Bakersfield, CA is everything you have heard it was and more. Middle America is in the air here with farming and petroleum being the largest industries. Meth addicts, XXL shorts, hardworking farmers all find home here. For the most part, people drive through while traveling between Los Angeles and San Francisco. This past weekend, it was the location of Mike and Jason's most recent road races. Muscle-y racers from across California met to prove who was the fastest in spandex.
However, these races are early in the morning leaving much of Saturday to our own devices. I decided that I wanted to go to thrift stores.
With a couple internet searches on my trusty EyePhone, I was able to locate the 3 best thrift stores in the area. My favorite being R.A.D. Such an appropriate name for a wonderful store that not only sells everything less than $2, but also marks them 30-50% off on Saturdays. With just $3, I was able to score a couple vintage-y tanks and some shorts.
Afterwards we were advised to explore the "downtown" area. We passed maybe 4 more thrift stores, but we wanted sandwiches instead. We went to the Sequoia Sandwich shop which had sponsored Mike's race. There we were joined by other bike aficionados and their hairless legs. There weren't that many locals besides most of the bike racers that were in for the event.
From there, we walked to a pawn shop where they sold some quality electronics and then to a vintage consignment store. We were greeted with many talkative shopowners which was pleasant. However, we couldn't help but notice that the residents of Bakersfield were very eager to sell their possessions. It seemed that the only thriving businesses were secondhand shops. Sad, actually.
Once again, we wake up at 5:30a to head out to the race course. While Mike raced 31 miles around the scenic oil rigs and cattle of Bakersfield, I hung out with bike buddies, Gary and Megan as Gary prepped for his race. Bike small talk all around as we can't help but see the 40 or so other riders also getting ready: pinning numbers to their jerseys, snacking, putting on their spandex, warming up, rubbing their BUTT BUTTER onto their lower region (to prevent chafing supposedly)... ugh. I could do without having to see that. Soon enough, Mike crossed the finish line in a sprinting pack to conclude his days in Cat 5. Woo!
Now that we were both hungry, we went to Zingo's Cafe, the breakfast choice for the locals. Plenty of big rigs, Harleys and minivan filled with overweight families. This was the place. We enjoyed our breakfast with pie and the wait staff was extremely friendly.
Tummies filled, we drove back to LA, in traffic.
