The wee Mojave Land Rush!!! And a shout out to Wyoming.

Once upon a time: 

In 1954 Jim's grandfather bought a plot of land out in the Mojave Desert and convinced his son-in-law -- Jim's dad-- to buy an adjacent plot. The properties are north of Palmdale and about 55 miles from home here in Santa Clarita. 

The huge land plots have since been handed down to Jim and his brother, who lives on the East coast.

(I claim the plots are huge but that's cause I grew up on a small island). Truth time: each plot is 2-1/2 acres.

From 1954 till now the two brothers have paid their annual taxes on the land without ever having used it.

In fact there was a question whether they had ever actually seen the land. For sure they knew vaguely where it was located, and both had visited the general area decades ago, but may never have set foot on the actual terra firma.

We planned to rectify this, having discussed the outing for months.

Jim's daughter wanted to accompany us but she had this thing called "work" to occupy her day.

We decided to drive up on a Thursday, June 15 2018. 

Why Thursday? Well that allowed us to put Wednesday evening in the pub to good use firming up our travel plans. 

Thank you Google earth:

Jim started by researching where the plot was located, starting with the property tax bill and ending with images from Google
earth.

The fact that the property is “somewhere near Mojave” was alway a bit vague, but a visit to the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management website provided the location of it — as State: CA, Meridian: Mount Diablo, Township: 032S-035E, Section: 22,  aliquots: SE1/4NW1/4NE1/4NE1/4.

While that may look like so much Egyptian hieroglyphics, there is some logic to the description. (Logic? U.S. Government? Well, sure, occasionally.)

Surveyed townships are divided into sections, each a square of 640 acres. Each is further divided into four equal squares of 160 acres; those squares divided into four quarters of 40 acres each, then into 
four smaller squares of 10 acres, and finally into four squares of 2-1/2 acres each, the size of the purchased properties

So SE1/4NW1/4NE1/4NE1/4 of Section 22 translates (reading from right to left — alright, so logic gets a bit fuzzy) into the Northeast (upper right) quarter of the section (160 acres), the NorthEast corner (again, upper right) of that quarter (40 acres,) then the NorthWest (upper left) corner of that quarter (10 acres,) and finally the SouthEast (lower right) corner — 2-1/2 acres.

A couple of illustrations might help.

Getting there :

We knew the turnoff was off HWY 14 shortly after you cross over Hwy 58.  From there it was going to be pioneer-style exploration.

Hwy 14 is a busy 2 lane as far as Palmdale / Lancaster.

We know the route well as we usually visit Lancaster once a year for a minor league baseball game with the Lancaster Jethawks. All the pleasure of major league style baseball for a fraction of the cost. An important consideration for those of us now on a fixed income. 😀

Once you pass through the hustle and bustle of Lancaster you very quickly arrive at the fringe of the windmill farms near Tehachapi. The bigger wind-farms are closer to Tehachapi itself, but those along Hwy 14 are big enough too. The area has long been known for its constant winds sweeping through the Tehachapi pass, so that's where you want to put windmills, right?

A short digression: a comment on wind-farms and a critique of CJ Box (a favorite author of mine):

CJ Box is an American author I really enjoy.

Joe Pickett is his Wyoming game warden / detective character. I like old Joe.

I love his expression "Things may get pretty western around here".

Personal disclosure here :

I LOVE WYOMING. Tried to buy mountain land in Centennial,  got very drunk in The Wonder Bar in Casper , met the U.S. Ambassador to Ireland in that same bar, did some fantastic hiking in Tensleep, soaked in the HoBo Hot Springs  in Saratoga. And hope to return to repeat all these things again soon.

I have learned a fair bit from Mr Box:

1. Like when placing your cowboy hat on a table you should always lay it crown down.

2. To look cowboy -- and I have no idea why one would want to unless surrounded by cows, but hey --  you have to wear the uniform:

 CINCH jeans and shirts, SOREL boots and Carhartt outer wear.

