posted on Aug, 16 2007 @ 09:12 PM
Spanish, I can't believe the smoke either. Depending on the winds, some days the sky would start out clear, then get overcast by afternoon. The sun
has been a red ball, and the sunlight filters through the air producing a reddish hue. I don't ever remember smokey conditions here lasting that
long. My son told me that his car had ashes on it when he had it up in the Sierras. This is very bad for lungs. Yes, sore throat and eyes.
Have you noticed that ever since last year's leap in gas prices, that there seemed to be a little less visible pollution? I attributed it to people
driving less. I also noticed many Prius's and a few other hybrids on the highways.
Re Valley Fever. I've heard that if you've ever lived in the Valley, you've contracted VF, but most people never notice symptoms or just think it
is a flu. I have had friends and colleagues come down with the stuff so bad they had to be hospitalized, one almost died. One was the son of friends,
15, who ended up with a collapsed lung. The mother of a friend got it as she exercised by walking; the problem was, she was out during a time when
shopping centers were going in, and there was, at the same period, windstorms!
I forgot about West Nile. I remember a 7 year old girl, who one day was a healthy, active child, then got bit by a mosquito and contracted
encephalitis, and ended up with severe brain damage, unable to walk or talk. That was so sad.
But, yes, on a clear day you can see those beautiful mountains. And the view from coming down Hwy 58 can even make Arvin beautiful, with it's green
patches of groves and farmland. Damn, humans need to take care of this planet!!
Why do people live in the Valley? Many for the same reasons the Dustbowl escapees came, to find work and a better place to live. To get another start.
The Valley can seem another world to those passing through, not even part of Cali, unknown territory on the other side of the mountains. It's not
southern CA or northern CA. It's as if you can take a map, fold it so Los Angeles and San Francisco touch, with nothing in between.
But the Valley has it's own history, a past and a future. From lesser known Jim Savage to well known Cesar Chavez. Perhaps passing through the
southern Valley today is as boring visually as it was in the 1860's, but a sidetrip off the highways brings into focus a number of places of
interest.