July 16--Bakersfield

I'm in Bakersfield, which is a place in the middle of California. It's hot. I'm here for my friend's ordination tomorrow. Did I mention that it is hot? The view out my hotel window is of a big patch of brown dirt with an oil storage tank. It all looks like that, and it's hot. We went to Outback Steakhouse and drank lots of iced tea. Now it's bedtime and I can't sleep, and it's hot.