On the Road to Town

Oakdale's streets are as diverse as the different kinds of weeds one might fight bordering their paths.

In town, most are well-paved, cared-for and maintained. Newly laid eggshell white paint glares at drivers as their cars speed by, diverting their attention for just a moment's glance. There are exceptions, though; rundown paths line the town the town, and distinguish areas of blight.

Even in the large, top-heavy vehicles that assertively roam this place, one can feel the grit, the holes, the imperfections. No street is immaculate here, just some better at staving off a final judgment of "broken" than others. Woe goes to more public investment in infrastructure.

Outside of town, roads, like many public utilities, have been left derelict. Some more well-tended-to than others, many of them are crumbling, scattering, and in need of attention. They meander in and around an assortment of farms, pastures and meadows, reminding us both of what they are for and the sheer impossibility of any plans of escape for the denizens of this place.

The exception to this rule is the road that enters town from the north and departs it to the west, to the Golden Gate. This foundational tanned trail gives Oakdale one of its raison d'être so to speak. The road curves and winds as it becomes Oakdale, travels along our slow, stalled main streets and escapes again to the wonder of the rolling yellow hills of rural California. 

Roads and paths that puncture, border, criss-cross, grid and set Oakdale also echo a feeling of infinity that similarly characterizes the Orchards and Pastures (fields) that lie on the town's fringes or (sometimes) very near town. Often, towering electrical relays pair with roads and accompany them on their long, seemingly-endless stretch.

These roads give Oakdale is outline - pencil-marks - from which the rest has been colored and filled in.