signs of mankind.
We stopped briefly to refuel the van, and ourselves, and then carried
on to Bakersfield. This was the last big town on the route we were taking that
day, so we came off the highway to search for a bank and a supermarket. In
the second of these we got chatting to our server. After speaking to us in
Spanish and then discovering that we were from England not New Zealand
(as she first suspected when we turned out to not be Spanish), she asked
how long we were visiting the USA for. ‘13 weeks’ we responded, feeling a
little sheepish but also very excited about having so much time on holiday.
Her reaction was one of pure shock. We thought at first that she must be
jealous, then she blurted out: ‘13 weeks in Bakersfield?’
‘As if’ we replied ‘13 minutes is long enough here’. Actually we did not say
this, but the thought did cross our minds.
The last stretch of our journey that day was up through more mountains, part
of the Sierra Nevadas to Kernville. Again we were in rock fall country and on a
very narrow road besides the rock-strewn river Kern. We got through safely
but did see the aftermath of an accident - someone had apparently driven
over the edge, but fortunately the drop was not far.
When we reached the River Nook campsite we realized that being
further from the coast and at a higher altitude brought two changes to the
weather. First, it was drier. But second, it was much colder. First thing we did
was empty our toilet, always fun in the semi-dark. Next we cooked dinner -
well, heated up Chinese food in the microwave - and then attempted to light a
fire.