In Weirdness Land, This Place Is At The Top

Some of my favorite memories was going to a real outhouse, looking for land turtles, trying to catch the chipmunks, looking for Chuckawallas, looking for Chuckers, and of course the elusive stick-lizards. Outside Jo-burg and Randsburg was a huge playground. I also loved the fancy rocks, still love my memories of the big crystal rocks that my grandmother and grand-father made to look like flowers in a garden in front of their home.

I expected so much more from Ridgecrest where my grandmother and grandfather lived just before retiring from a civilian assignment there in China Lake. It was bad. Lots of bars,adult places, paycheck advance shops, and pawn shops, and empty buildings. It made me sad. One thing that was very important was the barn we are buying. It was in Inyokern and we needed to see it. We have to have a garage, now that Marnie built her house and the inspectors know we don't have one.

The hair-dos on everyone were completely weird. Funny Steve said that when he came from the market and I almost said the same thing at the same time because I was already thinking that, too.

Steve's a guy and does weird guy stuff. He went into an automotive shop for sticky-stuff for our GPS. He brought a chip off a boulder that took off some hiker's legs. I wish he would have just put money in. We didn't need a piece of the boulder to remind us.

We weren't dressed like anyone in the whole town. Everyone had coats with hoods made from real fur and heavy gloves. I didn't notice it was freezing out at the BLM Rescue Burro and Mustang Center. That was wonderful and my dear husband without me even asking him, bought carrots to feed the little burros and Mustangs. I loved it so much we went back there four times.

The west side of Ridgecrest is pretty, almost. I noticed even in the bad part there was no graffiti and at midnight New Year's at 12a. Very little noise, no gun-fire. The motel had great Internet, no cell phone service, and terrible TV.

The big "creepy" part was that we were going to Death Valley (I was depressed after Christmas) This was disturbing to me. We were going to see Devil's Post Pile, Devil's Golf Course, Devil's Corn Field ("Field of Dreams") Dante's Ridge, Dante's View, and Dante's Peak. Steve posed for a "Dust Devil" or Dirt Devil and now won't give me the picture. Then he started in talking about how Manson has killed people out there somewhere and they're buried out in the desert. Thank you, you are getting way tooooooo creepy.

I made a snow angel in the snow (with a left broken wing) now that alone makes me think I've got a lot of work to do before I leave for heaven. ha! ha! I fell down in the snow and was laughing so hard a car almost stopped because I think they thought I was crying. I kept slipping. I got in the car so wet and cold and having a hot flash because I was so embarrassed . The song playing was "I can't heat-up, I can't cool down, round and round--abracadabra, I'm gonna' reach out and grab ya" Steve tried hard to grab me--it was too funny. We went on a newly opened road called Wild Rose? Anyway, it was a dirt road and it was 5400 feet. We were high and then very low. Anyone for car-sick?

We saw Scotty's Castle and a bunch of Cata-rumpus looking rocks. Everything was an adventure. Steve saw the movie Hilago with me; and when we saw trailers with the writing on the trailers called, "Arabian Riders." Steve thought it was a bunch of Bedouin's in traditional, gilded-edged, robes and head-dresses. Maybe, but I think I saw some cowboy hats out there. Steve once said, "Wow! What's out there?!?" "A hole," I answered. You had to be there.

We laughed a lot. Steve and I ate really weird stuff and we generally acted silly the whole way. We have a new plan for the O'Connor hill site. We want to camp there and go off-roading. I would love to hear the wind blow threw the salt pines again.

Death Valley, Jo-burg, Off Roading, Randsburg, Ridgecrest