Reroutes and Gushers

The ride southwest from Bakersfield was a challenging one. We did enjoy the Kern River Bike Trail, but from there we tried to follow the Google Maps suggested bike route and were led to many dead ends because it kept trying to route us onto gated gravel roads along water canals. In addition, Karl's old back tire kicked the bucket a little sooner than he expected so we lost some time dealing with flats and changing to our spare tire. We eventually settled on riding main roads with small shoulders through Taft and soon after started to see oil wells multiplying around us. We learned of the history of the oil boom in the area at an information panel about the #1 Gusher, then arrived in the oil town of Maricopa as the sun set with no idea where we were going to camp. We eventually deeked off the highway and dropped into a dry creek to set up our tent in the dark, and spent the evening questioning ourselves on whether we needed a "holiday from our holiday".Read more