The beginning of my education started in San Jose, California in Kindergarten. Ah the memory of the cookies, milk and other snacks that we would have for lunch each day. After a few weeks I was really starting to like being in California because I was able to play with kids and just have fun without a care in the world. But that was short lived because my aunt was going through some emotional troubles living in the big city. A decision had to be made and my aunt and uncle decided that we would move to a little town in which they owned a home already. My aunt tried to describe the little town to me, but I had no clue how to view the town in my mind. So after living in San Jose for a few months, we packed up everything and made the 5 hour journey to Central California.
Let me paint the picture for you....imagine the early 1970's when there wasn't smog and air pollution. We jumped in the moving truck and drove southeast from San Jose. Going through some of the largest mountains I have ever seen at that time in my life. It was late fall so the mountains around the central valley were golden brown with the wild mountain grass that grows throughout the mountains. To my young eyes, I was amazed to see such large shapes covered in rocks, trees and the golden grass. Until this point in my life, I only seen the red clay dirt of Oklahoma city and the typical dirt of San Jose. But to know that the ground around was full of other colors was just amazing to view.
It's rather early in the morning as we head through Pacheco Pass. As we head down the freeway, twisting and turning around these massive mountains, I view a large body of water and became very afraid because the road was going right next to this large body of water. It was a dam, and I did not know what it was for because I never seen one in Oklahoma. My aunt held my hand and explained the purpose and the need of a dam. After a few more minutes we were past the dam and heading down the final stretch of the mountain pass. The sun was coming up over the eastern horizon and small streams of sunlight were shining through the clouds into the valley. As far as the eye could see there was flat land with different color crops all over the place. The only thing at that time I could think of to resemble the view was an old patch quilt. Green, yellow, white, brown patches everywhere and I had no idea what they were. Again I asked my aunt what I was looking at, and she explained that the central valley has some of the largest farms for the entire state. I couldn't understand what a farm was because I was a "city boy" so I knew all of the food came from a store, not from the dirt...eww I don't want to eat anything anymore since it came from the dirt!
We continue to drive for a few more hours, but I was so tired from looking all over, I curled up in a ball and laid my head down on my aunt's lap and fell asleep. When I awake, we are parked in an area where I see other houses and kids outside playing because it is Saturday morning. I stretch and wake up and quickly jump out of the moving truck to see 3 older kids running down the street yelling "Granny". I figured these kids were crazy, because I would never run down the street yelling that, I would yell "You can't catch me", "You’re it" or "Ready or not here I come". They got closer and closer and would not stop running. Finally they ran right past me and to my aunt. She hugged and kissed them because they were her grandchildren. So again, I would have to meet new people and have a few more people that are relatives.
Growing up in Tulare was a rather interesting time. A nice small town with one major thing that you must experience each week. Take a guess??!!!?? Surrounding the city are several dairies with a lot of cows!!! On a rainy day, things would be good until the wind started to blow from any direction. Even now when I drive through Tulare on Highway 99, you must go through Tulare and be reminded of the cows all over the place. Other than that aromatic experience Tulare was a wonderful place to grow up.
So that was the beginning of my days in Tulare and the great educational system of the city of Tulare.
My future blogs are not going to go grade by grade, because that would just be too much for me to type, so I am going to hit the highlights.
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