Arg's Travel Log

[mci711]

Happy Birthday Arg! Thanks for the daily entertainment. 

[Argonne69]

Definitely a better birthday than last year. You may recall that I scheduled a colonoscopy on my 60th last year while recovering from kidney surgery two weeks prior. Lol. 🙃 Been a heck of a year traveling through 18 states. 

 

Followed up the tasty tripel with some spicy mole at Los Molcajetes. Really nice kick. The sides and margarita left a lot to be desired, but the mole made up for it. Salsa wasn't too bad. 

 

 

It's dropped 20 degrees since I arrived. The wind and sun have been replaced by a heavy rain. I'll never figure out why suicidal drivers insist on driving around in the rain with no headlights. Nitwits. 

 

[ThinkingPlus]

Perfect music video for a visit to Bakersfield...Happy Birthday!

 

 

[Argonne69]

5 minutes ago, ThinkingPlus said:

Perfect music video for a visit to Bakersfield...Happy Birthday!

 

 

 

Snapped this earlier sitting at a red light. Lol. 

 

 

[slocalifglfr]

Happy birthday. Thank you for your great posts. 

[st1800e]

Happy Birthday, shoot your age tomorrow!  

[golfwb]

Happy birthday! Thanks for bringing us along on the journey 

[DE-ILLINI]

Happy Birthday.  Thanks for taking as along on this amazing trip.

[highhdcp]

Happy Birthday 🎂

[islesmb]

Happy Birthday!

[carrera]

HBD!  Enjoying your travels.

[caniac6]

Happy Birthday! Really enjoy following your journey.

[NCLancer]

[Argonne69]

Abbreviated day of golf today. Lovely early morning, but the radar didn't look promising. I drove 30 minutes southwest to Buena Vista GC, but only managed 7 holes before the rumble of thunder sent me packing. I might have gotten in the final two holes on the front, but I was close to the clubhouse, and I learned my lesson years ago about messing with lightning. I can deal with rain, but thunder is sending a message. I don't think I missed much. 

 

Another scruffy parkland layout with a small ridge on the front that provided a couple of elevated greens and the 2nd's teebox. Otherwise more flat back and forth golf. Looking at the scorecard, it looks like the 4th and 11th are the only holes with any left/right movement, and it's not much. No water in play on the course. Didn't see any fairway bunkers, and greenside is minimal. 

 

Easy off the tee with generous fairways. Minor misses were no problem from the light rough. A handful of perimeter holes had OB for big misses, but most holes had room for an errant shot in an adjacent fairway, but trees would definitely be a problem. Approaches were mixed on the holes I played. The two elevated greens were tough, and a couple holes had small greens. Otherwise it was easy with the light bunkering. Greens had gentle contouring and slope, so putting wasn't entirely easy. I wouldn't call it hard, though. Up and downs were straightforward for the most part, but the two elevated greens did have severe slope around them. 

 

The two par 3s were OK. The 2nd played long from the elevated tee, and the short 6th had a tiny green. The 5s were also OK. The 4th was tough with the elevated green, and the 5th was reachable with a good drive, but little risk. No short 4s on the front. 

 

Conditions were playable. Fairways has a few iffy areas. Rough was a little patchy with some deeper areas. Bunkers looked playable. Greens were quite nice. Speed was at least 10. 

 

Played the White tees at 6318 yds (70.0/115). Mixed results with the driver as the weaker grip continues to perplex me. Irons were decent. Three bogies on the seven holes played. The back plays nearly 200 yds shorter, and I think might have had a couple of birdie opportunities. 

 

Another 3 cow layout. It is what it is. Definitely not worth the drive from Bakersfield. Playable, but needs bunkering and more contour in the greens. The $30 weekend walking rate was perfect. $25 during the week, and only $18.50 if you're 55+. That's pretty darn good. Easily skipped. At least I'll get to watch the Masters today. Lol. 

 

[Argonne69]

Buena Vista GC, Taft, CA 

 

 

 

 

 

Sing it, Annie. "Here comes the rain again, raining in my hand like a tragedy."

 

 

 

Full photo set: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/69sr9zoddozzs1b0nd2hy/AL-rLLlu4v9c9VbppalT6iQ?rlkey=hp8wqxbovyfvgnhxjy6rnwsdv&dl=0

 

[Mullenboy]

Happy belated birthday!  I too quite enjoy following your travels.  Though I must say you are in a rather bleak part of our state now.  😉

[Argonne69]

11 minutes ago, Mullenboy said:

Happy belated birthday!  I too quite enjoy following your travels.  Though I must say you are in a rather bleak part of our state now.  😉

 

Lol. I knew it wouldn't last. The main goal was to get from San Martin to Las Vegas without an extended drive. A few days in Chowchilla, Bakersfield, and Barstow aren't going to be the highlight of the trip, but I'll survive. 

