Hi Adam! Thirdphaseofmoon here! BIG FAN! We are currently in LA Let's Do a RU-vid Collab! We have almost 800k subs and just finished our Road trip from Hawaii to AZ and Back!
You take us with you to places that 99% of us would never see if it wasn't for these vlogs. I watch these everyday and it's like being on vacation even though I'm at work. Thanks, Adam
So the abandoned buildings were actually homes for farm workers that used to live on the ranch. That ranch used to be called Blue Moon Ranch. I worked on that ranch in the mid-90s. A friend of mines Dad owned it. A lot of fun times out there. Also the factory you saw in Buttonwillow was a cotton gin. Safe travels.
The abandoned buildings looked like a good place to swing my metal detector. Do you know when those buildings were built, and do you think anyone would mind if I metal detected them? If they were built after the 1950's it would not be a good place to hunt. I love digging old silver coins, you know before 1965?
A lot of people think that the San Joaquin valley was always a desert, which is a untrue assumption.. the San Joaquin valley is a man-made desert in which all of the water that comes out of the Sierra Nevada from the snow melt is managed and has been since the early 1900's.. consumerican valley at one time had three major lakes in the south near Bakersfield in Tulare.. the three major lakes were Kern lake at the base of the grapevine, Buena Vista lake near Taft, and Tulare lake just west of Tulare.. and a lot of people don't know that Tulare California is named Tulare because of the Thule reads that used to grow wild around that area because of all the water from the Kings River and the kawea river flowing into Tulare lake.. Back When Padre Fagas first discovered the silicon valley on his Trek from the Los Angeles area over what we call the ridge route now the San Joaquin valley in the south was a marshland with water sometimes being only a couple feet deep but covered much of the valley.. a lot of people also don't realize that Fresno California is not the original location of Fresno... Original settlement of Fresno City was near modern-day San Joaquin California and tranquility California... And if you go back far enough in time the San Joaquin valley was an inland salt water sea which is why you can find mega amounts of sea shells, old fossils, and Old shark's teeth near Bakersfield near a Hill called sharks tooth Hill...
Those old houses are part the headquarters for the Blue Moon Ranch. Back in the day it was one of the most prominent cotton farms in the Buttonwillow community. The ranch grew 1,000 acres of cotton, alfalfa hay and wheat. My brother-in-law and his family owned the ranch during the 1950's - 1990's. There were three larger homes, an office and several shops that aren't shown in the video. I spent a great deal of time at the ranch when I was a teenager, staying and working there with my sister and my brother-in-law. It was a magnificent oasis at one time with green pastures, green lawns and the houses were freshly painted and nicely maintained. My sister and brother-in-law also owned the Spicer City Market at one time. I have many great memories from those days and will always cherish the Blue Moon Ranch.
I look for old places where people use to live. I love to dig history with my metal detector, mainly old silver coins and relics. I'm wondering if anyone would mind if metal detected those old buildings? Or how I could get permission? This morning I metal detected two 1950's houses and ended up with sixteen wheat pennies, four silver dimes, and one Benjamine Franklin Half Dollar.
My family lived on Twisselman Rd until I was about 15yrs old. I am 50yrs old now. Loved seeing all of those fields and lonely roads again, I still have dreams of my years out there. Thank you for this video!
The road less travelled is sooo much more interesting. This man is a natural you tuber, he goes down the back roads and looks at interesting things like old coke signs so you don't have to. On many a rainy day I've discovered things like giant burgers and the world's largest ball of elastic bands. There's no where quite like small town USA. Thank you Mr Woo and keep up the good work.
The empty mailboxes, a powerful clue of the emptying out of rural America. It's been going on for a few decades now. Little towns who used to have their own stores. Now they're lucky to have a Walmart in the county seat, 50 mile round-trip drive 🚗.
It's not just an emptying out, it's a redevelopment or development that is taking place, depending on which part of the country you're talking about. Development is what's occurring in the rural areas of Texas and Florida.
I live in Santa Clarita and spend as much time as possible in these "desolate" areas - I photograph the oil / ag fields and find a lot of solace in those places. Mckittrick, Buttonwillow, Maricopa, Taft, west Bakersfield, etc...
Short note, Taft was originally named "Moron"... The towns people voted to change it to Taft in honor of President Taft when he visited there after the lake view gusher made the news
I worked home health and hospice in Bakersfield and saw patients all over these areas. I would get directions like “ go past the two oil rigs, over the open canal, past two almond orchards and you will see the house”. It could get a little spooky when having to go out on calls in the middle of the night, lol. Some of the farm worker places were almost uninhabitable but almost always immaculate. Despite these things, I have fond memories of those days.
