Strawberry (and oil) Fields Forever

We pulled out of Three Rivers around 7:30am. Because we knew this would be a long day, we wanted to get an early start. We followed the Kaweah River until it reached the very full Kaweah Lake.

It didn’t take long before we were back in the valley. The area reminded us of eastern Oregon with fields of sagebrush.

Soon we were in Visalia and stuck behind multiple big rigs but we were reassured that we’d be getting off the beaten path soon.

This area of California, once outside of the cities, is agricultural land filled with orchards and fields of grains, and strawberries.

The other industry is oil. Mass fields of pump jacks and pipelines covered the valley. Dotted in between the oil fields were strawberries fields. We watched the workers picking strawberries and wondered how they are able to work all day bent over picking berries. It’s hard work, for sure.

Also mixed in with the oil fields were solar farms. It was nice to see alternative energy sources springing up.

It was getting hot but our turn off would take us through the mountains and off the highway. That plan was not to be – another road closure. We went all the way to Hwy 101 in Santa Maria. The road wasn’t bad and it cooled down enough to change gloves and put on our liners. There were still many wildflowers leftover from the recent superbloom.

After stopping for lunch in Santa Maria, we got back on the road and went through the Santa Barbara wine country on Hwy 154 and dropped back down onto Hwy 101.

Unfortunately we had to endure more of the 101 than we had originally planned but we got to Camarillo around 4:30.

After resting and cleaning up, we met our friends Bryan and Chrissy for dinner. We’re going to spend tomorrow with them. Chrissy is a fantastic artist and we are going to see her studio and tour the town.