 

[Argonne69]

Very enjoyable morning. Mostly sunny and warm-ish for most of the round, but the clouds started rolling in late. The Links at RiverLakes Ranch today. For a housing development layout, it wasn't half bad. I guess I'd consider it a parkland layout, but the trees were few. Flat piece of property, but they did an excellent job moving dirt to create some nice mounding. Bunkering was also excellent, both fairway and greenside. Very happy. Green complexes were very good with plenty of tiering, contours, and slope. A pleasant surprise for a housing development layout. Water in play on 7 holes. Only four holes with minor left/right movement. 

 

Moderately difficult off the tee with bunkers looming. Minor misses would catch the generous rough, and with few trees, not overly penal. The course makes two loops through the housing development, so big misses were almost certainly OB in a backyard. Approaches were fairly tough with well guarded greens that were often shaped anything but round. Lol. Plenty of pins tucked on small fingers. Putting was a definite challenge with the tricky greens. Same with up and downs when you toss in some iffy, uneven lies. 

 

Par 3s were very good with plenty of trouble. Decent mix of lengths, but could use a very short, and very long one. Par 5s were a story of what-if, as in what if you shortened the 4th and 18th to make them reachable with solid risk/reward opportunities? Both had water at the green, and could be gems with tees moved up. Short 4s were very good with water guarding the greens. 

 

Conditions were mixed. Fairway turf was long, but the blades were laying down. Don't recall seeing that type of turf grass. A few iffy areas. Rough was generally decent, but a little inconsistent. Bunkers were a total mess. Yesterday's light rain left many with standing water, and the others were just compacted muck. Greens were very good, though. Speed was at least 10. 

 

Played the Blue tees at 6366 yds (70.8/125). A few meh tee shots, but generally decent off the tee. Irons and wedges were solid. One birdie and five bogies. The 33' birdie putt on the 8th was sweet, but the highlight of the day was the lag putting on those tricky greens. Had quite a few lengthy putts that I rolled close. Impressed even myself. Lol. 

 

Going with 6 cows here, which surprises me for a housing development course. Does feel like a typical Florida course at times. Checks a lot of boxes with challenging greens, and excellent bunkering. Definitely needs to have the two par 5s shortened a wee bit. Bunkers need major work. No walking rate, (and no drinking water on the course), but the $42 senior rate was a bargain. Don't think it's a destination course, but it's certainly worth a visit if you're in town or passing through. I'd certainly be a regular if I was a local. 

 

Edited April 15 by Argonne69

[Argonne69]

The Links at RiverLakes Ranch, Bakersfield, CA 

 

 

 

 

Tough tee shot from the tips on the par 4 8th 

 

 

Ditto the long par 4 11th 

 

 

 

 

 

Full photo set: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/wn8mqlticxj4sk09s50qy/AE8mCG3zbJ5IozfxFyO-cN0?rlkey=8zdc6hkr8sj9lfdnkg9e0r2ex&dl=0

 

Edited April 15 by Argonne69

[Argonne69]

I do love a good brewpub that's open early on a Monday. Lol. Back to Temblor Brewing Company for a pour of their 8 Cylinder Anniversary (Chocolate) Imperial Stout. Don't think it's barrel aged, but it's better than average. 

 

 

[ThinkingPlus]

1 hour ago, Argonne69 said:

Very enjoyable morning. Mostly sunny and warm-ish for most of the round, but the clouds started rolling in late. The Links at RiverLakes Ranch today. For a housing development layout, it wasn't half bad. I guess I'd consider it a parkland layout, but the trees were few. Flat piece of property, but they did an excellent job moving dirt to create some nice mounding. Bunkering was also excellent, both fairway and greenside. Very happy. Green complexes were very good with plenty of tiering, contours, and slope. A pleasant surprise for a housing development layout. Water in play on 7 holes. Only four holes with minor left/right movement. 

 

Moderately difficult off the tee with bunkers looming. Minor misses would catch the generous rough, and with few trees, not overly penal. The course makes two loops through the housing development, so big misses were almost certainly OB in a backyard. Approaches were fairly tough with well guarded greens that were often shaped anything but round. Lol. Plenty of pins tucked on small fingers. Putting was a definite challenge with the tricky greens. Same with up and downs when you toss in some iffy, uneven lies. 

 

Par 3s were very good with plenty of trouble. Decent mix of lengths, but could use a very short, and very long one. Par 5s were a story of what-if, as in what if you shortened the 4th and 18th to make them reachable with solid risk/reward opportunities? Both had water at the green, and could be gems with tees moved up. Short 4s were very good with water guarding the greens. 

 

Conditions were mixed. Fairway turf was long, but the blades were laying down. Don't recall seeing that type of turf grass. A few iffy areas. Rough was generally decent, but a little inconsistent. Bunkers were a total mess. Yesterday's light rain left many with standing water, and the others were just compacted muck. Greens were very good, though. Speed was at least 10. 

