Ron's Log

Hinds Pumping Plant

The Hinds Pumping Plant is the pump on the Colorado River Aqueduct that you can easily see from I-10 east of Coachella Valley. Most people call it Hayfield, since that's the name on the exit. But in 1967 it was renamed for Julian Hinds.

This is the last pump on the aqueduct and raises the water up above 1,700 feet so it can cruise the rest of the way into the L.A. area. Here's the Google satellite view of the pumping plant.

All my photos of the Hinds plant can be found here or if you want to see these plus all my photos from the Eagle Mountain Pumping Plant, go here. Here are some samples:

You can see where the reservoir used to be. They used the reservoir only for the first few years, but it was unlined and too much water was lost into the ground.

This used to be the intake from the reservoir.

Gardner looking over the sand trap.

If all nine pumps are turned on the water overshoots the tunnel and carves away at the rocks above. This is the point where the water enters the tunnel under the Little San Bernardinos. It's all downhill from here as the water travels around Desert Hot Springs, under White Water Canyon, under I-10 and then under Mt. San Jacinto.

After passing through the sand trap.

In 1967 it was renamed from "Hayfield Pumping Plant" to "Julian Hinds Pumping Plant."

Before R2D2 and C3PO...

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Eagle Mountain Pumping Plant

As I was moving to Coachella Valley I was driving my rented truck on I-10 approaching from the east when I was startled by the sight of what I now know is the Hayfield pumping plant and could only wonder what it was all about - it was my first time on I-10 east of the valley. A few months later when my friend Carlton was visiting we tried to just boldly drive right up to it, only to be thwarted by security. I can recall going on my second 4WD trip with Great Outdoors when Ed and Gardner stopped to show us one of the many syphons of the Colorado River Aqueduct, thus explaining the tailings that one can see in many places along I-10 and other parts of the aqueducts route.

In the few years since then I've had many opportunities to visit parts of the aqueduct, whether the parts within walking distance right behind Desert Hot Springs, or the far flung isolated parts in the desert like Iron Mountain. You can see some of my photos of the aqueduct here on Flickr and here on Iperntiy. When you explore bits of the aqueduct out in the desert, out where they thought no one would ever admire their craftsmanship, even the discarded bits give evidence that the designers, engineers and workers who built the aqueduct considered themselves the spiritual heirs of those who built Rome's aqueducts.

Here is the Wikipedia page on the aqueduct: 242 miles long, 63 miles are canals, 92 miles are tunnels, the remainder is conduits and syphons. There are only five pumping stations to raise the water up and get it across California to Los Angeles.

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California was created to build the aqueduct. Los Angeles had earlier built the aqueduct from Owens Valley, but that was strictly for the City of Los Angeles. The MWD included surrounding cities. Construction of the aqueduct went on from 1933 to 1941. The presence of the aqueduct was essential in the siting of Pattons' training camps in World War II as he illegally took water from the aqueduct.

Today the aqueduct supplies 1.2 million acre-feet of water to Los Angeles per year. In addition, small amounts are taken in Desert Hot Springs and Whitewater Canyon for aquifer regeneration.

When I got word that a member of Great Outdoors Palm Springs was an employee of the MWD at one of the pumping stations and had offered to lead us on a tour, there was no holding me back. We first went to Eagle Mountain Pumping Plant which you can examine on this Google satellite image. Eagle Mountain is close to Desert Center. You can see Eagle Mountain railroad snaking near it.

Roy, our co-member and leader told us that the MWD is very open to groups that want to come visit a pumping station. I won't address the security systems we went through, but I will say that I was delighted with the freedom we were given once we got inside. We followed along with Roy, but we were free to wander here and there and take photos of EVERYthing. Roy emphasized we could take photos of EVERYthing. The only explicit restriction was not to touch any knobs or levers in the control room.

The basic parts of Eagle Mountain Pumping Plant are these: a residential area for the employees, the aqueduct coming into a reservoir, huge transformers handling the gigantic amounts of electricity coming in from four sources that is used to power the pumps, the pump building itself which has the motors at street level with the actual pumps below, the control center in the pump building, and then the most noticeable part of the whole scene: the pipes rising up more than 400 feet and penetrating the mountainside where the water enters a tunnel to flow eventually to the next pumping plant, Hinds.

After visiting Eagle Mountain we went to Hinds and did it all again. I'll get to those photos later. Now I've got only photos from Eagle Mountain.

Scott's photos can be seen here.

Ed's photos can be seen here.

My photos can be seen here. These are some samples:

Some info on the MWD seal.

Indian Orchard, Massachusetts.

Short videos:

1969 Plane Crash Uncovered

Last autumn's Santiago fire uncovered remains from the 1969 crash of a Lockheed SP2E Neptune that had flown out of El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. The bodies of all seven seamen aboard were recovered at the time of the crash, but pieces of the plane have lain under the forest cover until now.

Death Valley Snow

Photo by hexod.us. This is snow at 10,000 feet (give or take a thousand) on Telescope Peak in Death Valley National Park. In the distance you see Badwater at something like 290 feet below sea level.

Badlands?

