Wednesday, dawn, Panamint Springs Resort... near Death Valley…
We (I) awake with the sun… with dawn… I arise first and stoke
the fire and make coffee…. The others follow… This morning is different… this
is our last morning, for this trip… out last breakfast…
As we rise, we start to break camp… packing things in vehicles…
even while making breakfast… while drinking coffee…
A bit after 9:00 (am) Steph and I bid farewell, and head
out, to the main road, then east for a mile, then south, to Trona and
Ridgecrest… The Sierra passes have not
thawed out in the last 5 days, so our options are south to Walker Pass or Hwy
58 over the Tehachapis or North to Hwy 88 and Carson Pass… We came via Carson Pass… we will leave via
Walker Pass…
But first we have to drive through Trona… Trona is Keeler,
if Keeler was successful, and still had a lake based soda plant… but was still
an alkali washed mean little town… I
have been here before… I took photos of railroad locomotives… today we see
railroad locomotives, but we don’t stop.
Beyond Trona we find Ridgecrest, a Navy base… (The Naval Weapons
Center) and another mean oasis in the desert… We pause for gas in Inyokern just beyond…
Today, we choose Walker Pass… up, over the divide, to Lake
Isabella, down the Kern River Canyon.
Steph and I were here in July, with the lovely Tina… to scatter the
ashes of my parents… I have a history here… but again… we don’t stop…
We emerge out of the Kern Canyon, into the valley of the San
Joaquin…. Passing through Bakersfield… beyond, to Hwy 5, the great northern road of
the great valley of California…
Steph is researching Karl… we are finding many facts about
Karl…
It is a fast run north… Too fast over Pacheco Pass… I get a chance to
meet a nice CHP lady and receive a ticket for 75 in a 65 zone…
We reach home about 4:00…
I take a shower (much needed… after 3 nights in a tent in the desert I smell much like a smoked skunk…) then, go to
work… I have a meeting… we meet… I come home, read email and blog for the first
time in 4 days… Then bed… bed is welcome…
but not as much as might be expected…
I am thinking of the next adventures… some of which might
include the desert….
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