 

Played the Blue tees at 6366 yds (70.8/125). A few meh tee shots, but generally decent off the tee. Irons and wedges were solid. One birdie and five bogies. The 33' birdie putt on the 8th was sweet, but the highlight of the day was the lag putting on those tricky greens. Had quite a few lengthy putts that I rolled close. Impressed even myself. Lol. 

 

Going with 6 cows here, which surprises me for a housing development course. Does feel like a typical Florida course at times. Checks a lot of boxes with challenging greens, and excellent bunkering. Definitely needs to have the two par 5s shortened a wee bit. Bunkers need major work. No walking rate, (and no drinking water on the course), but the $42 senior rate was a bargain. Don't think it's a destination course, but it's certainly worth a visit if you're in town or passing through. I'd certainly be a regular if I was a local. 

 

It's been a really long time since we last played there. Always like the course. It was the best of the group of courses we played in that general area. The rest are pretty much gone I think. Cal City, Sycamore Canyon in Arvin, Wasco Valley Rose in Wasco, and Horsethief CC in Tehachapi were courses that we played when looking for something different and to get out of town.

[Argonne69]

After a brief stay in Bakersfield, it's off to Barstow for 2 nights. Only course in town is on the Marine base, so I wound up booking at Apple Valley 30 minutes south. Doesn't look like much, but it'll likely be the last cheap round in a while. 

 

Off to Vegas on Thursday. I booked Reflection Bay on Friday ($225), and Bali Hai on Saturday ($249). The BH price is discounted from their regular rate of $700. Oy. Lol. 

 

Sunday is moving day, as I travel 2 miles southeast to Thousand Trails RV Park. Bit of a wasted day, but I'll need the day off before playing 5 or 6 days in a row that week. Like Palm Springs, the golf is not going to be cheap. 

 

Courses on the todo list include Shadow Creek, Cascata, Wynn, Paiute Wolf and Snow Mountain, Rio Seco, TPC Vegas, Bears Best, Angel Park Mountain, and Prim Valley. 

 

On a precious golf trip I played Desert Pines, Siena, and The Revere (Lexington). 

 

Edited April 16 by Argonne69

[AzSuperHack76]

16 hours ago, Argonne69 said:

After a brief stay in Bakersfield, it's off to Barstow for 2 nights. Only course in town is on the Marine base, so I wound up booking at Apple Valley 30 minutes south. Doesn't look like much, but it'll likely be the last cheap round in a while. 

 

Off to Vegas on Thursday. I booked Reflection Bay on Friday ($225), and Bali Hai on Saturday ($249). The BH price is discounted from their regular rate of $700. Oy. Lol. 

 

Sunday is moving day, as I travel 2 miles southeast to Thousand Trails RV Park. Bit of a wasted day, but I'll need the day off before playing 5 or 6 days in a row that week. Like Palm Springs, the golf is not going to be cheap. 

 

Courses on the todo list include Shadow Creek, Cascata, Wynn, Paiute Wolf and Snow Mountain, Rio Seco, TPC Vegas, Bears Best, Angel Park Mountain, and Prim Valley. 

 

On a precious golf trip I played Desert Pines, Siena, and The Revere (Lexington). 

 

Just a heads up Arg, I had a buddy play Reflection Bay 2 weeks ago, he said conditions were horrendous. He said there was no grass on the greens and mostly sand and fairways were pretty bare. A couple recent reviews on Golf Now seem to confirm that. 

Edited April 16 by AzSuperHack76

[Argonne69]

Interesting day. Not the usual boring drive straight to the next RV park. The drive to Barstow on CA-58 takes one over the Tehachapi Mountains, and into the Mojave Desert. Along the way you pass through farm fields, the Tehachapi Pass, and then desert. Edwards AFB is adjacent to the highway. 

 

As a railfan, I couldn't pass up a chance to check out the Tehachapi Loop, a section of track that loops over itself that opened in 1876. The grade is so steep that engineers had to construct the loop to flatten out the grade. Even so it's a fairly steep pass for trains. 

 

There's a very nice overlook that sits above the loop, but the road to it is narrow and winding, so I didn't want to take Bessie to it. Instead I found a diner, Keene Cafe, 3 miles away just off the highway that had a large parking lot, and they were kind enough to allow me to park the rig and take the Honda to the loop after enjoying a rare, hearty breakfast. Lol. 

 

 

Unfortunately I seem to have caught the loop on a slow day. On a good day up to 40 trains will pass through. After 30 minutes, and no trains, I headed back to Keene. Very disappointing. Trainspotting is a lot like fishing. There are days when you catch your limit, and others where you never get a nibble. 

