Time near Tehachapi

We parked the Roadrunner in Bakersfield and drove over and up the mountain to our friends Bobbi and Paul's place.  It was extraordinary dry in this part of the country but very beautiful nonetheless.
The drive took about 50 minutes and we arrived in town to tour around Tehachapi.

One of the attractions downtown is the train station museum.  It was quite an impressive operation.  Volunteers run the place and as it turns out Bobbi was well acquainted with the conductor who gave us our tour.  That was fun to see.  Friends who hadn't seen each other in a few years.

Meanwhile, we got our tickets and he provided some great background of the importance of the area and the railroad in particular.

The building itself looked fairly new and was -- it had burned down and was rebuilt over the last 10 years -- 2008 to be exact.  It was small and quaint but had a lot of interesting memorabilia in it to make it a very worthwhile way to spend a couple of hours.

Techachapi is along the route connecting San Francisco to Los Angeles by rail.  One of the features along the way is the engineering wonder:  The Loop.  It solves an elevation issue along the route by allowing the tracks to rise 77 feet around a small mountain.

 Internet Photo of Tehachapi Loop

This loop slows trains as they move down the mountain in one direction and enables them to gain momentum as they go up the Tehachapi Pass.  It was completed in 1876 and remains one of the railroad engineering marvels of our country.

The Tehachapi Museum / Railroad station has displays that show the impact of the railroad to the area as well as some of the history of the many railroad companies over the years.

After our time at the museum we spent the day being treated to a wonderful time at Bobbi and Paul's place.  They have a choice overlook of a valley which is pretty fantastic.

 

It was really great to see them!

We weren't sure about getting up to their place in the Roadrunner so we opted to stay in Bakersfield at the Orange Grove RV Park.  Their sites were big and spacious and proved to be a good choice.

One of the days on our way up the mountain to Bobbi and Paul's, we opted to drive over to the grounds of the Cesar Chavez Monument.  He was an important Latino labor leader in the 1960's and 1970's and his home for twenty years was there in Keene County.  The site was closed for a private party but we managed to drive by and see some of it.

That's all from the Roadrunner Chronicles this time -- thanks for joining us!