If you have seen the movie “Into the Wild” you will know about Salvation Mountain. Leonard Knight has been living out by the Salton Sea for the past thirty years. He built this mountain as a tribute to God. No matter your religious beliefs it is still a place of inspiration, hope, and love. Besides, Leonard is probably the nicest and sweetest person I have ever met.
Next week I’ll have an all new original video about a trip I took to a place called the EL Paso Mountains. Until then enjoy the summer, get outside, and look up at the night sky.
“I have no fear that the result of our experiment will be that men may be trusted to govern themselves without a master.” Thomas Jefferson
“The name of American, which belongs to you, in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of Patriotism…. It should be the highest ambition of every American to extend his views beyond himself, and to bear in mind that his conduct will not only affect himself, his country, and his immediate posterity; but that its influence may be co-extensive with the world, and stamp political happiness or misery on ages yet unborn.”
For those who don’t want to read the quote for today…
Last fall my good friend Chris and I set out to find a now abandoned air strip that the legendary Howard Hughes once used to test his aircraft. We knew it was located somewhere near Harper Dry Lake. With our GPS and Maps we set out to find it…
My birthday is coming up in a few weeks and I am going back with a few more 4×4 buddies to see what else we can find. Want to go?
Rock out guys and have a great summer. Live a little, ya? Except the 6th graders…you guys need to tone it down a bit…actually a lot.
Took the pup out into the mountains today. Thought of this song about a Blue Eyed Merle…same as Buddy. I think Buddy is missing a tooth though…and he is really dirty.
Lyrics:
Ah caught you smiling at me, That’s the way it should be,
Like a leaf is to a tree, so fine.
Ah all the good times we had, I sang love songs so glad
Always smiling, never sad, so fine.
*As we walk down the country lanes, I’ll be singing a song,
Hear me calling your name.
Hear the wind within the trees, Telling Mother Nature ’bout you and me.
Well if the sun shines so bright, Or on our way it’s darkest night
The road we choose is always right, so fine.
Ah can your love be so strong When so many loves go wrong
Will our love go on and on…
* Chorus
My, my la de la come on now it ain’t too far,
Tell your friends all around the world,
Ain’t no companion like a blue eyed merle.
Come on now well let me tell you,
What you’re missing, missing, ’round them brick walls.
So of one thing I am sure, It’s a friendship so pure,
Angels singing all around my door, so fine.
Yeah, ain’t but one thing to do Spend my natural life with you,
You’re the finest dog I knew, so fine.
When you’re old and your eyes are dim, There ain’t no old Shep gonna happen again,
We’ll still go walking down country lanes, I’ll sing the same old songs,
Hear me call your name.
Summer is almost here…a lot of solo trips coming up.
Maximize the video before you watch.
On December 18th I was fortunate enough to take a flight over the Mojave Desert. We departed shortly after 11am from March Air Reserve base in Riverside County. Our flight took us north east of Palm Springs over the Clipper and Old Woman Mountain Ranges. Mid-flight we were along the southern most portion of the Mojave Preserve (somewhere over Essex south of I-40).
The target destination was the Old Woman Mountain Range. “The mountain range is approximately 15 miles (24 km) wide east to west at the widest point, and 25 miles (40 km) in length from north to south. The mountains receive very little precipitation, with just 4-10 inches of rain falling in a normal year. The Old Woman Statue, a prominent rock formation, is found on the eastern side of the range about two miles (3 km) south of Paramount Spring.”
Sometime in the spring we will return on the ground for a weekend off road trip. We are searching for the legend….
Click on the video below to watch the departure and continue reading on…
As we flew over Banning and Casino Morongo I got a great view of San Jacinto state park. The face of the mountain offers a treacherous climb up the ice falls for those who dare. In the next photo you will see the Palm Springs Tram Way. The tram way climbs 8,500 feet up the slope of the mountain.
The next video shows what Palm Springs looks like from the air. If you look closely you can almost see Bill Harris waving from the Jacuzzi.
Short video flying over Palm Springs…
After Palm Springs we flew out over the open desert and finally arrived at our Destination …the Old Woman Mountains.
Coming back over Casino Morongo
On Final Approach to French Valley Airport…
Landing at French Valley Airport. Stay tuned for my return trip to the Clipper Mountains in May.
From Desert USA…..Perhaps the best treasure in eastern California’s Mojave National Preserve is a pair of tracks that cross the middle of it. This famous trail is the Mojave Road, one of the early routes that brought American pioneers to California. This trail is unique in that for most Mojave Road in the Lanfair Valley of this 138 mile stretch it is in much the same condition as the pioneers would have found it, and a lot of the trail passes through country that is virtually unchanged since prehistoric times. The road bisects the Preserve, wandering from waterhole to waterhole, and is mostly a 4-wheel-drive trail.The Mojave Road was a main wagon trail for only a relatively short time, for the two decades after the civil war, before the railroads came. The railways created an easier route to the south complete with oases on the bitter-dry deserts. While it was used, the Mojave Road was a route plagued by hostile Indians, lack of water, long stretches of sand and rough hill climbs. For caravans of travelers and a handful of soldiers, it was a proving ground that brought out the best and the worst of them.To those who took the Mojave Road by foot, horse and wagon, and the few men stationed along it to defend it, this uncommonly beautiful country was a peculiar form of hell. Dry and desolate, it was, and still is. To those men and women coming from the lush forests of the east and south, the desert land was a barren expanse to be barely tolerated before arriving in the Promised Land of California. It is still a dangerous stretch of road.
The first road through Riverside County was blazed by William Bradshaw in 1862, as an overland stage route beginning at San Bernardino and ending at La Paz, AZ (now Ehrenberg, AZ). The trail was used extensively between 1862 and 1877 to haul miners and other passengers to the gold fields at La Paz. The trail is a 70 mile graded road that traverses mostly public land between the Chuckwalla Mountains and the Chocolate Mountain Aerial Gunnery Range. The trail offers spectacular views of the Chuckwalla Bench, Orocopia Mountains, Chuckwalla Mountains and the Palo Verde Valley.
