Sand Canyon - Part 1

Over the river and through the woods was nothin' to get to grandmother's house.

Becky, Joseph and I made the trek (and I do mean that almost literally) to visit my parent's house outside Tehachapi on Tuesday. They've lived there since January but we haven't yet visited. We left as soon as Becky got home from work in the afternoon and made it to Bakersfield by 6:30.

We met Mom at Cal State Bakersfield and let Joseph out to run off some energy. I was worried that he'd fall asleep before we got to their house so I picked up a few things at TJ's. J ate sparingly, something I was later glad of. (How's that for a bit of foreshadowing?)

Dusk rapidly approached as we wound out way up 58 towards Tehachapi. Just outside of Caliente, Joseph started to throw up. With no shoulder to pull off on, Becky jammed onward while Mom, driving ahead, found a turn off. Big rigs shook the car as we tried the best we could to clean Joseph up without getting him out of the car. (Thank God Becky had towels in her trunk.)

By the time we turned off the 58, it was almost full dark. We drove down Sand Canyon for 15 minutes, expecting to arrive at my parents' house at any moment. Finally Mom turned on to a dirt road. We bumped after her for another ten minutes before Mom turned down another lane. A long strip of dry grass and small plants was lined on each side by two ruts that made up the road. We dipped down into a dry creek bed and then up again. We dipped back into the creek bed, then, shifting down into first, revved up a hill, gravel flying. We pulled into my parents' house, got out of the car and stared out at the empty landscape. The almost full moon illuminated the hills surrounding the small house, washing the ground in a pale milky light. In the distance, coyotes howled in an eerie chorus. We could make out the lights of the nearest neighbors. Other than that, we were surrounded by nothing but mile after mile of high desert.

It's not a matter of why my parents moved there, more of a matter of how they ever found the place.