A brushfire has closed route 60 between I-10 and Riverside in the area that someone is now calling "Badlands." That IS a hilly, curvy stretch of highway, but I never thought of it as badlands and never heard it called badlands until now. I think it's way too green, soft and pretty to be called "badlands." So I did a Google search for definitions of "badlands." You'll see that to be badlands an area needs to be nearly devoid of vegetation, so hardly correct for that part of Riverside County.

Has anyone heard of this region referred to as "badlands" before?

Grizzly Kills Man At Big Bear Lake

The grizzly was, however, a trained bear at Randy Miller's Predators in Action. The bear who has appeared in films, including Semi-Pro, suddenly attacked Stephan Miller, an experienced trainer. The bear was subdued using pepper spray. Officials from Cal OSHA and the state Department of Fish and Game are investigating.

"Grizzlies have been extinct in the California wild since the 1920s, [Fish and Game spokesman Harry] Morse said."

Here's the website for Predators In Action, but it is currently down. Here's the Google cached version.

How Have I Not Heard Of This Before?

Along I-8, west of Yuma, Arizona, is Felicity, California, yet another strange creation by yet another nonconformist in the desert. It's the center of the world, it's got a pyramid, a church on the hill, and a genuine spiral staircase from the Eiffel Tower.

The town's own website here.

Google satellite view here.

The Rule Of Law Wins - This Time

Huntington Beach police returned 30 grams of high-grade purple urkel marijuana taken from David Lucas, a medical marijuana patient, last year. Mr. Lucas had won his case in appellate court and the California Supreme Court declined to review the decision.

Attempting To Recreate Myrna Loy Statue

Myrna Loy posed at age 16 for a statue for the lawn of Venice High School. That was 80 years ago! Over time the statue aged, was vandalized, and almost forgotten. The statue was removed and put into storage. It is beyond restoration, but it can be recreated for more than $200,000. Alumni have been able to raise only $10,000 toward that expense. Now, however, Peter Schwab has come forward with $75,000 and a promise to match additional contributions.

The reporter seemed to be unable to find a single student at Venice High who had even a vague idea of who Myrna Loy was.

SB 1326 Approved By Committee

SB 1326, the bill submitted by Senator Denise Ducheny to require more openness in mosquito and vector control districts, was approved by the Senate Local Government Committee yesterday by a vote of 5-0. Karl Baker, our man on the spot, said "I do think this (bill) is going in a positive direction that will bring oversight and transparency," but he would also "like the bill to authorize clearly that cities and counties may remove their appointees to vector district boards."

Track the bill here.

The Desert Sun reports on last night's Indio city council meeting in a sidebar to the above-linked article, although it certainly seems to deserve its own article. The Indio City Council unanimously affirmed its previous vote to replace Mike Duran with Gene Gilbert as the city's trustee on the board of the Coachella Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District. Councilmember Mike Wilson did not vote due to a conflict of interest. This conflict of interest must not have existed at their earlier vote. The city council also voted to ask that attorney Lisa Copeland have no further association with the board of trustees.

Karl Baker Heading To Sacramento

Don't worry, it's probably just for a day. He'll be heading up there to offer testimony before the Senate Committee on Local Government regarding Senator Denise Moreno Ducheny's Senate Bill 1326 which would require greater openness in accounting at vector control districts and would place restrictions on their ability to levy special benefit assessment taxes.

You can follow the status of SB 1326 here.

More Log Cabin BS

Governor Schwarzenegger's gay pride letter for this year is out, so to speak, and the brouhaha begins.

In it, Schwarzenegger again states that the Pride events are "a fantastic reminder that California continues to work hard to be a place where every individual and every family can feel at home." He goes on to write that he is "proud to join you in creating a brighter future for all of our state's residents."

Log Cabin California Director James Vaughn takes some credit for helping to secure the letter from the governor. Consistent with Log Cabin's self-hating ways, Vaughn blames the gay organizations for objecting to the governor's false words. He also points out that the governor has obstructed equal rights no worse than Senators Boxer and Feinstein. This is the same sort of logic we read about last week. The governor is supposed to be less anti-gay than anti-democratic (lower case "d").

The trouble with Vaughn's comparison between Schwarzenegger and Boxer and Feinstein is that he's a governor and they're senators. In a legislative body you're going to vote on a ton of stuff and amendments to that stuff. Anybody with a little effort can find a handful of votes to make any legislator look like a monster. It takes a lot of work to rate a legislator based on all her work. It's easier to stick it to a governor. One nice neat bill comes before him. All nuance is in the past. His decision at that point is a simple up or down. Schwarzenegger made his choice. He could have recalled the Republican Party that gave us the 14th amendment and signed the marriage bill. Or he could have gone the way of the modern Republican Party with its bigots, philanderers, crooks and warmongers.

Vaughn says it's hypocritical for pride organizations to object to the governor's letter while publishing letters from the senators without criticism. But according to the Bay Area News article, pride organizations in San Francisco and Los Angeles do not recall receiving pride letters from either senator prior to this year. San Francisco's pride organization did receive a letter this year from Boxer. They won't print it due to space limitations, but will publish it on their website.

Owens Lake Reflecting Sierra

Photo by Echo_29. For a much broader perspective, go see this panorama.

