Bakersfield to Taft (60 km)

Oil pumps all over the place

Just a short ride to get closer to the Pacific. We would have liked to drive further, but there is no other place to sleep available between here and the Western side of the Mountains. But it is also good to rest our legs before the final leg, because tomorrow there will be an other last pass to climb. Taft, were we stay tonight is again an oil town, all over the land are oil pumps and we could even smell the oil.

Bikepark in Bakersfield

Bakersfield has a surprisingly good bike line web. We drove 25 km out of town along the river on a magnificant paived bike trail. On the way we meet a few bikers, all curious where we come from and where we are heading to. It seems that as soon as there are good possibilities for save biking, people go out and do it.

Also on the way we bought some food in Trader Joe´s and found German Christmas Cake, (Lebkuchen). No question, we bought it right away and enjoyed a bit of Christmas taste. Although here lots of shops and lobbies are decorated with Christmas things, sometimes even Christmas music is played, but all is plastic or glowing in all kind of colours, so to us it just doesn´t feel cozy or peaceful. But the tradition here is different and it is also interesting to see it.