CalExpeditions

Tag: Desert

  • Loneliest Road?

    US-50 is billed as the loneliest highway in America. I drove it, west to east across Nevada. Ha. I’ve seen lonelier, especially in southeast Utah. The drive was exciting at times…I had to drive through a snowstorm for most of the day it took to traverse Nevada. My mud&snow tires plus all-wheel-drive inspired confidence. Xena, the Warrior Princess, was unconcerned and napped, missing most of Nevada.

    Snowy Nevada roads. I could only take pics during the relatively calm parts of the drive. You’ll have to imagine the parts where the roadway was completely whited out.
    This road is much more to my liking.
    I’ll bet you think you know what a shoe tree is. Think again and look closely.
    That’s right, shoes! Hundreds of shoes tossed into this tree, right the middle of empty Nevada.
    I’ll have to give Nevadans one thing…they have a really big moon.
  • Desert Tripping

    Desert Tripping

    Journeyed back to the American Southwest, via San Luis Obispo and Palm Springs. I’ve mapped out dispersed, aka wild, camp sites to break the longer legs into shorter ones. I’m in no hurry, so why drive long hours when I can stop and stay in the comfort of my own mobile house?

    Visited Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. Yup, that’s a real place. Named after a radio show from days gone by. It used to be called Hot Springs. Throngs of celebrities converged on the town in the 1950’s annually, to host the radio show.
    The natural hot springs here have the highest mineral content of any water anywhere! I suppose that means it is hard water, but it sounds better the first way. I soaked in an excellent private pool and was restored to the radiant vitality of my youth.
    I camped here on the the bed of a used-to-be lake, called Elephant Butte (EL a FONT boo TAY) Lake. While there, I mounted an archeological expedition to identify significant artifacts from the past.

     

    Xena, the Warrior Archeologist, assisted with my efforts. I was too busy with my scientific endeavors to take an actual photo, so I had MidJourney, the artificial intelligence artist, re-create the scene.
    Archeology is a very easy field, requiring little more than strolling across the terrain. My first discovery was this dinosaur toenail, embedded in the dry lake bed.
    Before positively identifying the object, I considered the only alternative: a doorway to an inter-dimensional portal. One of the privileges afforded me as a Master of Science is the freedom to test hypotheses without supervision. This I did, aided by a locally-procured wooden probe. Alas! Nothing but dirt under it. At least my first theory was proven correct: dinosaur toenail. I believe it is the first ever recovered.
    I also discovered this object of unknown origin. Speculating from the fine workmanship and exotic materials, it appears to be of extra-terrestrial origin. I sent the coordinates to the ET Liaison Office in Roswell, in case its owner can be contacted.
    I visited the Geronimo Museum, which has little to do with Geronimo, but much about the fine dresses women wore. This, of course, was in the days of gender inequality, when women got all of the niceties and men were required to wear drab clothing.
    Here’s a close up of the fine workmanship of these dresses. Having little else to do, pioneer women made fabulous clothes.
    This is an example of the type of chair the cow farmers would strap to unwitting horses. They used the thin strips of leather you see hanging from the front of the chair to coerce the horse into obedience.
    The Desert Southwest is a sporty place, so I engaged the locals in the manly art of bean bag tossing. I bested him, leaving him in a state of consternation.

     

  • The Living Desert, Palm Springs

    The Living Desert, Palm Springs

    The Living Desert is an excellent zoo and botanical garden near Palm Springs. They specialize in numerous varieties of cows. They also have an enormous miniature train traveling through a number of faux mountain tunnels and across ravines on detailed little bridges. I was so awestruck by the wonder that I failed to take pictures.

    These are Australia’s laziest animals, the wallowbees, so named because they spend their days wallowing in the dirt. So lazy are they that they’ve developed skin pouches to house their young to avoid carrying them!
    This rare type of tiny cow has short little prong-like horns! Bizarre!
    Genetic engineers at The Living Desert created this white cow to avoid over-heating in the desert sun. They developed the long, straight horns to serve as spear-fishing implements. Post mortem, of course.
    Stripedy cows consent only to have their butts photographed, a fetish common to their kind.
    This hideous cow has been extensively modified to produce a great hump (not shown in the photo) on its back. The hump is comprised entirely of filet mignon. Wagyu-grade. Yum yum!
    One final example of an odd cow produced at The Living Desert. This one is not genetically engineered. Instead, engineers stretch an ordinary calf on a rack until its neck is elongated, a practiced denounced as unnecessary by animal rights advocates.
    No one expected that a cross between a dog and a cat would result in such beauty. They call it a “cheetah,” ostensibly due to its refusal to follow the rules.
    I had hoped to see the wolves, but they were on holiday, visiting relatives in Mexico. The Living Desert substituted German shepherds in their absence.
  • Death Valley Revisited

    Death Valley Revisited

    I realize that the last trip just kind of faded away. That’s what happens when the temperature soars and the crowds gather. I fled both nuisances and sought refuge in the cool, clement clime of the California Pacific Coast.

    Now, however, is the perfect time for a road trip. Temps are still moderate, crowds largely evaporated, and diesel prices plummeting to record lows. So I decided to take the long way back to Las Cruces, New Mexico, stopping at several of my favorite places.

    Author posing next to his camper van.
    I spent a night bivouacking (<= thank goodness for autocorrect, just this once) near Red Rock Canyon State Park. It’s east of California City, quiet, desolate, just fine for a 1-night stay.
    Rough, rocket dirt road into Death Valley.
    A rough and rugged road into Death Valley, courtesy of a huge rain storm. They got a decade of rain in a day. I would have suggested spreading it out a bit, but I’m no meteorologist.
    Lounging in the desert with a black cat.
    O! Sweet reward after surviving the perils of the road. Lounging in the garden spot of Death Valley.
    Desert oasis, complete with palm trees and soaking tubs fed by natural hot springs.
    Just kidding, here is the actual garden spot. Shiftless hippies created this space over the course of a few decades. Lawn, palm trees and soaking tubs fed by natural hot springs. Added bonus, this is the entrance to a low-level training route for naval aviators. They make frequent appearances in their loud and fast planes, just a couple hundred feet above the ground.

  • California and Arizona Deserts

    I’ve been traveling through the deserts of the Southwest, testing out my van/house. Stayed at Giant Rock, but saw no extra-terrestrials. I did hear the Marine conducting live fire exercises at the nearby 29 Palms Marine Corps Base. The sound of artillery travels far in the desert. Xena the cat loved climbing all over the huge pile of boulders…on her leash, of course.

    Traveled just a few miles further east to Heart of the Mojave preserve. So nice and quiet. Vistas, but no people, for miles. Not so good for cats, though, little to see and nothing to climb on.

    Further south, I found the Cabeza Prieta Wildlife Preserve, near the (unfortunately but appropriately named) town of Ajo, Arizona, and spent another peaceful night far from civilization.

  • The Mojave Transit

    The first leg of the Grand Adventure involved a transit of the Mojave (pronounced Moe Ha Veh, accent on the middle) Desert. After departing the Oakland Bay Area and overnighting in Bakersfield, I entered the inhospitable domain of the desert, which, to the surprise of many, was neither hot nor dry! The temps were bitterly cold, dipping as low as 40F degrees! The rainfall became so severe that windshield wiper use was necessary. Conditions extremified as I passed through Yucca Valley; the rain turned to slushy rain and actual snow flakes. Rapidly devolving into a an epic man-versus-nature contest, the situation required application of all available technology and native driving skill. Ha! Man wins!

    Relaxing in the jot tub.

    So far, road tripping as a way of life is agreeable