Schwarzenegger In Ruthless Drive To Build Toll Road In San Onofre State Beach

Governor Schwarzenegger is so bent on paving over parts of San Onofre State Beach that he has dumped his own brother-in-law Bobby Shriver (nephew of JFK) and Clint Eastwood himself from the State Park and Recreation Commission because they opposed the toll road plan.

My photos of the area to be affected can be seen here.

Update: Clint Eastwood's reaction to his firing.

California Anti-Meth Ad Campaign

Here's a Bay Area Reporter article about a California anti-meth ad campaign that is supposedly aimed at men who have sex with men. I happened to catch the TV ad last night and while effective, it didn't seem to be targeted to men who have sex with men (I think clinical people abbreviate that as MSM, or something like that). One of the four men does say he is gay. Another seems to say he lost his "man" - and that's what caught my ear. "Did he say 'man?'" I was asking myself. He's speaking quickly and I am not used to people saying "I lost my man" unless they are Loretta Lynn or Barbra Streisand or someone like that. But maybe the media experts have determined that men in whatever ethnic group he is supposed to represent say things like that. I wouldn't know, I'm just a white guy in DHS.

I had noticed the billboard on I-10 near Date Palm that uses this image (cropped differently):

I get peevish when people use illegible text on a sign along a 70 MPH freeway. After a few trips (it's on the way home from Costco) I had it translated, and then I began to try to determine the gender of the model. I finally decided the designers had intentionally settled on a person of indeterminate gender. But in the photo from their website you can clearly see he is male (or she needs a shave). Maybe some emphasis on that adam's apple would have helped.

Farmers' Market Success

Originally created to help small farmers sell their products to home cooks, the Santa Monica farmer's market has become so successful that the competition between home cooks, professional chefs, and big wholesalers has led to some tension. It seems that the Santa Monica Wednesday morning market is providing fresh, family-farm grown produce to restaurants and upscale restaurants across the country.

The Governor's Commute

I'm a little surprised to learn that Governor Schwarzenegger is unable to find any housing that meets his needs in Sacramento, so he spends every night at home in Brentwood and commutes to Sacramento. For those not familiar with California geography, that's a distance of about 380 miles one way by highway. But the Governor flies it in his Gulfstream jet, entirely at his personal expense. Some people criticize this as environmentally unfriendly, saying that in one hour of flying the jet does as much environmental damage as a small car would in one year (I don't think we are presuming the small car is running continuously for a full year). But Arnold cites his family obligations:

"The question is how can I be with my family, because that is extremely important, to be with my kids. They are all growing up. They are in their teens. They need their father around," the governor said as he sipped a decaf espresso drink and ate an oatmeal cookie. "I felt it took a toll on my family not being at home every day. So what I am trying to do is find that balance between the family and running the state."

I suppose we'll have to wait and hope that his kids grow up to be wonderful people whose contributions to the world outweigh the burning of some jet fuel.

Will Rogers S.H.P.

Yesterday, Karl took me into Pacific Palisades for a tour of his boyhood roots and a visit to Will Rogers State Historical Park, where we got a free tour. Unfortunately, photography inside the house is not allowed at all - no reason was given for that. Here are some of the outside photos.

Development in Tejon Ranch

Tejon Ranch is the "largest contiguous expanse of land under single ownership in California." It covers 0.4 RIE (Rhode Island Equivalencies), or 426 square miles.

There are plans to build Centennial, a new town of 23,000 homes at the southern end of the ranch along Route 138. I know some people who use Route 138 as the shortcut from I-5 to I-15 when traveling from northern California to the Palm Springs area. I tried it a few times, but the little two-lane has too much traffic on it, and gives you a very winding descent to I-15 without guardrails. The last time I did that it was raining and dark. Never again.

Anyway, as to Centennial, advocates say this is the way to handle the millions of additional people that will come to southern California over the next two decades. Opponents hold forth the horror of an urbanity that covers a gigantic swath from Tijuana to Bakersfield.

California Sues U.S. to Protect Forests

The state of California is suing the U.S. Forest Service "over plans that would open more than 500,000 acres to roads and oil drilling in the state's largest national forests." The four affected National Forests are Cleveland, Los Padres, San Bernardino and Angeles. The Roadless Area Conservation Rule from the Clinton administration is still in effect and two regional foresters assured California Secretary for Resources Mike Chrisman that the rule would be honored.

[California Attorney General] Jerry Brown said in a telephone interview. "I find it kind of ironic that the federal government won't let us clean up our cars and they now want cars going through these forests. Once they build these roads, cars come, then they go in and chop down trees. Roads are the first step."

Somebody please drop a line to Attorney General Brown alerting him to the fact that there's a Republican administration in Washington.

L.A. Murder Suspect Arrested in Saipan

An interesting story of murder, Japan-USA relations, double jeopardy, self-promotion and where-the-fuck was Homeland Security? Kazuyoshi Miura has not yet been convicted, so it's still "alleged murder," but here is a simplified chronology. In 1981 Mr. Miura and his wife Kazumi came from Japan to visit Los Angeles. Mr. Miura, who may have arranged earlier attempts on his wife's life, arranged to have his wife shot while doing the Japanese tourist thing on the street near the LADWP building. He stood to receive $655,000 in life insurance. His wife lay in a coma until November 1982, when she died. Back in Japan Mr. Miura's accomplice in one of the earlier attempts had confessed and Mr. Miura was tried and convicted in 1986 for attempted murder and sentenced to six years.