My friend worked out here as a home health nurse years ago. I stoped overnight on my way from Sacramento to LA. I remember it rained during the night and in the morning I have never seen so many giant snails everywhere I guess they came out to eat the vegetables growing in the central valley.
Yes, those white boxes are filled with bees. The bees are used to polinate the vaious orchards in the area. When pollination is done in that area, the bees are moved to a new location.
My Dad was born in Mckittrick, a small Oil workers town. His Dad worked the Union Oil Fields, by working the boilers to create steam to assist the thick crude to move through the many miles of pipes all the way to Port San Luis to load onto ships offshore.
Those small houses at around 8 min mark were homes for the farmers. My uncle used to live in the first house. We used to go visit him almost every weekend. Thise big trees in the back are walnut trees. That place is actually called Blue Moon Ranch. I have a lot of good memories theres from my childhood
How many times have I driven I5, seen that Tule Elk Reserve sign, and never pulled off. Thanks for this cool drive into our hidden backroads. Fun video. Great job.
I have a great amount of nostalgia for the stretch of I5 from Sacramento to LA. It’s not much to look at but if you’ve driven it enough there’s something cathartic about it. I used to drive it almost on a weekly basis between the age of 18-21 before I moved out there. Honestly these last few videos have all been pretty nostalgic/relatable from Reno, where I live now, to the Bay Area and up the 5 all places I’ve spent a lot of my life in and have fond memories of. Been missing them a lot lately, thanks Adam.
This video in particular actually unlocked a memory I hadn’t thought about in a while, I picked up the one and only hitchhiker I’ve ever given a ride to in one of these small towns between pea soup anderson’s and the grapevine. Stopped for some gas, it was around 3:00am and there was an older Mexican gentleman with a duffle bag and a guitar. I spoke enough Spanish and he spoke enough English to get a basic understanding of where we needed to go and that I was heading the same direction. We rode not saying much listening to Banda for about an hour and a half, got off at some random exit, drove a little further into a small farming community, I shook his hand, he threw me $50, and went on his way. It was a nice experience and I’m glad I could help him get where he needed to go. Hope he’s doing well.
I have two memories of the drive through central California, once ON the way down to LA/Culver City in 2002, and the trip BACK north to Washington State 6 months later. The trip down was when California was largely broke so the cop helicopters were not flying so I got away with flying low in an older Honda, an 88 Accord LX-I, loaded down with what I needed for the trip, with no working AC and doing 90 or so down the 5, until I got to the Grapevine Hill, then had to slow down to make the ascent up and then back down passed San Bernadino and into LA itself before getting off at the 405 to Slausen Ave exit. The trip home was in early January and not all that eventful, but due to potential snowy weather over the mountains further north, which included Oregon mountains north of the Rogue Valley had me needing to continue to beat the storms, which I did and made it home without incident. When driving down there, it was late June, arriving I think July 1st so hot and sunny.
Thanks for letting me join you on your adventures Adam. I'm not feeling that well right now and these videos make me feel better. Hopefully I'll be able to go out traveling soon.
The area is in Kern County, the Southern beginning of the ''Big Valley'' and known for oil, mining and agriculture. Just North of 146 is the city of Delano. It is famous in US Labor History as site of the United Farm Workers grape strike of 1965. Labor leaders Cesar Chavez and Larry Itliong joined forces and fought for better wages and working conditions. As a child worker, my family and I would later benefit from those labor wins. I would get a few more pennies for the basket of grapes we picked. Thank you for your vlog TDW. It took me back when we worked the fields near 146. As I understand, the Tule Elk is endanger of extinction - again, gracias for the memories.
I grew up close by in Shafter, Oildale, and Bakersfield. As an airman at Vandenberg AFB in the early 1970s, I made many road trips between between the base and Bakersfield via state route 166, a good memory.
Really nice. When I go to Northern California (San Jose), sometimes I take 33 instead of 5. There is also 166. It's amazing. Thank you for a good virtual trip.
I’ve driven that lovely stretch of the 5 many times to Frisco, but I cut across toward Gilroy so I can stop at Casa de Fruita and it’s other stores. It’s very desolate. Great to see the almond trees are flourishing, nice & green & full.
Fun Fact. You found what looks like motel rooms. Well more like homes for the workers on the farms when it's time to harvest. The oil pumps go on for many many more miles. The fields are divided up and the military has a large section for fueling ships and other important stuff to protect the country. Much in another area has been pumped for over 50 years and the ground level has subsided 60 feet as the oil has been removed. The earth in that area is like sand and as oil is removed the sand compresses.
