The sounds and smells of a farm in the desert

tkscovill ♦ June 7, 2012 ♦ 2 Comments

June 7, 2012 9:00 am

We spent the night in the Harris Ranch parking lot, something that lots of RV’ers do. We shared our “campground” with about 15 big trucks and hundreds of birds. I am amazed at the beautiful bird chatter that has waked me up the last couple of days. I guess they gather wherever there are trees or vegetation. The birds don’t care if it’s a desert or a farm as long as there is water and some insects to eat. Makes me re-think my previous post on the artificial-ness of this place.

Today we will drive to Barstow, CA, which I have just found out is “really ugly.” This is according to Sam’s brother in law who we had dinner with last night. He actually laughed at us for deciding to stay there, but he’s that kind of guy.  It’s OK though. I know that you have to “get past the ugly” to see the beauty. So, I will leave today with my eyes open to whatever is in front of them.

I do want to say something about the smells we encountered this morning when we walked the dogs. We are in cow country, so that means cow smells, heavy and pungent. But added to that this morning were the copious rows of society garlic that someone planted along the road because they looked pretty. I don’t think you can eat this garlic so it doesn’t smell like “real” garlic. It is strong and invasive to the nose. A mixture of garlic and cow dung first thing in the morning. This is something I wouldn’t want to get used to!