LFTR – US, Yuba City CA – I learned why the chicken crossed the road

I just spent a week in Yuba City for a RV Rally. Yuba City is in the agricultural area of California. The parts of Yuba City I saw were nice. The parks are nice, the neighborhoods were nice. As I was getting to the end of my week there, I thought, ‘Gee nice town but there won’t be much to blog about.’ Then I went out on Thursday night. Great and odd locations, epiphanies, and fun discoveries started coming out of the woodwork. One of the things that struck me about this town was the diversity of the people that live there and how it appeared that the people got along well together. There were Caucasians, Mexicans, African Americans, several groups from Asian countries, eastern Indians and some folks that I could not place in the world but had similar attributes. Yuba City has the only Chinese Taoist temple dedicated to the god Bok Kai in the US. It is unusual for these temples to be dedicated to this particular god. Then there is an annual Sikh festival where Sikh’s (Indian religious group) from all around the world come to Yuba City to celebrate. This event grows each year. It was reported that 100,000 people worldwide attend the Sikh festival. There is also a group of people that live in Yuba City known as the Hmongs (pronounced Mongs) from China and Laos after civil unrest broke out in their countries targeting them for genocide. I was informed by a local that they came to help with the agriculture industry in that part of California. If the people aren’t interesting enough. Yuba City has a few more fun claims to fame. The smart guys at NASA have determined that Yuba City boasts the smallest mountain range in the world called the Sutter Butte Mountains. I attempted to take pictures but being so small, they didn’t come out good. Yuba City being in the agricultural mecca of California I wanted to know what grows there and I found out Yuba City is the Prune capitol of the world. California supplies 99% of the US prunes and 70% world wide. Interestingly the farmers wanted to sophisticate the prune by calling it dried plums and had to appeal to the FDA to do so. Yet another shining example of our tax dollars hard at work. I was surprised that the farmers had to even ask the FDA. After all a prune is actually a dried plum but I’m sure somebody has to authorize that. So how awesome are these growers of prunes, making sure the world has regular BMs. As if we don’t already have enough crap already but honestly, isn’t it liberating when you enjoy a really good dump? Prunes can help you with your liberation. Eat Prunes, keep Yuba City inhabitants in work. But wait, there is more!!! I go to dinner in town in Yuba City and hear roosters crowing, then I notice 4 beautiful chickens running around the parking lot of the restaurant. There was a bunch of people waiting outside the restaurant and not one person acknowledged there were chickens running around the place like it’s an everyday occurrence much like people regard pigeons in the cities in the east, ravens in the pacific northwest and seagulls at the beach, clearly these folks thought this was a normal and common thing. I’m looking around for a farm or coop near by but I don’t see one visible. Then I find out from the locals that Yuba City has the largest population of feral chickens in the US. No one really knows how or why they became feral and web searches indicate that the chickens have been around for 80 years or so. Of course when I looked it up on the web, there were lots of chicken crossing the road jokes. My favorite was Why did the chicken cross the road? To show the opossum it could be done. But I have discovered the real truth behind why the chicken crossed the road. It was because there was a fanatical blogger chasing them around to get a picture of them.


Taoist temple dedicated to Book Kai

Sutter Buttes In the background.