This was for my good workers they sure haven't did a very good job keeping the place up for the migrant workers and it's be to get all the brush dead trees imagine what it looks inside of the apartments you know that I can't blame that on the migrate workers I mean the owners of this place laugh like it's been all kinds of money on them cleaning the places up got to leave it at bandit with the owners do
Thanks Adam-great backroads coverage. Multiple times a year I’m driving the California 46 (Paso Robles HWY) during road-trips between Bend, Oregon and Thousand Oaks, California.
One almond requires 10 gallons of water to come into existence. ONE. Multiply by a million almonds. Now tell us why our California Republic is restricting water use in private homes? More than 80 gallons a month puts a water restrictor on homes, by Law. That is 8 almonds.
Why were these nut farms opened in such regions? Was water in plentiful supply then? Where I live, the official state tree is the pecan. So many pecan trees. I lived in two different places that had very mature tress in our yard. I never watered. The trees only receive what Mother Nature gave them. They survived El Niño, La Niña, and Snowmageddons. They all bore fruit annually without issue.
@@UmmYeahOk Yes. Once upon a time, the government diverted water from great rivers through a series of dams and waterways. The dams/reservoirs are less than half as filled wth water as back then. This area is high and dry now.
@@miapdx503 Exactly. Now the long-time tree farm owners have more importance because they give so much money. At least that is the way it has been. Maybe it will change.
The elk are Tule Elk. Those large reeds in the marsh you were photographing over to see the elk are called tules. For long term residents (I'm 4th generation) the term for being out in the middle of nowhere is "out in the tules". Durng the wet season there can be incredibly dense fogs that come out of tule marshes called "tule fog". I've been in some where day turned into blackest might and I literally could not see my hand in front of my face. Very dangerous to drive in. Better to pull to the far side of the road and pray somebody doesn't drive into you. The buildings were probably a labor camp for farmworkers in the area. You came a few weeks too late as the landscape was probably still green at the beginning of April. Ours turned to brown in mid-April in the LA area. The "factory" near Buttonwillow was most likely a seasonally used agricultural packing house. They're all over farming areas. The bee hives are called apiaries and moved around seasonally for crop pollination. The bees are busy working and unlikely to sting you if you don't bother them. California still sits on a vast ocean of oil. I grew up in a beach suburb south of LAX. We were still an oilfield. We had two pumps on our block alone and when I went to bed as a kid I could hear the creak of the walking beams along with the bell of the local harbor buoy. A major refinary was a short distance away and the night sky was lit up by the flareoffs of excess gas. Oil still naturally seeps from the ground and even the offshore seafloor. We were always having to clean it off as kids and learned to spot and avoid it. I still see natural seeps and globlets from ocean seeps still float in on the beaches. The industry is just more visible in the southern San Joaquin Valley where you were.
awesome...we used to say that, in the tules...tulies...we also drove around aimelssly back when gas was 26cents/gallon and we called it tuling around...
There's a lot of places like Spicer City in Ca. Lancaster which is only 30 minutes away from LA has a lot of desolated trailers and abandoned houses and tumbleweeds. But I enjoyed this video. Shows diversity in California.
I live in Lancaster and yes it still has trailer parks and empty houses but it is also home to 150,000+ residents and growing with lots of new residential and commercial developments too, many work for aerospace companies in Plant 42 and Edwards AFB
You're always interesting and fun with a great humor about you, Adam!! Subscribed years ago and still lovin your vids! Thanks for the adventures and all of the Comic Relief in this messed up world..
This is very enjoyable to travel with you. I really like your sense of humor, also. What a relief from the pressures of the days. I just moved back to a rural town I had lived in over fifty years ago. It had a sign that stated," industry invited" at the entrance. It was farms, and I felt it was ungrateful to the farmers! Hahahaha, no industry! ( Well, horseradish and dogfood, to be fair.) Now I enjoy the town, as I see the sign is gone!
Enjoyed this! When I have time , I always like to get off the beaten path , take the roads less traveled, the scenic routes.....thanks, stay safe always...God bless you..🙏❤
It's a real pleasure when you go off the freeway to Real Amerika. Reminds me of better times back in the 70s. There was far more traffic way out there between Kettleman City and Bakersfield. Thanks for the update.
I had an amphibian apocalyptic encounter in Buttonwillow one time. After a rainstorm one evening, I opened my hotel door and there were literally thousands of toads hopping around everywhere. Bufo perplexus I believe!?
So many memories of these quiet towns. My grandfather worked the oil fields and occasionally would take us with him to work. Our family lives in Teviston which is north of Bakersfield. This is home. Thanks for this post.
