There are 4863 square miles in Tulare County. Really! I read it on the internet, so it must be correct, right? Although a great deal of it is un-roaded mountains, there are many roads to explore. And, there are roads to re-explore, because I forget stuff.
This summer I’ve made 4 trips to Kings Canyon National Park. Although it is in Fresno County, the bulk of the travel happens in Tulare County. Each time I have taken a different route, sometimes by choice and sometimes by accident. I wasn’t lost, because I still had my sense of direction and a working steering wheel.
On my most recent trip, I tried 245 out of Woodlake. There are a number of roads that resemble one another along the foothills. They have enough variety to make it worth the effort to change my routes. Besides, I like knowing how they connect. The traffic is usually light, and mostly I see pick-ups or out of state license plates. This is because the roads look reasonable on a map, rather than the remote serpentine almost-endless routes that they really are.
As I drove, I wondered why I couldn’t remember one road from another and why they get so intermingled in my head. In addition, I had lots of other thoughts:
1. There is the road where Bob used to live. I wonder where the sycamore that he drew is. . .
Roble Lomas, oil on wrapped canvas, 14×11″, $175
2. OH! There is that stone gate and barn I painted from a 20 year old snapshot! Shoot, wish the light was better so I could photograph it again. Either they built some new structures, or I did some serious editing!
3. Hey! There is the 2-1/2 acres of avocados that Dad used to farm. Now it has a crummy looking mobile home sitting in the middle of the property.
4. That must be Baldy. Michael and I skied there. It’s not the one that slides in the winter – that is Little Baldy.
5. When did the Badger Store close? I remember getting mail there for Hartland Camp, misidentified on the map as “Hartman”. Don’t these folks actually travel to the places they are mapping?
6. THERE’s the Badger school I remember! I’ve passed Sierra School on my last several trips. How can an area this rural support 2 elementary schools??
7. AHA! Hogback Road. I knew if I just kept trying different routes, I’d be able to find it from the lower end.
I love Tulare County, and I love exploring! Do you explore areas around your home? Do you look for differing rural routes? Do you have any recommendations? Please share!
2 Comments
The snaps of the road trip reminded me of the bazillion slides my dad would take when he took random road trips. And the dam pictures … note the spelling … which reminds me, several hundred slides need to be looked at ……………….
Perhaps we will have another wet winter and you can spend your evenings on the project. Slides are soooo hard to view; I love our new digital methods! Maybe you can just take them to someone to convert to disks.
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