for the weekend.
It is nice and quiet now, but a lot of people will roll in tonight for the weekend

Set up at Turlock

Sally at a jam on Wed. Afternoon

Friends Minnie Winnie (Winnebego)

Dave and Emmy

April 12th - Places and Home

Yesterday we modified our plans a bit, we had planned to stay two nights in Fresno, however an email from our friends including an invite to a Jam the next night tempted us to push on up to Pete and Jan's in Atwood.
We managed to get there in good time, have a bit of a rest and then go to Jack's for a lovely jam in the evening. It was such a good time, very relaxed, lots of music and talking and very friendly people, most of whom we had met once before in September, but amazingly they still remembered us!
We have been made most welcome by the people that we have met here (at Atwood, but also generally when we have travelled). I am coming to the conclusion that 'places' is about somewhere you go, but 'home' is about being with people. Either we have been very lucky, protected or guided, or we feel very easily at home. Atwood is one of those special places that make us feel like we are coming home when we visit here. It is a very comforting feeling and I suppose one of the many reasons we enjoy travelling.

April 11th - Fresno

We left the very nice fairground in Bakersfield and drove north on 99 to Fresno fairground ($20 p .n., full hook up very quiet).  Fresno is the site of a Harvey House Newstand, but is no longer there. Once installed there I took the opportunity to visit the California Gratitude Train ,Merci Boxcar. Although a little out of the way this boxcar is proudly looked after by the American Legion Fresno Federal Post #509, in Fresno, particularly the 40 & 8's. While I was there taking pics of the boxcar one of the 40 &8's members came out and we had a very interesting chat about the boxcar.

Boxcar and Chevy

The plaque near the boxcar

Up close showing the 40 and 8 sign

Me and the Boxcar

April 9th - Bakersfield and Highway 99

From Barstow we followed the Highway 58 to Mojave, to Tehachapi and on to Bakersfield, where we stopped at the Fairground.
I looked for signs of the Harvey House in Mojave, but it had been flattened many years ago. There was also a Harvey House in Bakersfield, but it too had gone many years ago. This had been a long drive for us so we stayed for two nights. The Fairground ($25 p.n. full hookup) is very nice and neat and clean and it was not too hot. The day spent here enabled us to get some shopping done. Bakersfield 's main claim to fame is its Bakersfield Sound, a sort of Rock-a-billy country style. Buck Owens and Merle Haggard are its most famous musicians. We had a look at the Crystal Palace, owned by Buck Owens, which is Bakersfiels's sort of Grand Ole Opre.
On Thursday morning we moved on up Highway 99 to Fresno, where we have stopped at another fairground (bit of a pattern here isn't there). Highway 99 goes right up the middle of California in the California Central Valley, which which is very intensively farmed, as we described in our other blogs, as we travelled up this way in the fall of 2011 and Spring of 2012.

Yep, this is Bakersfield

Buck Owens Crystal Palace

April 9th - Farewell To The Mother Road

Calico is just on the outskirts of Barstow.
As we passed through Barstow we stopped at the Chamber Of Commerce, which was  the Harvey House Hotel, called the Casa De Desertia. It has been restored and looks a very grand building. Built beside the railway, it now houses a railway museum.
As we drove on through Barstow we said farewell to Route 66, probably for the last time, taking Highway 58 across the Mojave Desert to Tehachapi and north to the Central Valley

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April 7th - Calico

Calico Ghost Town.

We were indeed camped right next to the Ghost Town, however the weather now interfered with our plans. A storm was blowing in. Only wind, but expected to be up to 60 m.p.h gusts. Looking at the weather charts it seemed that the Jet Stream had taken an unexpectedly Southern route, down the west coast, crossing the Mojave Desert and New Mexico and swinging back North up the Great Plains. This meant havoc for the North and West of USA. The west coast got cold. The Southern states (thats us) got gales, the Rockies Mid West and Northern states as far as the Great Lakes got snow. Warm wet air sucked in from the gulf, meeting the cold dry air sucked down from Canada met and dropping up to 30 inches of snow. It won’t last long, but it is big.

By Monday afternoon we were prepared to brave the wind and go up to visit the ghost town which had originally been a Sliver Mining Community. It was very twee, but poorly described. We then noticed that some of the buildings were not original 1880’s. We eventually found out that a guy called Walter Knott bought the town in 1950 and was determined to restore it to its original condition as ghost town, Walter Knott is well know for his amusement park in Anaheim, Knotts Berry Farm, right next to Disneyland. Which incidentally started as a farm in 1920, where Walter developed the Boysenberry. The wayside farm stall then opened a chicken restaurant, which developed entertainment bits, which then became what is claimed to be the first theme park in 1947m, complete with its own ghost town. Its history has some fascinating parallels with Calico and also many of the activities and places that we have seen on our travels in the West. Read about it here……. Knotts Berry Farm History

The county of San Bernardino was given the park and have kept it going ever since, so really it is only a pseudo ghost town with many buildings form the 1950’s, still a good bit of fun with the train, the mine, the main street, the sheriffs office etc. we then went down to Peggy Sue’s Diner for dinner.

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