California Central (San Joaquin) Valley

Former grammar school auditorium, still in use, built by the WPA in Denair, CA.

Amtrak San Joaquin, southbound, arriving in Denair, CA.

The Denair station was surprisingly busy. Tha Amtrak San Joaquin is largely funded by the state of California and is operated by Amtrak, it runs from Bakersfield to Oakland. I've ridden it and was surprised then at how popular it was, seeminly providing a needed service between the small and medium size towns in the Central Valley.

Northbound Amtrak San Joaquin, a few miles south of Corcoran, CA.

A number of times I've been on very rural roads in the Central Valley and come across Buddhists temples, including this one that is quite a bit outside of Fresno. This temple is quite busy -- if you look at the satellite photo, you'll see many cars parked around the temple.

Buddhist temple outside Fresno. It's always surprising to come across Buddhist temples in the midst of Central Valley fields that evoke strong senses of the relatively conservative American heartland.

This is largely just a place marker to indicate the start of a trip. Taken somewhere in the Central Valley from the Amtrak San Joaquin on the way to SF. It was also an experiment with using a polarizing filter and you can see in the sky portion that their's incorrect waves of color.

Amtrak San Joaquin at Merced Amtrak station.

Amtrak San Joaquin at Merced Amtrak station.

C123K Provider, a transport aircraft introduced in 1956 and retired from the Air Force in 1980. The markings over the door suggest that this one was used for parachuting in troops and cargo. Somehow I don't think "Hog Hauler" refers to hauling hogs of the 4-legged variety. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairchild_C-123_Provider

Boeing KC-97L Stratofreighter, used in aerial refueling (see Wikipedia link). Apparently a generally poor compromise, the AF started using them in 1950 and retiring them in 1956, the problem being that they were too slow for air-to-air refueling of the long-range jet bombers that were developed. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_KC-97_Stratofreighter

Boeing B-47E Stratojet bomber, in use from 1951 to 1969, designed to carry nuclear bombs in patrolling the USSR. Famous for its bicycle style landing gear. Per the website, these flew into Soviet air space a number of times. See: www.skytamer.com/Boeing_B-47E.html

A Boeing KC-135 that was used in aerial refueling. Introduced into service in 1957, the KC-135 (with various modifications) is still the main aerial refueling aircraft for the US Air Force. Though appearing similar to the Boeing 707, it is a quite different aircraft (see the Wikipedia). If you follow military procurement/aviation industry news, you'll know that finding a replacement for this aircraft has been an ongoing debate since 2003. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_KC-135_Stratotanker

Tweety-Bird -- a tiny jet in comparison to everything else at the museum, a Cessna T-37, used extensively in training but also in modified form as an attack aircraft in Vietnam. First introduced in 1957, not retired from use until 2009. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cessna_T-37_Tweet

British Vulcan bomber, in use primarily in the 1950's and 60's, but also played an important role in 1982 Falkland War. It flew with five crew members, though it looks like that would have been an awfully cramped quarters. See: www.castleairmuseum.org/avrovulcan

B-45A Tornado, what now looks like a very awkward bomber, began production in 1947 and was the US Air Force's first jet bomber. See: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_B-45_Tornado

Another jet that looks odd by modern standards, the F-86H Sabre, introduced in 1949, used in the Korean War and on into the Cold War by the US; used into the 1990's by other militaries. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_F-86_Sabre

I had no idea we were using drones in the 1950's. Per Wikipedia (link below) this drone, built by Kawaski, was used in the 1950's in training. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kawasaki_KAQ-1