Whewww---We made the rounds!

 
 
 
 

As you can see, we made alot of miles on our day of outing. We started out going to have just a slow peaceful ride along the beach.... When we got to the beach and it was so windy, we decided to drive up the Pacific Coast Highway 1 to check out Malibu (which is a beautiful drive and lots of great homes to look at).

It was only 15 miles north, we could do that and enjoy it, right?

Well, we made the 15 mile ride and ended up in a traffic jam. We had to creap along the road with no way to turn around and realized we were only 15 miles from Los Angeles, so we decided to go ahead and make the jaunt up the road to visit and do some more sight seeing. After much stress in traffic (which I hate) we did get to drive down the famous RODEO DRIVE. After seeing all the fancy mancy shops and high dollar vehicles parked out front, we knew we were not in our league at all. It was definitely something to see, but my desires to ever go back---NO! Not being a shopper anyway--I didn't care who we might have seen.

After we completed the drive down that famous street we ventured up to Hollywood boulevard to find the Manns Chinese theatre to see the "famous" stars with hand and foot imprints in concrete. It was real interesting to see the different people we had heard of but surprised to see so many that we had never heard their names. With this theatre being so popular it was really crowded,needless to say--.

We spent about 1 hour in the Kodak theatre plaze and this place is truley amazing. It would be an awesome experience to be there for the Oscars, that seems to me would be the time to visit.

This whole Hollywood experience reminded me so much of New York City. The smell, the people and oh yes the TRAFFIC!!

We finally made it out to our freeway HWY 101 and the opposite direction was in the most horrible traffic jam. Curtis decided to treck just how many miles this jam was, it was 22 miles long, 6 lanes wide and they were moving nowhere. Later we found out that Brittany Spears had a slight vendor bender and that was the cause of such chaos. So thankful that we were on our way out of there.

Hollywood--a place that I am happy to say that I have been---but a place that I don't care to ever see again. Send me back for avocados and I will rejoice---send me back to sight see---Never!! Famous people and famous things just have never excited me much--it would have been nice to see someone of popularity--but no big deal that it didn't happen.

It was a long day, alot of miles and lots and lots of beautiful country. Thankfully we get to see the beatiful country without chaos of "Hollywood"!

San Diego to Los Angeles

We are still in sunny California!! After we worked for the short 5 days in San Diego, we were moved north about 150 miles, 60 miles north west of Los Angeles. But, before we left the San Deigo area, we were able to visit Oceanside, California as well as the famous San Diego Zoo. The Zoo was the most fabulous zoo we have ever been to. It was a great Sunday outing for the both of us. Never have we seen such animals in their own habitat and frankly was difficult to find some of the them. Everything is so green here and everything is blooming, so the habitat was beautiful! Monkeys have always been my favorite thing to see and this zoo had the largest monkey exibit that we have seen. We spent much of our time in Monkey jungle just admiring these great creatures.

Oceanside was very cold and breezy. We spent about 1 hour there and really was not impresssed. The odor was very dirty and the water was not pretty. In the picture you can't really tell the difference between the sand and the water. We walked out on the pier to get some pictures and it was so cool, we didn't stay long. But, it was a day worth spending touring the great sunny California.

You know it is so much fun getting to do some of the tourists things when we are traveling around, but we both seem to enjoy our work experiences so much more. The things we happen upon are much more exciting and seeing how the people work and live is much more interesting. We have been many places and have visited many different farms and farming operations---and one thing is the same every where we go---farmers are just ordinary hard working American people. We find ourselves wanting to know more about their lives and what their individual techniques are and what is the most popular thing in the area that we are in.

We currently are staying in Oxnard, California which is in Ventura County. Yes, we are here for the avocado crop, but 1/2 of all our avocado farmers are Lemon farmers as well. This county is the largest lemon and strawberry growing county in the U.S. There are lemon and strawberries everywhere. Among strawberries, we have seen celery being grown and harvested as well. We actually are staying in a motel that is right in the heart of warehouses after warehouses that are packaging produce that we consume in Muleshoe. I find that so intersting and realize why our prices are the way they are.

