Day Four - Yucca Valley to Bakersfield

A Sunday that appropriately starts in a park of religious statues and ends on a golf course

Another full day awaited us when we woke. Firstly, Adam's research offered us the chance to see a set of statues that had been sculpted by a very dedicated religious man, a pastor with the plaster let's say. Antone Martin created over forty statues of Christ and other religious scenes over a twelve year period. One of them, a five foot high, ten ton piece called 'Resurrected Christ' he wanted to place on the rim of the Grand Canyon as a symbol of peace to all mankind. When Arizona state rejected his plan, a man named Eddie Garver stepped in and offered to transport Martin's work - now retitled in his disappointment the 'Unwanted Christ' - from the workshop in Los Angeles to its current home on a hillside overlooking the small town of Yucca Valley. The statue set off on its 120 mile journey in 1951 and arrived in time for Easter.

A year or so later Martin decided to move to Yucca Valley and began to add over forty more statues of Christ and other religious scenes until his death in 1962, including a three storey 125 ton depiction of the last supper. Okay Brian Sewell might be critical of aspects of the quality and artistic beauty of some but we left impressed by the man's dedication to his faith.

And then off to Pioneer Town. This was a wild west film set which is still available for hire by any film studio planning to make a western; although the continuity people on that movie would have their work cut out as much of the set has now been turned into diners and tourist gift shops. Maybe I could imagine John Wayne or Gary Cooper asking for a large Pioneer Town t-shirt in red at the saloon before they ride off out of town. 

The authenticity of the scene is also a little undermined by the large 'bowling alley' sign at the entrance but that comes with some genuine history. The television series starring the heroic cowboy Roy Rodgers was filmed in Pioneer Town. He was guest of honour when the bowling alley was opened and played in the first game scoring over 200 which, if you don't know about ten pin bowling scores, is mighty impressive. 

And talking of things sporting, that set Adam and I up nicely for a trip to a golf course in Big Bear City where we had booked to play the nine holes there. The course is set at an altitude of 7000 feet so we had a bit of a meandering journey to our appointed tee time. Arriving ahead of schedule, we decided to drive around Big Bear Lake which proved an interesting diversion and insight into the current state of American politics. The area has been made to look like a Swiss-style resort with virtually all of the housing designed as log chalet style cabins. We had been noticing the number of houses that patriotically displayed the American flag and realised we were in an obviously hard core Republican area when these were mixed with 'Trump for 2024' messages. We were to see NRA lobby hats when we called into a local supermarket later.

But on to the golf. We had to rent golf clubs and this came with a free buggy although the course was relatively flat and I would normally expect to use a manual trolley to move my clubs around. I was forgetting again that most Americans don't much care for walking.

Alighting at the first tee we were soon joined by a party of two couples who told us that they were early for their tee off which followed ours. And then it happened. One of the ladies said, "I love your accent. Is it Australian?" I corrected her geographical inaccuracy and told her that I loved hers too and she sounded very American. In astonishment she replied, "Do I have an accent?"

They were very friendly and, when we relayed that we were relative novices at the game, told us to just enjoy ourselves and relax. Conscious now of an audience, I somewhat nervously hit my shot off the tee. Astonishingly it went in the direction and also carried something of the distance that I was hoping for and a sudden outbreak of applause arose from behind me! I confess I lost my normal British reserve and played to the gallery; turning to them and bowing.

As a sporting contest that was my highlight I'm afraid to say. After a shaky start Adam triumphed with some aplomb, hitting a shot over 'the lake' hole onto the green whereas mine imitated an early failed prototype of Barnes Wallis, never to be seen again. 

My golf course adventure also revealed that Americans do not look for their golf balls if they should ever stray off the fairway. Inevitably I had to disappear into some undergrowth at one (or maybe more) point and emerged with my own and four others that lay abandoned close by. Just as well as I lost a couple more around that blasted lake.

Handing back our clubs we set off to Bakersfield and along the way stumbled across Big Bear Lake basking in the warmth of a relaxed late Sunday afternoon. We parked up and looked across the scene of small boats anchored on a vast expanse of water with rolling hills of pine forest providing a backdrop on all sides. 

I have never asked anyone else on their general understanding of this but I tend to think of lakes as being a low-level kind of geographic phenomenon. It was surprising to see on a nearby sign therefore that we were viewing what was in front of us at roughly 7000 feet above sea level. The 'wow' word was once more the only statement that I could conjure at that moment.

We continued to Bakersfield and our next hotel. Unfortunately, this one proved to be the worst that we stayed in the whole trip with dirty towels, grey sheets and a freeway thundering past our window which eased little during the night. The wrath of GastroGR (my online critic nom de plume) came forth and a withering review was placed on the hotel booking website. Although not an official Adam fact, GastroGR reviews have been known to be a contributory factor in closing pubs in the past.