(If I had known there was a uniform I'd never have joined).

and

3. The egregious errors of Federal conservation efforts which are blatantly evident to the characters of Mr Box's books, in hindsight.

But in a recent outing Mr. Box allowed Joe Pickett go on a misinformed rant about how California was polluting the beautiful windswept Wyoming landscape with wind-farms because Californian's didn't want wind-farms in their own sight line. This statement is wildly false.

California will exceed Gov Brown's goal of 50 percent renewable energy by 2026 by building wind-farms and solar array farms across the state and still maintain the most beautiful wild spaces throughout its coast line, coastal mountains and the High Sierras.

I suspect wind-farm proliferation in Wyoming is more the result of unbridled capitalist exploitation from within Wyoming than from the desire of Californians to protect their vistas.

OK, back to it: getting there after Hwy 14:

If you look at Google Maps outside of Mojave you can see that old HWY 58 runs straight up from Hwy 14. Of course we didn't take that route.

Instead we crossed over Hwy 58 and exited at the road to California City.

And turn left onto Cache Creek.

Continue till you see this:

Then follow the sign to get your rocks. Oh, and on the way we noted a public service billboard laying out the symptoms of Valley Fever. Nice to know, we thought.

These dirt roads are actually part of an off road network of trails that until I got into the desert I knew nothing about.They are called Off Highway Vehicle Routes, for those wishing to bash around the landscape on four-wheelers and ATVs. The trails are managed and maintained by the US Forest Service. (Our tax dollars doing good work yet again).

When you get to this map

Follow trail marked MK10. The MK stands for Middle Knob Subregion. ( Makes one wonder what is a region if this is a subregion).

Some of these off road trails go for ever:

I mean look at that one it goes to the horizon.

Jim's acreage is visible on the left hand side (LHS) of the first trail photo above (MK10) just below the slightly grey triangle of earth on base of distant mountain.

We drove along MK10 and took what we believed to be the second left turnoff. Which led us eventually to here.

Jim's car couldn't get up this little hill.

Because his sump is hung too low. ( Chinese joke springs to mind but I will resist temptation ).

See sump drag marks on ground. And Jim's SUV is more the grocery-run city type; no four wheel drive.

From here we set out on foot, both of us wearing sandals or flip flops. Because we came prepared.

I find this type of High Desert landscape quite beautiful nowadays. It took a few years for me to appreciate it, but now I see it.

We figure this grove of Joshua Trees is around about where the plot is located.

That's Jim flip-flop hiking through the desert. Being the manly CA cowboy that he is, no concerns about thorns, stones or rattle snakes.

And the next few shots are where we believe the land is:

With the property line being roughly the line of Joshua Trees.

The view in other direction is very Mojave.

Note the peak in the distance. There are a string of these peaks along the backbone of the desert. Due East of Hwy 14 as you drive North. Jim described them as looking like giant ancient dinosaur vertebrae. A great expression, I thought.

We rummaged around for a while, picked up some dirt which Jim put in old glass spice jars to give to his children as evidence of their inheritance. "Some day, children, this will all by yours." 

We also found some desert ordnance. Finding ordnance is still strange to me so I had to photo it.

A dried out example of local flora made me think of the desolation that deserts denote.

But then I checked myself - changed perspective, and looked again.

Beauty truely is in the eye of the beholder. 

Objective met. Photos and dirt in hand, we prepared to leave.

We waved at one of the two neighbors as we passed.

And got a much nicer shot of the old truck as we drove out. Jim, ever the lifelong copy editor, noted that the apostrophe was unnecessary and improperly used.

Mojave:

I had heard about the airplane graveyard here and have wanted to see it for some time.

Worth a drive for sure.

I believe you can tour it nowadays with permission. Time was, reportedly, you could just walk right up and enter.

And once back in the city limits of Mojave, for your evening entertainment we have 

and a bit of desert humor.

