Aborted California Trip — May 1999

Josephine and I are patiently waiting for the weather to cool off in Needles, California. The reason for the wait is that we have to travel through Needles on our way to the Bay Area, and in the past we have found that if it is cooler in Needles we will have a much nicer trip than when the temperature is in the 100s during the day and high 80s at night. The forecast for the next week is still hot during the day with little cooling off at night. So, we not-so-patiently wait.

Neither Josephine nor I enjoy the trip across the desert in the motor home. I have made it many times in the past 15 years and Josephine has made it more than once. It is always a trial — but less so if the temperature is 95 degrees or less. That is what we are waiting for.

Every time I cross the Colorado River at Parker, Arizona and enter California through the burning hot Mojave Desert — where the only plants are Creosote bush, Burrsage, Cholla, Ocotillo, and a few Yucca plants — I think of the Joad family in Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath, and imagine how they must have felt, having no idea what lay ahead. The Joads were trying to escape from a farm in the dustbowl of Oklahoma that had been foreclosed on and taken over by a large agribusiness group, bound for the land of milk and honey — California.

I suppose all of our hearts went out to the Joads when the new owners had their house bulldozed to make more land available for farming. At least we have an air-conditioned motor home and know that if we can make it another 200 miles we will be fine. They knew nothing of what lay ahead. The last time I was in a bookstore I noticed a list of banned books — two of those banned were Of Mice and Men and Grapes of Wrath. Not sure who was doing the banning, but it did surprise me.

As trying as the trip is, once we arrive at our favorite RV park — Mission RV Park at San Juan Bautista — we always think it was worth it.

San Juan Bautista is a small community of approximately 1,500 people nestled in rolling, oak-covered hills some 35 miles south of San Jose and the rest of the Bay Area. San Juan is one of those rare towns on the fringe of a very large metropolitan area that is much the same as it was 150 years ago. No large neon signs, small quaint shops, friendly people — in other words, a place you wouldn't expect to find in that part of California. We will talk more about San Juan later; there is an amazing amount of history connected to this part of California.

My daughter Mary Ellen and her son Greg live in Sunnyvale, 45 miles north of San Juan. My son Mike and his wife Mary, daughter Melissa, and son Tommy live in San Jose, 30 miles from San Juan. It is always a joy to visit with all of them.

San Juan Bautista is also in the midst of a large farming community, and just to the south is the Salinas Valley — called the salad bowl of the world. Lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, tomatoes, onions, peppers, and sugar beets are all grown here, among many other crops. Near Watsonville are huge fields of strawberries. Just east of Watsonville is Castroville, the artichoke capital of the world, and ten miles north of San Juan is Gilroy, the garlic capital of the world. Gilroy holds a garlic festival each fall, and as you approach on the highway the aroma is very easily detectable.

Southeast of San Juan is a more arid landscape of rolling hills covered with dry grass and several varieties of oak trees. During the rainy season this area is covered with lush green grass that gives the appearance of Scotland or Ireland. Spring starts as soon as the winter rains begin, usually in December just before Christmas, and lasts until around the first of May when the grass dries up and turns golden yellow. I personally enjoy the golden hills equally as much as the green.

If we drive southeast from San Juan during the summer the hills will be golden brown. South of Hollister is Tres Pinos (Three Pines), and south of there is beautiful, sparsely populated country that has not changed much in the 50 years I have been visiting. The hills are covered with oak trees — Valley Oak, Canyon Oak, Coast Live Oak, Black Oak, and others.

If you pay attention as you drive through this area you can usually spot wild pigs, coyotes, even wild turkeys, along with birds of many kinds including hummingbirds, egrets, herons, and many more.

Within a 45-minute drive from San Juan there are many sights to see. Monterey is about 30 minutes south, and Carmel is another 15 minutes beyond that. Monterey is home to the Monterey Bay Aquarium — a truly impressive place to visit. It is also where a very large cannery district flourished for many years before the fishing industry was virtually destroyed by over-fishing. Monterey was the setting for John Steinbeck's novels Cannery Row and Of Mice and Men. Steinbeck was born and raised in Salinas, California; his former home is now a restaurant worth visiting if you are ever in town.