In 1988 he was tried in Japan for the murder of his wife. He was convicted, but his accomplice was not. This led an appeals court to overturn his conviction in 1998. In 2004 California repealed a law that provided protection from double jeopardy for those tried overseas. In 2005 police began monitoring Mr. Miura's weblog where he promoted "himself as a human-rights advocate who helps those falsely accused of crimes." He also promoted his book, DVD and seminars. In 2007 "he mentioned international travel plans, including a possible trip to Saipan, a U.S. territory and popular tourist destination north of Guam."

...detectives alerted Immigration and Customs officials in Saipan to be on the lookout.

They apparently missed his arrival, but immigration agents on the island nabbed Miura, now 60, last Friday when he attempted to leave for Japan.

He will now be tried for his wife's murder in Los Angeles.

All very interesting, and worthy of a movie. But what I wonder at is that Immigration and Customs (i.e., Homeland Security) in Saipan had been alerted to watch for this guy who wasn't trying to sneak into the country. He waltzed in using, presumably, his own passport with his own name and his own photo. And nothing happened. So, is this how to sneak a dirty bomb into this country? Pose as a wanted felon with known travel plans, fly into Saipan and then go wherever you please?

Even Rep. Jerry Lewis Opposed To Green Path North

The Hi-Desert Star reports that Representative Jerry Lewis has raised his head long enough from his legal problems to announce his opposition to LADWP's outlandish plan to construct new power lines from DHS across Lucerne Valley to Hesperia.

The congressman's objections were made to Nick Patsaouras, president of LADWP, in the form of an official letter dated Feb. 6. While lauding the department for its commitment to renewable power, he denounced the planned route of the transmission lines through unspoiled desert when other corridors designated by the Bureau of Land Management are available.

"To disregard these carefully planned routes would be irresponsible of the department and disrespectful to Los Angeles’ neighbors in San Bernardino County," he wrote.

The author of this article, BTW, was Jutta Biggerstaff.

ORV in the High Desert

An article in the Hi-Desert Star about Code Enforcement Officer Hugh Oram who is charged with the responsibility of keeping an eye on off-road vehicle operators in San Bernardino County.

As he patrolled in Pipes Canyon recently, a rider on an open, four-wheel vehicle commonly called a quad came ripping up the side of the canyon. Oram recognized him and drove alongside the rider, documenting the offense with a digital video camera.

After narrowly missing another law breaker in a dune buggy recklessly riding in the opposite direction, the quad rider disappeared into a Flamingo Heights neighborhood. Oram took the evasion in stride. "I don't take it personally. They've got to get away every time. I've only got to catch them once."

But I really wanted to point out the article because its author is called "Jimmy Biggerstaff."

The Desert's Abloomin'

Yesterday, some of us went out and explored the Mecca Hills and Cottonwood Road and found our payback for the rain we've had this winter:

More flower photos here.

Work Continues on 60 & 215 in Riverside

More changes, more construction, delays and frustration to continue. My report not too long ago that the 60-91-215 interchange in Riverside was completed was based on an L.A. Times story that was possibly more narrowly focused (or more naive) than I comprehended. I drove through that interchange last weekend on my ways to and from San Onofre beach. The big, highflying connector between westbound 60 and 91 is, in fact, complete. Driving on its two-mile length was fast and smooth with a delightful view. Unfortunately, that was not enough to offset the many miles of 10-15 MPH creeping to get there. Construction is still underway all along 215/60. Returning home on 91 trying to find eastbound 60 is still a challenge as there is only one sign identifying the exit, and the sign for westbound 60 is ambiguous. But, if you are fortunate enough to pick the correct exit, you will find that the shaky railing made of 2x4s has been replaced with a real concrete wall.

San Onofre Cliffs

These are the cliffs on San Onofre Beach just south of the nuclear power plant, which is at the left end of this photo. I was there this weekend as part of a campout with Great Outdoors San Diego, my first trip with that chapter of Great Outdoors. Many more photos to come.

Diane Keaton Flips

Houses, of course. She's currently selling the Lloyd Wright designed Alfred Newman Estate at 14148 West Sunset Boulevard. More images of the house here.

Restoration of the Lower Owens River

In 1913 the LADWP began to suck the Owens Valley dry, taking its water to Los Angeles via the Los Angeles Aqueduct. In December 2006, the LADWP began to redirect some that water back to the river. Yesterday, Mayor Villaraigosa toured the restored river in a canoe. Henceforth, the river will be flooded in springtime, in an attempt to replicate its natural rhythms.

Quake Swarm Near Mexicali

An L.A. Times report on the quake swarm near Mexicali that has included three quakes greater than 5.0 in the last week.

Here's a long list of the earthquakes in that vicinity starting with a 5.4 on February 9 and including a 2.5 just ten minutes ago. These quakes do not involve the San Andreas Fault, which begins north of Niland.

New Slot Machines Already

After last Tuesday's approval of increased slot machines for four Indian tribes, the Press-Enterprise reports that Morongo casino has 400 new machines operating today, the Pechanga casino will have 400 new ones this weekend, and the Agua Caliente casinos will add new ones next week.