`

or

One other billboard outside of town caught our attention, it's located at a big junkyard along Hwy 14. The billboard announced in huge letters "SYPHILIS the Silent Killer". ( Is that what killed the grass in earlier photo ?) It does make one wonder with billboards advertising Valley Fever and Syphilis what exactly is going on in Mojave?

The drive home:

We turned off Hwy14 onto West Palmdale Ave, headed out toward Elizabeth Lake and turned south onto Boquet Canyon Road. This Canyon road is a lovely drive and worthy of reasonable commentary, but that will be a whole other story.

Cole's the LA French Dip Sandwich place for adults and a Camera Show thrown in.

Newhall was looking fine this bright sunny morning as I set off to go to a Camera Show in LA with plans for lunch in Cole's afterward.

I make the same mistake every time I set out. I look at the train schedule and plan trip from Santa Clarita, when my station is actually called Newhall. Result I arrived 30 minutes early for train instead of 15.

Never mind I put the time to good use and got some steps in patrolling the platform. (Knee radius has become a lesser problem for me during the past year, thankfully). ( I spoke too soon here, needed knee surgery in Dec '19)

I love/hate the step counting app on my iPhone. I disappoint myself when I don't reach 10,00 steps daily. Sad how easily manipulated I am by technology.

I am  travelling solo on this trip ... again. Himself, my buddy, couldn't be arsed getting out of bed "early" to join me. I think he is home now pruning his bushes or eyebrows or both. 😂

I am all techno'd up in regards to train tickets, having downloaded the Metrolink ticketing app and bought ticket on my phone. Metrolink App

It's a cool simple App. But for tourists it may be a bit tricky as you have to know the name of the station you are heading to. I wonder how other cities handle this problem. I have used similar app's and services in London and Paris and managed fine, probably because Rick Steve's gives nearest station name in his books. I must check out Lonely Planet and see if they do similar.

The resulting ticket on my phone is this:

The declarative "SENIOR" in the ticket heading is a bit diminishingly invasive don't you think ?

I noticed a couple of things at Newhall again. Firstly the lamp standards are quite beautiful.

Check 'em out on  bottom RHS of photo. (I promise a better photo next time).

Also the old saying "Necessity breeds Invention" came to mind when I saw this.

A commuter in need of a boost discovered :

At the bottom of each of the previously admired lamp standards there are power outlets that someone has ripped the covers off. Making them into freely available charging stations for all and sundry. This partly explains how the homeless people, who are liberally adorned with cell phones, keep them  charged.

It may also explain the strong urine smell by the wall directly behind the "charging station" lamp standard. If I were charging my phone I probably would not leave it unattended to go to the bathroom either. 😖

One possible downside of "getting my steps in" was that I may have been too self absorbed to connect with other platform personnel. There was an overdressed (too warm for a fur coat) homeless lady I considered conversing with but she appeared, sadly, afraid. So I didn't.

I couldn't help but admire all the young boys and girls waiting for the train. (I noticed mostly the girls if I am honest, I think that could be and probably is an inappropriate admission these days. Sorry.).

The good weather brings out the bright colors and summer clothes for the young girls. The boys appear to dress the same winter or summer.

There were amongst them of course some M&M outfits which would have been better left at home. Oh "What's an M&M outfit?" you ask, well the M&M stands for 'No Mother No Mirror", the presence of either of which would have prevented the public display of unflattering clothes and/or skin.

(I must admit I stole and modified that M&M expression from a line in a book I read. Unfortunately I can recall neither the title nor the author. If anyone recognizes the expression I'd love if they would let me know so i can acknowledge their influence. The original expression called it a 3M outfit but I forgot one of the M's )

The Sheriff is on the train:

Once on-board the train I was surprised to find LA County Sheriff folk doing ticket checks. A weirdly productive bit of inter-agency co-operation  I thought.

As usual, being Cops, the ticket checkers had zero personality. They were gruff, impatient, armed to the teeth and unhelpful.

Having grown up in a country where you were encouraged to seek directions from the "boys in blue" it still annoys me when I see cops being rude to citizens.