We left an inspection that was located in Thousand Oaks, California, exiting on the highway right out of the farmers drive we notice a sign stating that we were only 1/2 mile from the entrance to the Ronald Reagan Library and Museum. We decided, what the heck, and lets go see what it is all about. We only got to stay for about an hour, due to having another appointment, but it was so educational and would love to have the time to go back and actually see Air Force One. This presidents library is the only library that has Air Force One on display.
But, we were so fortunate to visited at a time that the Williamsburg, Virginia, Red Coat, members where set up and giving life like examples of what it was like when the British were fighting. They had 20 different booths set up--showing how the British lived, ate, fought and even had a doctor that had numerous tools and knowledge to share with us. It was such a learning experience and again I have to say, wish I would have listened more in school!!

Curtis has much more history knowledge than I do and President Reagan just happens to be one of his favorite Presidents. When President Reagan past away--we were two people that watched the whole burial process on t.v.--so it was nice seeing exactly where he is buried.

Ok--going to do the Hollywood thing tomorrow will be posting more--

Until then...................

Avocado-Oranges-Grapefruits--LuJuans??

Temecula, California---97,0000 population---and for every person their is 10 cars on the freeway. Way to much traffic for the both of us. This is a central location that we are staying at. We are 50 miles North of San Diego and 70 miles South of Los Angeles. We are 30 miles from Oceanside--which is right over the mountain from where we are staying. Right in the heart of all the wildfires. I have taken pictures of the hillsides that you can see where the fire killed some trees and others survived. We haven't seen any homesteads where the fires took them, but the homes we have seen are very extravagant. Most all our farm owners are doctors, lawyers, dentist and large family inheritance. Everyone we have visited have been very nice and willing to explain to these two ignorant Texas common folks. We don't understand Avocados---they don't understand cotton??? Simply amazing!!
We have got up and going and really getting some work done. This has been the best experience we have had so far with this job. This is the most beautiful place we have been and the weather has been unbelievable. Even though this is where the fires were last fall, we are here doing irrigation inspections for the company. The local water districts here have limited the farmers to lower water availability and the company wants us to access the farms and what the farmer is doing to allocate this water limitation. The farmer has to reduce his tree population to accomodate lower water rates, and in doing this reduction this process is called STUMPING. They cut the tree back to 3-4 foot for re-growth in 3 years. They have to paint the stump white to prevent sun blistering the bark and killing the tree. We have a 3 page interview sheet and have to visually look at the trees. The largest farm has been 57 acres, but most of the farms are 5-15 acres. And all the acres all on the mountain sides. I have never seen a avocado tree before and never imagined that it would be on such steep grades on the hillsides. Some pickers hang from ropes off the side of cliffs to pick the trees.
While Curtis was in an interview, I was able to visit with a picker (Fele). He said he had been doing this job since he was very little, but had worked for this farmer for 3 years. He and 1 other man works for this man year round and they pick the whole orchard, just the 2 of them---1 sack at a time. You will see in the pictures how the picking works and then they fill up the bins and put them on the edge of their property and late evening the packing plants pick up the bins. So I hope to bring home lots of avocadoes to share. From the time they are picked it takes 10 days to 2 weeks before they can be eaten.
We have also seen so many kinds of fruits. Oranges, grapefruits, lemons and limes are the most common, but today, we tasted a fruit called LuJuan. It is a very small fruit and grows in clusters on the trees. You do have to peel it just like an orange, but it is a clear pulp and very very sweet.
This trip has reminded me so much of my grandparents orchard that they owned in the valley. We arrived at a farm today and as soon as the door opened I smelled the most beautiful smell of citrus trees blooming. My memories came back instantly and I was a very young girl then. I would say I was 10-12 years old the last time I visited them in their orchard. If you have ever smelled that odor---you will never forget it. I wanted to cut some blooms and bring them back to the room, but we are not allowed to accept anything from the farm owners. Conflict of interest, but before we come home--we plan to load up on fruit and avocados.
I will be keeping you up to date and on our where abouts---we plan to do some sight seeing this weekend and I will be posting again.
Until then...................

California---HERE WE COME!

We just got news that we are to be working Avocadoes in Califonia!! We left home on Tuesday morning and arrived here in Temecula California tuesday evening. It was extremely long drive but we are here and I will keep everyone posted. All we know is its the avocadoes that were damaged by fire. I will also get to be working---its going to be an exciting time and a great learning experience!!! As soon as I get some news---I will be posting!
Until then..................