Since we are no longer are feeling rushed to be anywhere in a hurry, we spent a day in looking around the desert of Bakersfield where my family lived for a number of years. This area is mostly focused on the oil industry where the big oil companies have bought most of the land or leased it from the government. Everywhere you look there are "grasshoppers" which are oil pumps with heads going up and down all the time pumping oil from the ground and into tanks. My father was a pastor in the town of Taft for quite a few years and my mother worked at the Elk Hills Naval Oil Reserve. My brothers went to the local schools and also worked in the various trades in the area. Patty and I toured around Taft and Maricopa, which is to the west of Bakersfield. I would not recommend living in that area as it is a very dry and hot place.