Harris Ranch

Happy Winter Solstice to all who celebrate Round Earth. We are under way for a repeat trip to the southern deserts for the holidays.

We took a weekend off from camping last weekend and instead fixed a pond/waterfall that has been out of commission for many a year. Now that the front of the house looks decent, it has become an eyesore. The process involved a complete rebuild, down to putting in a new liner and re-laying all of the rocks. It was laborious, but well worth the effort in the end. I’m all about water features, so I can now enjoy a glass of wine on my very own porch while listening to the trickle of tiny waterfalls. In fact, with our home becoming more and more hospitable, it is far more likely that we will bail on weekend camping trips if the weather does not seem pleasant. To celebrate our new digs, we hosted a lovely dinner with long time friends on Sunday. We haven’t allowed many people to see how we’ve been living for a very, very long time, so it felt wonderful to actually host a real dinner party. Compare this to the times when we have gone camping during bomb cyclones and atmospheric rivers. That is a big change for us.

But we have not totally changed our ways, and we still intend to get out there for every school break. Since most of the campgrounds this year are going to be repeats, we decided to be spontaneous and try our luck staying overnight at Harris Ranch. For those who know, there is a very culturally insensitive nickname for this place, given that it is basically a death camp for cattle. Harris Ranch steaks are well known, at least in California, and they have a hotel and restaurant located right off I5 somewhere between Tracy and Bakersfield. There’s a whole lot of nothing along the central valley interstate, but what is lacking in people, is made up for in cows. You have to be ok with that if you’re going to stop in this place. Also, you have to be ok with the intense ammonia smell of cow pee and manure. We actually didn’t notice much at night, but it sure came through loud and proud in the morning.

This place gets an A+ for Christmas decorations. I wonder what it looks like at other times of the year, because it was wall to wall seasons greetings inside. There were huge fake Christmas trees, holiday gifts galore, and enough trimmings to fill a small warehouse.

You can eat in their fancy restaurant and pay a ton for a nice steak dinner. Or go to their less upscale restaurant and still pay a ton for a nice steak dinner, or go to the Express BBQ located at the Shell station across the parking lot. That’s what we did, and it was awesome. We got an 8 oz smoked Tri Tip to split, paired with four different little sides. Included were: potato salad, mac & cheese, rice pilaf, and mashed potatoes with gravy. This is the food of My People, and I was very content.

Someone had told me you can park overnight and camp in their hotel parking lot, so Richard made a call to verify before we got there. Sure enough, “everyone does it all the time.” We were there with another dozen or so campers, just parked randomly in spaces all over the lot between the hotel and restaurant. They patrol the area, so it’s very safe. It was fun. Like a big I5 RV sleepover party, with meat.

It made a perfect stopover location, not just because of the touristy gift shop and freshly killed dinner, but also because the distance from home got us there right at sunset. That makes for a shorter shot the next day to Beloved Barstow. We’re on our way and already having a blast. Happy holidays to all!

Total miles: 169.6, 17.4 mpg, 3 hours 35 min. Site: parking lot. No services. Great cell. No dump. Great steak. Super pungent in the morning.