Maybe the Sheriff's guys are trying to improve their image after all the Lee Baca scandals.

How many other apples in the barrel did that bad apple corrupt?

Is corruption within the Sheriff's Department like pedophilia within the Catholic Church. Widespread, endemic, unacknowledged, forgiven by superiors and hopefully not but probably ongoing?

Union Station (An LA jewel):

The 10 am ish train was fuller than I have recently seen. And  I wasn't the only senior on an outing to LA. (At $7.50 return its cheaper to train than  drive).

We arrived in Union Station without incident. Sitting on the opposite side of the train than previous I saw a lot more beautiful graffiti along the way. I do intend driving down with my camera amd getting some shots if I can find the places. Also saw Michael Connelly homeless villages referenced in his latest brilliant book. I think I may re-read all his work shortly.

After I finish re-reading the Henning Mankell Wallander series.

Union Station is a beautiful spot. Very photogenic itself and surrounded by other equally beautiful LA locations. ( Olvera Street and  Grand Central Market to name just a few)

I took a Lyft to the Camera Show. The show was full of great stuff but in too small a venue. Also I felt totally out of my depth. And how the heck did they get away with having scantily clad female models posing in various booths to help sell camera flashes ? 

It cost me $15 to get in. I left without buying anything with 40 minutes.

Lunch and Libation at Cole's:

I was looking forward to my next stop. Lunch and Libation at Cole's. 

Another inexpensive Lyft and I arrived hungry and thirsty.

Now you have to imagine that ta da music you hear when someone arrives in paradise. That is exactly what I heard when I walked through the doors. 

A real adult persons bar. 

Dark wood walls,  painted ceilings, Naugahyde clad booths and stools, actual brass bars on the bar and not a craft beer in sight.

I expected "Larry the Lounge Lizard" to appear momentarily. Larry The Lounge Lizard

Within minutes I had an Old Fashioned in front of me and a French Dip sandwich in my near future.

The first Old fashioned was made with a Jim Beam bourbon. A bit rough for me. My second was made with Jameson and all together more refined experience. I wont bore you with my complete review of Cole's but you can read it here at your leisure Yelp Review Cole's. Just a heads up from the sandwich to the fries I loved everything.

Of course being two "Old Fashioned" in and full as a tick on 1.5 French Dip sandwiches I left it a little too late for my 2 pm train which I missed by 10 minutes. I am glad I left Cole's though because I might still be drinking there today I enjoyed it that much.

Oh BTW thank you Cole's beautiful barmaid for getting my phone charged. Without it I may have been unable to access my Metrolink ticket app and may have had to buy another ticket.

I had 110  minutes to wait for my next train home but I found a comfortable chair in Union Station and spent the time in freezing cold Sweden with Mankell's Wallander.

Another overheard young girl cell phone drama : 

On return train ride.

I couldn't see who was talking except a glimpse of a manicured toe or two on her left foot. 

In this shrill Reality TV voice she announced to the world that her Granny (Grandmother) had been stealing her money while she lived with her throughout high school. 

This immediately opens up a limitless number of narrative possibilities.  Sadly none of these potential narratives were explored. 

All I learned was that she at one point confronted her Granny about where all her money was.... Granny promptly drags her to the bank and closes a bank account and drops ~1,200 bucks in the young girls purse, announcing here it is. ( I am sure there was an  "And now F. O." there in real life but not shared with us on the train). 

While this was the most money Miss Drama Queen had ever seen it was totally inadequate to meet even  her most minimal wardrobe needs, apparently. 

I think her phone ran out of juice at that point, thankfully, as I overheard nothing else.

Lessons learned on this trip:

Keep your cell phone charged if using the Metrolink App

Take a screenshot of your ticket just in case.

Also Google Blogger can access your photos stored in google photos. When inserting them insert as link. In photos open individual photo, right click it and copy address to clipboard. Then when adding photo in blogger use the "From URL" functionality.