Christine Smith

I know that with the thrill of 15,000 more slot machines in southern California, many of my readers may have neglected to check the Libertarian primary results. In California, Christine Smith won with 25.1% of the vote. Her website. Second place went to Steve Kubby (17.0%).

I have no idea how delegates are allocated at the Libertarian party convention, so I can't tell you if this is winner-takes-all. For all I know the candidate is chosen using stacks of dollar bills...or maybe guns.

Phil Prentice Writes

I hardly ever (never?) post about comments on another post, but this is different. Three and a half years ago I spotted this unfilled grave next door to the DeMille grave in the Hollywood Forever cemetery.

Since then my post about it here on Ron's Log has produced a steady stream of comments from fans of Phil Prentice, who is an artist. And now we've finally heard from Phil Prentice himself, and he included his email address. So maybe all of you with questions can just ask him directly.

Camp Iron Mountain

Yesterday Pat, Scott and I went out to explore Camp Iron Mountain, one of the camps in Patton's Desert Training Center. Camp Iron Mountain is along route 62 east of highway 177. Easiest way to get there from the Coachella Valley is to take I-10 east to Desert Center, 177 north to 62. Go east on 62 about 6 miles. You'll see a marker on right side for Camp Granite. Continue along 62 and you'll soon see a marker on the left for Camp Iron Mountain. The marker is alongside the main road into the camp. You'll want to have a high clearance vehicle and watch out for soft sand as you drive. Never drive off the roadway, don't take any souvenirs, don't move any rocks.

Here's a Google satellite view of the camp. The arrow marks the point where the main road intersects the barbed wire fence that surrounds the main part of the camp. Park there and continue uphill on foot and you'll come to the fenced-in remains of the big relief map of the Desert Training Center.

The Colorado River Aqueduct runs on the surface just east of the camp and, at Iron Mountain, is pumped up and into tunnels. The presence of the aqueduct is one of the main reasons Camp Iron Mountain is located there, and why Camps Granite, Rice, Young and Coxcomb are located where they are. We explored an area above the aqueduct where there are remains of an aqueduct construction camp. The advanced level of technology used to construct the aqueduct is impressive. The concrete foundations for the buildings of the construction camp were given nice smooth surfaces and are still in excellent condition, yet the aqueduct pre-dates all of Patton's camps, and pre-dates the entire city of Desert Hot Springs as well.

The complete set of photos is here. These are some of them:

Viewed full size you can see not only Camp Iron Mountain to the left, but the roads of Camp Granite to the right. Camp Granite is across highway 62 and the army made an effort to clean up the site in the 1950s, so little remains. Click here for full size.

On a hill west of Camp Iron Mountain.

A photo I shouldn't have. This is the pumping station for the Colorado River Aqueduct in Iron Mountain. We rolled right into this little town and started talking to a worker there. Turned out we weren't supposed to be there at all, and after a friendly chat the worker advised us to slink out of town using the same route we came in on before security spotted us. If there had been any fence, gate or even sign to discourage us, we would have stopped. But the road was wide open.

The soldiers built a giant relief map of the Desert Training Center and coated it with concrete. It has deteriorated badly and only thin patches of old concrete are visible here and there. This part of the camp is surrounded by this impressive fence. There is no gate, but there are places where you could go under the fence. There are no signs forbidding it, but we did not go in. It's obvious that the remains of the map are very delicate. Here's a close Google view of the relief map.

Rows of rocks marking roads and walkways are the most obvious remains of the camp. At the Patton Museum in Chiriaco Summit there is information that placing rows of rocks and circles of rocks around creosote bushes was a make-work project to make sure soldiers didn't have idle time.

Most of the camp is surrounded by a well built barbed wire fence with frequent pedestrian turnstiles like this one. The goal is to keep all vehicles and horses out of the camp. I'm mystified by the actual placement of this fence, as there are large areas of the camp with obvious artifacts lying OUTside the fence on the southeast, southwest and northwest. The fenced area is 2½ miles by ½ mile.

The two obvious roads are outside the fence on the southeast side of the camp.

This chapel is the tallest structure at the camp and, when the light is right, can be seen from highway 62.

The Future Of The Joshua Tree

NPR had a good overview story about the decline of the joshua tree. With global warming and no more giant ground sloths, the future of the plant looks dim.

More Obama Endorsements

The L.A. Times has endorsed McCain and Obama:

Clinton is an accomplished public servant whose election would provide familiarity and, most important, competence in the White House, when for seven years it has been lacking. But experience has value only if it is accompanied by courage and leads to judgment.

Nowhere was that judgment more needed than in 2003, when Congress was called upon to accept or reject the disastrous Iraq invasion. Clinton faced a test and failed, joining the stampede as Congress voted to authorize war. At last week's debate and in previous such sessions, Clinton blamed Bush for abusing the authority she helped to give him, and she has made much of the fact that Obama was not yet in the Senate and didn't face the same test. But Obama was in public life, saw the danger of the invasion and the consequences of occupation, and he said so. He was right.

The Sacramento Bee has endorsed McCain and Obama:

Unlike Clinton, Obama was an early opponent of the war in Iraq, because he thought it was a strategic blunder that would only hurt the United States. His credibility on that issue would position him well to end the occupation quickly while also giving him the flexibility to extend it if necessary to avoid shedding the blood of more innocent Iraqis.

