North of Ojai
![North of Ojai](/content/images/size/w2000/wordpress/2019/11/CalifornianorthofOjai-001-2.jpg)
I’m sorting through a lot of October photos to see if I can put together a cohesive narrative. I added some scanned film images to my catalog while I was traveling, so they occasionally sneak up on me as I’m trying to cull the project files.
I took this photo on a Pentax K1000 north of Ojai and south of Bakersfield. I tried to find the exact canal spot on Google Maps, but I can’t remember the route I took. I jumped off I5 at some point because I was tired of the interstate, so that’s throwing me for a bit of a loop.
![North of Ojai, July or August 2019.](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a71229df9a61eb777aa9262/1573663822204-MRZFKL1QCS7AL8TYJALN/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kMyX43o3HznWzvVjR9Preul7gQa3H78H3Y0txjaiv_0fDoOvxcdMmMKkDsyUqMSsMWxHk725yiiHCCLfrh8O1z4YTzHvnKhyp6Da-NYroOW3ZGjoBKy3azqku80C789l0mhydAgiKdIfeAoxVgE7c7okPoKA5uALweq0Eh5ZSPFNMZ1UtBwwVjWySAS2xzp0KQ/California+north+of+Ojai-001-2.jpg)
North of Ojai, July or August 2019.
I remember that region feeling like an inferno in late summer. It smelled like agriculture. I tried to ask at a gas station about the crop or crops I was smelling. It was probably an impossible question to answer. That area is an agricultural wonderland. Still, they suggested that I might be smelling pistachios.
I drove back this way after a nice stay in Carpinteria. I went to Paradise to see how it was doing a year or so after the Camp Fire. I wish I’d made it to Paradise faster and stayed longer. I hope to return.
California is on fire again. There have been a lot of recent articles explaining that these fires are not part of what is a regular occurrence in the western states. I need to read the articles, even though I don’t need any convincing. But It’s never a good idea to take in conclusions and ideas based on headlines.