Tehachapi, CA (3/3/2020)

For two days, the winds in Mojave were so strong I didn't care to go out and fight them.  Instead, I stayed inside and caught up on several things, going outside only long enough to grocery shop and do laundry.  "How windy was it?", you ask.  Well, it was so windy that roughly half the wind turbines covering the nearby hillsides were actually turning at the same time.

Once the weather improved, I took a ride through the mountains to the town of Tehachapi, some twenty miles away.  On the way, I left the desert and found the village in a lovely valley surrounded by rolling, green hills and lots of agriculture...farms, ranches, fruit orchards and vineyards.  Such a change from Mojave.  It surprised me that only about 15,000 people have chosen to live there.

The main reason I went to Tehachapi was to find a Buddhist temple I had learned about while researching things to do in the area.  My instructions were to drive through Sand Canyon, then Pine Canyon and turn onto Pinyon Way, which ends at the temple.  Nice that the directions worked perfectly and I was soon in the lovely canyon where the temple is located.

At the driveway, an impressive stone marker showed the way.

The first thing I saw was a beautiful bell tower with a very large "Peace" bell and wooden gong.  Visitors are allowed to "gong the bell", but I didn't because it was still early morning.  I simply admired the craftsmanship and artistic beauty of the tower and the bell.  It is unbelievably detailed and beautiful.  (I later learned that it and other structures on the site were created in South Korea by Buddhist artisans, then brought by them to the US and reassembled here.)

At this point, I heard "Good morning" from a woman who had come out of the main building.  She was Korean and wearing a surgical mask.  I had to ask her, "Do you have coronavirus?"  She laughed and took off the mask, telling me she had been cleaning the "chimney pot", whatever that is.  She further explained that the large building was the residence of three monks who serve the temple.  (I later learned that the man who created it was an American of Korean descent who spent five years in South Korea studying Buddhism.)  The woman is apparently the housekeeper.

The showpiece of the site is the actual temple, which sits on a small knoll beyond the main house.  Small signs ask that visitors remove their shoes before entering.  The floor is a work of art itself, and all the interior art work is breathtaking, especially the Buddha.

From stacks of roof tiles and slabs of stone found on the grounds, it appears further construction is planned.  It would be nice to visit again some day to see what else has been done.