Obama's lack of experience at the highest levels of government might lead to mistakes. But that risk is smaller, in our view, than the benefit of moving on from the Bushes and the Clintons, who have been in the White House for longer than some young voters have been alive. That is why Obama is the best choice for the Democratic nomination for president.

The San Francisco Chronicle has endorsed (can you guess?) McCain and Obama:

But if [Clinton] wants to highlight her White House experience as a defining difference, then it's only fair to point out that two of the projects she was most deeply involved with produced a debacle (health care) and scandals (fund raising). Especially in recent days, her campaign has shown the sharp elbows that evoke the ugly underside of the Clinton years, and the (Karl Rove inspired) Bush years that succeeded them: the reflex to scorch the Earth, to do what is necessary to vanquish political adversaries ... all is justified if you are left standing at the end.

America deserves better than these cycles of vengeance and retribution. Its possibilities are too great, its challenges too daunting, for partisan pettiness.

In a Jan. 17 meeting with our editorial board, Obama demonstrated an impressive command of a wide variety of issues. He listened intently to the questions. He responded with substance. He did not control a format without a stopwatch on answers or constraints on follow-up questions, yet he flourished in it.

He radiated the sense of possibility that has attracted the votes of independents and tapped into the idealism of young people during this campaign. He exuded the aura of a 46-year-old leader who could once again persuade the best and the brightest to forestall or pause their grand professional goals to serve in his administration.

The Desert Sun also endorsed McCain and Obama some time ago (it's not like they can be bothered to date the pages on their website).

It seems the Bay Area News Group has endorsed McCain and Obama as their papers the Contra Costa Times, the Oakland Tribune, and the San Jose Mercury-News have all endorsed McCain and Obama.

If the San Diego Union-Tribune has any opinion on the candidates, they're not putting it on their website.

The Fresno Bee has endorsed McCain and Obama. The Santa Barbara Independent endorses Obama and seems to remain silent on the Republican list.

But the Bakersfield Californian has endorsed McCain and Clinton! I knew I'd find one if I looked long enough.

Clinton hardly represents the voice of change. She, not unlike President Bush, is closely tied to a White House administration from the previous decade. But her understanding of the issues, gleaned from eight years in the U.S. Senate and eight years in a cabinet-like role in her husband's administration, is more substantive than that of her chief rivals for the nomination.

Okay, so I found one California newspaper endorsing Clinton. I'm not going to try to find one endorsing Romney, but you're welcome to chime in here.

Schwarzenegger (the Missus, that is) Endorses Obama

From the L.A. Times

[Former President Bill] Clinton's comments were overshadowed by an Obama rally at UCLA's Pauley Pavilion co-hosted by Oprah Winfrey, during which [Maria] Shriver strode out unannounced and threw her support behind the freshman senator from Illinois. Shriver's husband, Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, announced his support of Sen. John McCain last week, and the extended Kennedy family has split its support between Obama and Clinton.

"If Barack Obama was a state he'd be California," Shriver said, drawing roars from the crowd. "I mean, think about it: diverse, open, smart, independent, oppose tradition, innovative, inspiring, dreamer, leader."

Gruesome Mysteries at Barker Ranch?

Via Pat, via Soakers Forum, we come to this story, suggesting that bodies may lie buried at Barker Ranch.

In the photo are Buster and his owner, Mammoth Lakes police officer Sergeant Paul Dostie, sitting on the porch of Barker Ranch in Death Valley National Park. This is the ranch I so recently visited and where Charles Manson was arrested in 1969. Buster is trained as a human remains detection dog. February a year ago, Sgt. Dostie took Buster and other human remains detection dogs to the Barker Ranch where they all "alerted" on two different sites. The linked article reports that there were at least two individuals who visited Barker Ranch and disappeared.

there are now are rumors of at least two possible young people who disappeared from the Ranch. One was a girl who wasn’t really fitting in at the Ranch, and was taken for a walk by Manson and Tex. According to the stories, she allegedly never came back. The second story is of a boy who was backpacking the length of Death Valley and stopped at the Barker Ranch for a few nights. The boy disappeared, but left all his gear behind. When one family member asked Clem Grogan, another family member, where the boy was, Clem is reported to have said, "He got homesick."

OTOH, human remains at Barker Ranch could as likely be Indian burials.

One Found, One Not

The Press-Enterprise has an article about personal locator beacons, and they use two hikers as examples. First, Nate Freund, who became lost in a snow storm on Bighorn Peak on January 21. He was there in the wilderness for at least another 24 hours, but the article shows him smiling in a warm room with his GPS device, cell phone and personal locator beacon.

Second, Dean Christy, who we wrote about before. Lost on January 4 near Big Bear. We have no photos of him. Have to wait for spring.

The article explains personal locator beacons and mentions Bonnie Garcia's proposal to make them available for rent on Mt. San Jacinto. State park officials opposed the bill, so it was killed. An interesting part of Nate Freund's rescue story is that the personal locator beacon was NOT used to locate him. The search-and-rescue officials said they were unable to get his GPS coordinates from the beacon. What saved him was that he used his cellphone to text his coordinates that he read from his regular GPS device.

