California 99
The San Gabriel mountains separate the marvelous unreality of Los Angeles from Bakersfield. No vacation spot, Bakersfield has no aspirations other than to anchor the agricultural juggernaut that is the San Joaquin Valley. Three hundred and fifty miles long by fifty miles wide, the SJV is the most fertile growing region in the world, bread-basket to America. The growing season is remarkably consistent – 95 degrees during the day, cool at night. Receiving very little rain, irrigation canals tap into water from as far away as the upper Midwest, creating near perfect growing conditions, day after day after day.
Bakersfield is a dusty, hard-working town that serves as the agricultural engine to the valley. Pipefitting, trucking, and refining dominate its industries. Located on California state road 99 at the south end of the valley, Bakersfield does the heavy lifting in manufacturing the hardware needed to coax crops from the ground. CA 99 runs straight up through the San Joaquin Valley, from Bakersfield past, Tulare, Fresno, Modesto, and ultimately to Sacramento in the north. A short, ten miles stretch anywhere along the highway reveals a stunning cornucopia of crops: walnuts, grapes (for raisins), cotton, onion, garlic, oranges, parsley, on and on. John Steinbeck grew up in California and was fascinated by its industries needed to feed the country (and wrote about in Cannery Row). He’s be mighty impressed by the valley today, though he did see and describe its emergence late in his life through his travel journal, Travels with Charley.
Fresno is Bakersfield’s polar opposite. It’s the epicenter of the valley, and the highest concentration of agricultural wealth in California. Of all of California’s crops, almond growing is king. It’s an industry that has grown from 800 million lbs. per year to over 2 billion lbs. in the last two decades, with the nut being internationally popular due to its mild flavor and high concentration of antioxidants. Almond grove owners are easy to spot in Fresno – they are the big bellied gents in the nicer restaurants, wearing new jeans and dust-free, fine leather boots, unsuccessfully hiding their smiles. Fresno has no sprawling suburbs. The real estate is just too valuable. Almonds orchards butt up against every edge of the town. Pretty but small row houses are the norm, with fruit trees packed in the tiny backyards. If ever I could be convinced to move to California, I would live in Fresno.
Sacramento is the state capital, and the northern crown of the valley. Ironically, the no-nonsense fiscal conservatives of the SJV feed the country as well as the state coffers and prevent California from succeeding in committing economic suicide. It’s a gorgeous city nonetheless, with the most beautiful capital complex in the U.S. It is also home for some of the behemoth nut companies we see on the retail shelves.
If you are looking for an unusual but beautiful long-weekend vacation, fly into LA, and drive California 99 to Sacramento, and fly home. You’ll see from where an astonishing percentage of the food in your grocery store comes.
berowne.com 
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