well, today we are back on the road after ten days at the riverland rv resort in kingsburg, ca. no history lesson today; just driving and not trying to think too much. we saw all the friends and family in fresno, tulare, and kings counties in central california. instead of a history lesson how about a little known fact? okay, did you know that in the 1970s that the central valley in california (which stretches from just south of bakersfield to just north of sacramento) produced about 25% of the world's food? anyway, that is what i remember from my agriculture classes in college. the central valley is about 70 miles wide and about 300 miles long. and that is enough of that! staying at the riverland rv resort in kingsburg was a very nice park to stay, as we overlooked the man-made lake as seen in the photos. after having breakfast this morning with two of my cousins and elderly aunt (90 years young), nancy and i started our trek north through the valley to the sacramento area. as we passed my hometown of selma, i thought y'all would enjoy seeing the sign along the freeway, and yes, there are raisins everywhere. the sun-maid raisin plant is near selma. and now you know the rest of the story...selma is the raisin capital of the world. but, tonight we are in auburn, california, in the gold rush country. after driving for almost a whole month (today was the 26th day since we left our home in north carolina), i decided (with some persuading from nancy) that about four hours is enough driving for one day. tomorrow we will only drive 2 hours, which will find us in old virginia city, nevada. virginia city was one of the richest silver strikes in the west about 100 years ago. (now there i go again, historizing, if that is a word). virginia city is a ghost town in the nevada mountains near the california border and we will spend the day there just goofing off and relaxing the way southerners are s'posed to do. nancy sends all you readers-of-the-blog a "hello" and just hopes i can stay cool, calm, and relaxed throughout the rest of our trip. someday we may even return home...