That probably wasn't a motel, it was most likely one of those places where migrants that worked farms lived at. It would be why you see the large fields next to it
Adam.... why do our rural towns continue to die as our overcrowded metropolitan areas continue to implode with crime and violence? Mind boggling to this old guy
And the decent neighborhoods and suburbs are becoming unaffordable except for current homeowners (until they get the property tax bill). End of Empire.
Because PG&E chemically polluted all these small rural areas - watch the movie Erin Brockovitch. Also Dupont has polluted to entire world with chromium 6 used to make Teflon.
@@catcafe4454 Every year we go to Montana to flyfish. Where we stay, it's a "one stop sign town". I love it. I live in Palmdale CA., not too far from where this road trip.
Yes those are honeybees used to pollinate crops. The beekeepers transport them for farmers who pay for that service. Beehive theft is a big problem in CA.
The town of buttonwillow gets its name from the button willow tree to the north of the town that is still alive today where native American Indians used to meet with settlers and they would trade under the tree.. the tree is still there... Also, the town of Tupman was built on leased land from oil companies to house Oil workers back in the 1920s and has a school that is still in use built around that time... There used to be a town to the north of buttonwillow but to the South of highway 46 just off of highway 33 that was called Bell ridge it was owned by Royal Dutch Shell and I have metal detected out in that area and found all kinds of old coins jewelry an interesting metal objects...
@Lesko Ty for the information especially about the Natives trading under the tree. I'm from Denver, originally Rosebud South Dakota, but we have Confluence park where Cherry creek n Platte river meet where the Natives met with fur trappers. Colorado was Cheyenne n Arapaho territory. Loved this city but it's becoming sooo gentrified that it's unbearable to live here. Rent n crime is sky high. Love these vlogs where I can escape the concrete jungle. Oh yeah, I'm Lakota n own land but it's desolate. Ty for reading 🪶🦅🪶🦅
You metal detected that area, how cool. I'm here reading these comments because I metal detect and am considering a road trip to that area. Just this morning, I metal detected two 1950's houses in Palmdale and ended up with sixteen wheat pennies, four silver dimes, and a 1954 half dollar. Those five silver coins gives me 89 for this year. Two days ago, I dug a dime trifecta in East Los Angeles, along with ten wheat pennies. Hay, I just noticed something, your handle. This is the second time I've laughed reading these comments. Great screen name/handle, love it!!!! Now I'm wondering if anyone else has commented on your name?
I’m a Californian… now living on another coast… but since I grew up in the Golden State, graduated from university there, started my career there (in one of those famous hi-rise office buildings)… I’m familiar with those long stretches of backroads crossing the state… and I still have a great deal of affection for Callie… so this video visit made me nostalgic. Here’s a link to some soundtrack for this visit… ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-GnllblXmUtk.html John Stewart’s classic tune ‘CALIFORNIA BLOODLINES’ - Be sure to check it out.
Interesting area with orchards of almonds and pistachios. I used to drive a tractor which towed a mechanical shredder which shreds or mulches the brush from the trees that were trimmed after harvest. They used to burn those trimmings. Can't anymore. A century ago that whole area of the Southern San Joaquin Valley was a vast shallow lake and wetlands area. How time has changed it all.
The oil Jack pumps were quite the eyesore, Orange Blossom honey is something I really do miss from living in California and the smell of the Orange Grove blossoms can be intoxicating. And I think those little houses were probably for the migrant workers and their families. I'm surprised Magic Mountain is still open went there as a kid when it was brand new first ride was the spin out Barrel ride and up came my grand slam Denny's breakfast I was miserable the rest of the day for hash browns were stuck in my sinuses ugh. Thanks for sharing it's been a long long time since I was in California left for Texas in 1980
Thank you so very much,I grew up in O.C. Anaheim and haven't been back in over 20 years. So it was really cool to see your videos. Thank you again and God bless you.
When I was a kid growing up in Long Beach, the City of Signal Hill used to have a lot of those oil pumps called “Pumpjacks” or nicknamed “Nodding or Bobbing Donkey’s” because they look like a donkey’s head going up and down.
I didn’t know about the Lost Boys train track bridge in Valencia. I thought it was all done in Santa Cruz at the bridge by the beach boardwalk. I assume they used both. Thanks for sharing. 👍🏻
You were right in my backyard. That area has thousands of acres of Almond and Pistachio trees. That abandoned set of identical buildings would be farm labor housing. They are scattered throughout central California . Safe Travels Amigo. Next time you pass through Kettleman stop into Bravo Farms.
