This highway 33 which is also named Petroleum highway is running along the western side of the San Joaquim valley and it is one of the oldest oil regions of the U.S.A. There's a magic here, and it was great to walk out of the car and let the place impress you, only that the outside temperature (104 ° F) was particularly punishing.
If you drive through this place, make sure to stop at the McKittrick cafe-Hotel and ask to one of the 3 women working there for the best draft Bud of the region...
We had all along this Petroleum highway the best Mexicana I could dream of, with a local radio station that probably provided a homey feel for the many agriculture workers further north on the San Joaquim Valley. Listening to Vicente Fernandez (is there a more iconic song than Los Mandados ?) and his likes added to the magnificent desert landscape. The song Los Mandados (listen below) tells about crossing illegally the border to the US and dealing with la Migra (the U.S. Border Patrol), the song was composed by Jorge Lerma and first recorded by Vicente Fernandez in 1965.