California's Eight Props

The eight propositions coming up on Tuesday's ballot have been a delight to analyze. First, they are all numbered sequentially, so I never lost track of one of them. Second, they involve nothing more than complex tax and funding issues with emotionally charged lies being tossed back and forth by both sides, except on one question where the proponents urge you to vote NO (on that one I recommend abstention). Here we go:

Prop 91: Not only is this one difficult to understand, since it involves the issue of transferring money from various sources between different funds in Sacramento, but its proponents are urging us to vote NO! The opponents have nothing to say. S.F. Chronicle article on the amusing subject here. The "small transit advocacy group from Southern California" referred to so dismissively is Southern California Transit Advocates who are in favor of public transit. Their website urging a YES vote on Prop 91 is here, although it doesn't really say why we should vote yes other than to say "Now is the time to strike the final blow to ensure that vitally needed investments in mobility -- essential to California's long-term economic prosperity -- are made." Arise brothers! Throw off your shackles! Strike the final blow!

I would vote for it if it guaranteed light-rail transit from DHS to the Palm Springs airport (yeah, let's start a rumor!), but since that seems to be lacking, I'll probably just save my voting finger for the next Prop on the list.

Prop 92: slightly less complex than Prop 91, 92 would write a funding formula for community colleges into the constitution and roll back fees from $20 to $15 per unit. The website of the proponents [warning: loud irritating music and noise]. And here are the opponents [warning: staged photo of racial- and gender-balanced group of beautiful students on a leafy green campus].

This Prop is going in the wrong direction. We need to get all these detailed funding provisions OUT of the constitution and let the legislature pass a budget and set taxes by a simple majority. Won't happen in my lifetime, I'm sure, but I'm voting NO on Prop 92.

Prop 93: a beautiful compromise with provisions to disgust both sides. This is the one that fiddles with term limits. Currently someone can serve six years in the Assembly and eight years in the Senate, so long as the total number of years does not exceed fourteen. Prop 93 would allow you to serve twelve years in the Assembly or the Senate, so long as total service does not exceed twelve years.

This isn't quite up there with re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, but it's close. Who honestly thinks this is going to make one bit of difference either way? I'm generally opposed to term limits. We've already got a great way to limit terms: vote the bastards out. All you need to do it is to run one opponent. So long as the barriers to getting on the ballot are not excessive, you can vote the other bastard out. The new bastard may be incompetent, but that will provide a couple of years of entertainment value for our tax dollars.

The Libertarian Party has an even better idea - and NO, it doesn't involve guns! On the ballot, no matter how many candidates may be running, there is one candidate called "None Of The Above." If NOTA wins the election, the position goes empty and unfunded for a term. How delightful that could be! There are probably some positions where this shouldn't be attempted, like Attorney General or Treasurer. But I bet we could noodle along without a Governor for awhile, if you resolve the constitutional issue of who's going to sign bills.

Anyway, NO on Prop 93 vote however the mood strikes you. Yes, No or Abstain. You won't notice any difference no mattter how this one goes down.

On to book two...the "Indian Gaming Compact" provisions.

Prop 94: the Pechanga Band wants to increase slots from 2,000 to 7,500. Of course I'm in favor of this one. All the issues raised by the opponents are anti-libertarian notions that the state and other tribes should get more money out of this deal, and the state should meddle more in the internal management of the casino.

Website of proponents of 94, 95, 96 and 97 [warning: Arnold Schwarzenegger and anonymous firefighter images]. The opponents' website [warning: site designed for IE, I guess].

Prop 95: the Morongo Band wants to increase slots from 2,000 to 7,500. An idea that seems to be popular this year. That's another YES.

Prop 96: (I can hardly wait to see!) The Sycuan Band must be a conservative and humble lot, because they only want to increase slots from 2,000 to 5,000. Maybe they are Methodists. Anyway, I say give 'em what they want.

Prop 97: our own Agua Caliente Band wants to increase slots from 2,000 to 5,000. How do they decide to stop at 5,000? Why not 10,000? How else are they going to fund that maglev train to Las Vegas? This is a YES.

Another Saline Valley Peace Sign

A peace sign in the desert near Saline Valley Road not far from Route 190 can be seen on Google Maps.

Reagan Library

Yesterday I ventured along with the Palm Springs Frontrunners & Walkers through the lands of snow, rain, hail and tornadoes to visit the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley. The years seem to have softened my memories of the Reagan presidency, reducing him in my mind to only a genial boob. The library, however, brought it all back. It's hard to walk through the exhibits without seething. There are photos a-plenty to remind you of the scum he surrounded himself with, including many (most?) of the people who are responsible for the current administration's endless string of successes.

Our docent was, of course, a Reagan supporter, but his enthusiasm gradually rose to a near-fever pitch so that one of our members interrupted the docent to point out that there was at least one thing Reagan failed to do, and that was to deal in any with the growing AIDS epidemic. His presidency did nothing to educate the public and stem the spreading disease. The docent said he had never heard that before! Maybe he was lying, but I think it's much more likely that the docents there wrap themselves up in the warm fuzzy blanket of Republican ignorance that is essential to being a Republican.

