The California Coasters learned about everything from milk to nuts on their tour of the San Joaquin Valley in April.
By Denny Wheeler, F188967
October 2021
Predicting the weather is always an uncertain enterprise, but California’s San Joaquin Valley offers at least a little certainty: March is still too cold for outdoor activities, while May can be quite hot. April, meanwhile, is predictably pleasant. That’s why the California Coasters decided to hold a rally at the Kings River RV Resort in Kingsburg from April 11 to 16, 2021.
As a bonus, there was no water in the river at that time, because an upstream dam was holding it for summer irrigation. This meant there were few mosquitoes, and the fast, noisy jet boats could not scream up and down the river.
While our rallies include business meetings and social events, I am a believer that they should also encompass a “free” day to explore and learn about the local area. Therefore, we toured the Rosa Brothers Milk Company dairy in Hanford and the Nutrinut automated walnut processing plant in Visalia.
The Rosa Brothers tour was led by Holly Rosa, who gave us the history of the dairy and showed us around the farm on the “Moo-Mobile” bus. Rosa Brothers is a small dairy with only about 1,000 cows. Holly let us sample the various flavors of milk that are processed at their plant in nearby Tulare. Many of our members who visited the dairy expressed how much they learned and enjoyed the tour. Two of them even sat on a milking stool and “milked” the wooden cow. Julie Wyrick, who was raised on a dairy farm, did get some results. The other member, our chapter president, Kerry Ray, got doubtful results, except for some laughs.
At Nutrinut, talks were given by owner David Wendt. We learned that the automated plant’s process begins when large truckloads of previously washed and dried walnuts are dumped into a bin and taken by conveyor belt to have the shells broken and the meats removed. Machines then sort the meats into halves and smaller pieces. The pieces of shells that still have the meats are photo-detected and removed within a thousandth of a second. The product is then packaged, ready for the consumer. Again, our members learned and enjoyed the tour. We were all amazed by how many varieties of walnuts there are.
Several chapter members visited Sequoia National Park, checking out the General Sherman Tree and other huge sequoias, as well as the magnificent views of the high country.
To learn more about the California Coasters chapter, visit the FMCA chapter page at FMCA.com, or contact Kerry Ray at kerrystree@earthlink.net.