Bakersfield.com

It was our daily outing. After Derek's second breakfast, around 10 a.m., I'd buckle him into the car seat and gather my things: Water bottle, iPod, stop watch, keys, and ID. We'd drive to Beach Park, load up the stroller, then hit the bike path for a brisk walk along the Kern River.

For three months of my maternity leave, my baby boy and I escaped the house and became part of the bike path community. We made many friends. There were cyclists, dog walkers, joggers, skaters, horseback riders, disc golfers, fishers and other stroller babies. Everyone always had a friendly smile. We never exchanged names and rarely said much more than "hello" or "good morning." But faces became recognizable. Our closest friend was an older city park worker who wears the name Pastor on his shirt. He would slowly pass us in his small white pickup truck and peek out to see how much Derek had grown. "What a good baby," he would tell me. "So cute."

Derek had a lot of admirers on the path. I felt so proud pushing his stroller and answering the usual question: "How old is he?" One month. Six weeks. Two months. Three months. Almost four months. My had he grown since we started our walks!

My goal has been to train to walk the Rock 'N' Roll marathon in San Diego on May 31. I started the weekend after Christmas walking a six-mile loop around the San Diego bay with my sister. By the end, I limped to the car with sore feet and legs. After not exercising much during my pregnancy, I had 30 extra pounds on my body and out-of-shape muscles. I knew I had a lot of work to do.

I started on the Kern River bike path walking four-mile round trips from Beach Park to Mohawk Street and back. It took me 68 minutes. Derek slept the whole time. January was darn cold, so I'd bundle up Derek in fleece pants and a sweater, wrap him in two blankets, and cover his head with a warm hat and the hood of his sweater. I think he sweat more than I did on those first walks — but I didn't want to risk him getting cold. I loved walking on foggy days, when the sun was a blur and the leafless trees created stark outlines against the grey backdrop of the sky.

It's amazing to walk through the middle of a city and feel like you're out in nature. Sure, the dry river bed means the constant sound you hear is of Truxtun Avenue traffic rather than rushing water. But the mix of industry and nature has its own beauty. I came to enjoy the slow squeaks of the oil pumps, the loud clunk-clunk-clunks of trains passing over the trestle and the swish of vehicles racing along Highway 99 and Truxtun Extension. If I saw a train coming, I'd hasten my steps to see if I could make it to the trestle before the train. (It always beat me.)

As my training continued, I lengthened our daily walks to five miles, reaching the turn-around half-way through the Truxtun Lakes for a short breather before heading back to Beach Park. On the weekends, I'd leave Derek home with his daddy so I could walk eight, nine, then 10 miles all the way to Calloway and back. Those 2 1/2 hour walks are just too long to keep Derek in the stroller without stopping. My first milestone was Feb. 21 when I walked the half-marathon (13.1 miles) hosted by the Bakersfield Track Club. My marathon-running sister came up from San Diego to walk it with me and we clocked 3 hours 27 minutes. My only complaint about a walk that long is there are no bathrooms between Yokuts Park and the Park at River Walk. She assured me there will be portable bathrooms along the marathon course in San Diego.

Speaking of bathrooms, I witnessed — from a distance — some suspect happenings at the men's restrooms at Beach Park and Yokuts Park. Men of all kinds would drive up, park, go into the restroom, then come back out after a minute or two. I have an idea of what they were up to, although the brevity of their bathroom visit probably meant drugs rather than sex. But there seem to be some pretty lucrative businesses operating out of those restrooms. One day I was almost hit by a stop sign-running man in a huge black pickup truck at Yokuts Park. I watched him park, then get out and adjust his tight pants and silver sparkly wig before going into the men's restroom. Another day, I watched a young man escort an elderly lady with a walker from the restrooms at Yokuts Park. An hour later when I passed back by the same park, I watched cops enter the restrooms and guys came running out — including the young gentleman, who jumped into a car with the elderly lady and drove off very fast. That one threw me for a loop.

Aside from people watching, the bike path is also a great place for nature watching. On our walks, we saw hawks, egrets, herons, doves, ducks, scrub jays, hummingbirds, roadrunners, squirrels, rabbits (which I call bunny foo-foos), lizards, butterflies, bees, ladybugs and stink bugs. We saw lots of dogs, both with owners and wandering loose. One day I steered clear of a beautiful young pit bull, which seemed friendly but I just couldn't trust it with a baby. We also steered around more than one squirrel road-kill on the bike path. I wonder how many cyclists crash because of those kamikaze squirrels?

One of my favorite stretches along the bike path is the Bakersfield Environmental Studies Area, which spans from Coffee Road behind the Town & Country Village Shopping Center westward past Cal State Bakersfield, paralleling Stockdale Highway. I recently cut through the wilderness area and followed the dirt path among millions of wildflowers — mostly fiddlenecks, redstem filaree and goldfields. The very rainy winter season has caused an explosion of wildflowers all along the Kern River.

Since I started walking the bike path, I have lost six pounds and gained strength and endurance. I still have 24 pounds to lose, but I'm well on my way. I have three more months of training before the big marathon in San Diego. As one of my final long walks before the race, I'd like to walk all the way to the west end of the bike path at Enos Lane and back. I will most likely start at the Park at River Walk, which would make it an 18-mile round trip.

I have many hopes for the parks and paths along the Kern River in Bakersfield. I hope the flyover from Mohawk to connect to Rosedale Highway doesn't mess with the integrity of the Kern River Parkway. Trees and shrubs have already been removed from the river bank where the bridge will intersect with the disc golf course.

I hope a bathroom is installed near Truxtun Lakes so people don't have to use the bushes.

I hope the path continues to be shared in a friendly manner among the cyclists, joggers, walkers and skaters.

I hope the natural areas remain natural and are not developed for commercial interests.

Most of all, I hope local leaders decide to fill the Kern River with water to even further enhance the natural beauty of the area.

The Kern River and the bike path are wonderful assets to Bakersfield and its residents. I am so thankful that my family can be a part of the bike path community.