GTW Hop 26: Boron CA to Kingsburg CA

180 miles via CA 58 and 99. Cumulative distance: 4,522 miles

If you have been following this blog since the early planning stages, you will notice that we have deviated from our planned route in a major way. The plan called for us getting to Oregon via Reno and northeast California, east of the Sierras. But the weather forecast for that area was iffy; I-80 just west of Reno got buried in over two feet of snow on Saturday night, the day before we were to leave Vegas. So we opted for Plan B: going through Barstow and up the west side of the Sierras. That route is a little longer but safer, weather-wise.

The first leg of Plan B took us to Boron, CA, where we stayed just one night. The second leg brought us to Kingsburg, CA, near Fresno, where we planned to stay two nights. However, Viking RV Park proved to be less than we expected – small and noisy (trains so close that the RV shook). Whispering Palms now has competition in the “Worst RV Park on the GTW” award. We are leaving today and hope to spend 3 nights in Sacramento. That works out fine in my view because I think Sacramento is more interesting than Fresno.

If only I didn’t have a cold. I don’t look forward to driving three hours today on 3 hours sleep. I hope Sacramento will be a recuperative stop.

This hop was very interesting in terms of geography. We started out in the high desert in Boron, at about 2,000′ elevation. We passed by Edwards Air Force base, on the edge of a mountain range that sported thousands of wind turbines. We climbed to over 4,000′ elevation as we passed through these rugged mountains, then dropped sharply to the verdant valley where Bakersfield is located. The trip from Bakersfield to Kingsburg was level and straight, passing through citrus orchards and vineyards. Quite a contrast from the Boron desert. The elevation of Kingsburg is just over 300 feet, so we are nearly back to sea level.

One nice thing about dropping several thousand feet and have a long, level stretch of highway: we did it at 10 mpg! That’s a first.

We were too tired to cook last night, so I stopped in at the closest pizza place in Kingsburg to pick up dinner after filling up the truck. It happened to be Corsaro’s Family Pizza. I got a pizza with chicken and artichokes (Jett’s favorites) and some chicken tenders. The pizza came with bread sticks.

Watch out, White Sport: you have competition. The pizza ranked among the best we have ever had. The breadsticks were just flat out the best ever. And the service was first-rate: they took the order efficiently, kept me informed of the progress, provided me with a free glass of ice water while I waited and delivered the order to my table when it was ready. They even offered to carry it out to my truck for me!

So if you ever get to Kingsburg, be sure to have pizza at Corsaro’s. Highly recommended.