Five or six miles east of San Juan is Hollister. When I first started flying just after World War II, working toward my private pilot's license, I had to make a short solo cross-country trip. Hollister was the airport I selected. It was necessary to find the airport, land, and have someone in charge sign my flight logbook as proof I had made it. Hollister is a beautiful place. You can read more on the Hollister page.

The Pacific Ocean is 15 to 20 minutes west of San Juan, and Moss Landing — a fishing village — is about 20 minutes west. Many years ago a friend of mine owned a fishing boat berthed at Moss Landing. We made many fishing trips together, a couple of which make for good stories.

Farther up the coast from Moss Landing is Watsonville, north of that is Santa Cruz, and just north of Santa Cruz is Pigeon Point Lighthouse.

Of course if one travels further up the coast you will eventually reach San Francisco — one of the most interesting and beautiful cities in the world. The only problem with San Francisco is that several million others have also discovered the same thing.

If you proceed inland from Santa Cruz, which sits right on the coast, there is a grove of first-growth Redwood trees about 10 miles from the shore. If you have never seen a giant Redwood and you have the opportunity, do not pass it up. They are spectacular.

San Juan Bautista is the location of one of the Catholic missions built as part of the California Mission system. Construction began in 1797. It is the oldest mission that has been in continuous use since it was built — and Josephine and I have attended church services there.

The Mission San Juan Bautista (meaning John the Baptist) was started under the direction of the Franciscan priest Father Lasuén. It was the fifteenth in a series of 22 missions built along the El Camino Real, or King's Highway, stretching from San Diego to Sonoma — located in Marin County about 30 miles north of San Francisco. The purpose of the missions was to assist in the settlement of Spanish California. Spain had learned over 250 years of colonial effort that the mission offered one of the most economical means of settling new territory. All that was needed was usually one or two padres, a handful of soldiers, and a load of supplies. Once established, the mission became self-supporting and later served as the nucleus of a permanent settlement.

By the time Spain started the mission system in California, they had already established a very large network in Mexico, Central America, and South America. Franciscan Father Junípero Serra was chosen as president of the mission project to lay out and start construction of the California missions. The first mission built in California was at San Diego; the second was San Carlos Borroméo de Carmelo, built in 1770 at the presidio of Monterey.

The life of Father Serra is worth reading about. He was a Franciscan priest born on the island of Majorca (or Mallorca, depending on your spelling), who had been a doctor of philosophy at the University of Palma and taught philosophy there. He went from that comfortable setting to the very edge of civilization to build and teach. Serra was a small, frail man who suffered from poor health his entire life, but he overcame it to establish the California Mission System. Serra is buried at the Mission San Carlos Borroméo de Carmelo in Carmel.

The reason for 22 missions was to space them close enough together that a person could walk between them in one day — all approximately 20 miles apart. By the time the last mission, San Francisco Solano, was founded in July 1823, the mission era was nearly over.

The original plan was to use the missions to introduce California Indians to European ways, and after this was accomplished the missions would be turned over to the Indians for their own use. The padres also hoped to convert the Indians to Christianity. The missions became secularized in 1834 and most were looted by both whites and Indians. The Indians were never given the missions as promised. All ended up in the hands of whites and were allowed to fall into complete ruin. Several missions in the Bay Area were also severely damaged in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

Most of the missions have been restored in some way. Some are completely different in appearance from the original, with little or no original material remaining. Some have been relocated — Santa Clara, for example, is now several miles from its original site and was completely rebuilt with new materials, with only part of an adobe wall said to be original. The mission at Santa Cruz is located far from its original location and does not resemble a mission at all, looking more like a Baptist church. All are beautiful, both inside and outside.

Monterey Bay is the second place in California where a mission was built. When Father Serra arrived at Monterey Bay he was a very sick man — he had walked the entire distance from San Diego because he was too ill to ride his donkey. When the party arrived at the bay, they raised an altar and Father Serra blessed it and held his first mass on the site of the new mission.

You can read more about Monterey and the surrounding area on the Monterey page.