 

CA-58 parallels the Union Pacific line from Bakersfield to Barstow for 130 miles, and the entire time I saw one freight train. Slow day indeed. I saw several maintenance of way vehicles, so it's possible that track work had the freight rerouted south. 

 

 

 

If I had gotten lucky, I would have enjoyed this:

 

 

Made it to the RV park 10 miles east of Barstow. Eww. Dumpy place with most of the spots looking like full time residents in trailers and motor homes that haven't moved in more than a decade. Poor cell service. I have one bar of signal on Verizon, and zero coverage on T-Mobile. Thankfully the park seems to have decent wi-fi. I'm only here for 2 nights, so I can live with it before heading out to Vegas. 

 

 

[Argonne69]

Called Shadow Creek in Las Vegas, and got some really good news, and some bad news. The good news is that they have several openings next Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. The bad news is that the likely reason they have to openings is that they're aerating the greens next Monday. Boo. Unlike Pebble Beach, there's no discounted rate. I had played PB perviously, so I didn't mind bumpy greens for $425. However, Shadow Creek now runs $1250, in addition to a night's stay at the MGM Grand. Sorry, can't stay at the Excalibur, New York New York, or Luxor. I told them I'd sleep on it, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to take a pass. It's the only public course in the Top 20 that I haven't played, but if I'm going to be dropping over $1500, I'd like to have some decent greens. The following week is fully booked, but I'll give them a call next week to see if there are any cancelations. Not sure if 8 to 10 days will be enough to get the greens back in shape, but it's worth a phone call. Bummed. 

 

[Argonne69]

Booked two rounds at Las Vegas Paiute Golf Resort next Monday. The current weekday greens fee is $249. They offer a 20% discount for a second round that's good for a week after the initial round, but instead I opted for their "Golfapalooza" special that includes two rounds on the same day plus lunch for $354. Since it's a riding only course, I may as well save the $100 by playing two rounds on one day.

 

I have an early tee time on Wolf, and after lunch I tee it up on Snow Mountain. Going to be a long day, but gotta save a few bucks when you can. Lol. I did the same thing at Cabot when I played the Cliffs and Links courses on the same day to get the discounted replay rate. 

 

[tlknight]

7 minutes ago, Argonne69 said:

Booked two rounds at Las Vegas Paiute Golf Resort next Monday. The current weekday greens fee is $249. They offer a 20% discount for a second round that's good for a week after the initial round, but instead I opted for their "Golfapalooza" special that includes two rounds on the same day plus lunch for $354. Since it's a riding only course, I may as well save the $100 by playing two rounds on one day.

 

I have an early tee time on Wolf, and after lunch I tee it up on Snow Mountain. Going to be a long day, but gotta save a few bucks when you can. Lol. I did the same thing at Cabot when I played the Cliffs and Links courses on the same day to get the discounted replay rate. 

 

What a difference 10 years makes. I did the golfapalooza around 2014 and it was $189. 
 

Actually played all three courses that day and had lunch. Worked out to be a great deal. 

[Argonne69]

Looks like there's one brewery in Barstow, and it has a limited selection. Probably stop there tomorrow after my round at Apple Valley. 

 

Kicking back in Bessie enjoying a Firestone Walker XXVI Anniversary Ale. 

 

 

[Argonne69]

While I sit here enjoying my ale, I went ahead and booked rounds for next Tuesday and Wednesday. Seems to be very busy in town, and early tee times are at a premium. 

 

I didn't do my homework on the pricing in Vegas, so I'm going through a little sticker shock at the moment. Lol. Cascata is $575 for a weekday round, and Rio Secco is $222. They have a "Double Down" special that offers rounds at the two courses for $649, so I grabbed early morning times at Cascata on Tuesday, and Rio on Wednesday. 

 

I might have to find a miniature golf center for a cheap round on Thursday, but I'm afraid it might be $100 to play a putt putt. 

 

[ThinkingPlus]

36 minutes ago, Argonne69 said:

Booked two rounds at Las Vegas Paiute Golf Resort next Monday. The current weekday greens fee is $249. They offer a 20% discount for a second round that's good for a week after the initial round, but instead I opted for their "Golfapalooza" special that includes two rounds on the same day plus lunch for $354. Since it's a riding only course, I may as well save the $100 by playing two rounds on one day.

 

I have an early tee time on Wolf, and after lunch I tee it up on Snow Mountain. Going to be a long day, but gotta save a few bucks when you can. Lol. I did the same thing at Cabot when I played the Cliffs and Links courses on the same day to get the discounted replay rate. 

 

Always enjoyed Paiute. Played Snow, but never played Wolf. Wolf is usually rated higher I think. Always enjoyed the Primm courses as well although I don't know if they still exist. Alot of the courses I used to play don't exist anymore. I'm hoping it's just because I'm old. LOL!