Have I complained here about incorrect aspect ratios? I may have, but let's refresh the issue. Unless you're going for some artsy effect, screwing up the aspect ratio of an image really pisses me off. It shows either ignorance or carelessness about the image. And I'm getting more and more pissed off over time. Go into any electronics store and look at the TVs. Many (maybe most) of them will have the aspect ratio set incorrectly. Heads will either be squished up or spread out. Usually they're spread out, as an old TV image is spread across the full width of a widescreen because the viewer doesn't want to see black bars at the sides of the image.

Considering Reagan's Hollywood connections, you would think the library would be able to get one volunteer to come and make sure his electronic image is at least accurate. Not so, apparently. There are a lot of flat screen TVs around the place displaying videos with a great variety of aspect ratio distortion. If you like Nancy with hair rising to a peak above her head, you'lll get plenty of that here...or Ronnie himself with a 12-inch wide Cheshire cat grin. It all looks sloppy as hell.

And I'm not going to even go into the really poor sound quality for the little intro film we saw.

The library also has a huge pavilion that houses the Boeing 707 that was Air Force One for Reagan. They were preparing the area for the Republican Presidential debate on January 30, so there was scaffolding and equipment everywhere, limiting angles for my photos! The debates will be conducted on top of scaffolds that are at least 20 feet up from the floor. I wondered how much the scaffolder has to pay for insurance.

The complete set of photos is here. No photos were allowed inside the 707. Here are some samples:

The view of Simi Valley from the library.

Scott beside the tail of Air Force One.

Pat underneath Air Force One.

Total rectal view of Air Force One.

The view of Air Force One during the debates will probably be from an angle close to this.

Evidence of the hole through his head can be seen in the reflection.

The piece of the Berlin Wall.

A view into the gift & snack shops under Air Force One.

Libertarian Candidates

February 5 is approaching and in the great state of California we actually have a Libertarian primary and, since I'm a registered Libertarian, I get to vote in it. There are 12 candidates to choose from! So far none of the candidates have sent me a pretty postcard or left an annoying voicemail message, so I've got to go and do a bit of internet research on them. For those of you who have proudly restricted their voting to Republicans and Democrats in order to bring this great country to the glorious state we now find ourselves in, let me clarify that researching the Libertarian candidates is not like looking at the websites for the Republicans or Democrats. No, it's a lot more like waking up at 2 AM and finding yourself on a bench in the Greyhound bus station in Chicago. You'll find nuts there, dangerous people, and also some entirely decent people who just happen to be traveling by bus. It's up to us to sort them out.

There's almost no orthodoxy among Libertarians, but if there is one core point that all agree on it's that the second amendment to the Constitution guarantees the unrestricted right to gun ownership. You can safely assume that all 12 of these candidates agree with that view. At the other end of the scale we find abortion and gay marriage issues. A lot of Republicans who have figured out that the Republican party is NOT in favor of less government have come over to the Libertarian party, hoping to promote smaller government, lower taxes and not much else. They certainly aren't in favor of enforcing the 14th amendment nor ending the war in Iraq. So let's get rolling and see who the nuts are. The candidates are listed here in no particular order.

Go here to see the official candidate statements submitted to the California Secretary of State.

Robert Milnes
His website with what has to be The Worst Candidate Photo. But in his own campaign bio he says he was diagnosed with "severe reactive depression" when he was about age 20. He spent time in federal prison for writing "fan letters" to a TV anchorwoman. He doesn't say what the specific charges were, but he pleaded guilty to "18 USC Section 876." He was released in 1989 and got a computer in 2000 and his campaign website is his latest project. He has a lapsed membership in Mensa. If you look at his bio you will see that he needs some paragraph breaks, so if you've got some extra ones on your computer, it might be nice to email them to him.

He proposes an alliance with the Green Party and leftist progressives. Yeah, that'll fly. He would work to end the death penalty.

He's got a fabulous idea for dealing with Native American issues, and it's not more slot machines in the casinos! He would expand Indian reservations to cover about half of the U.S. land territory and then through a system of eugenics and surrogate motherhood increase Native American population to about 50 million while simultaneously reducing the population of non-Native Americans to 50 million. This would be accomplished in 25 years by emigration subsidies of $50,000 per person. He considers American citizenship and residency to be worth less than $50,000!! It certainly is a new approach to the immigration issue. He expands on this idea a bit here and seems to suggest that black Americans specifically should be especially delighted to be sent to Liberia, Nigeria and Haiti. If you expect me to leave the U.S. for a measly $50,000 I better be going someplace like Paris or Amsterdam, not a country where all the tropical diseases still run rampant and people heat and cook with fuel stolen from ruptured pipelines.

His Iraq proposal is to cease fire and then to actively restore a Baathist government! Holy shit, this guy is SO FAR removed from libertarianism, he's not a Republican or Democrat, he's just a nut case.

He would seem to have earned a perfect score from Outright Libertarians, but they don't list him on their presidential scorecard.

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Michael P. Jingozian
His website. He was born in Watertown, Massachusetts and has a 5-year plan (PDF) which doesn't address any libertarian issues, but consists simply of running for President in 2008 and losing (but carrying one or two states) and then re-running again in 2012 and winning. So it's a plan and it's 5 years, but it's not what you might expect from a "5-year plan," which, if it had actually laid out what he would try to accomplish in his first term, could be very interesting and might get my vote.

He's got another PDF on his plan, but it also contains no specifics, except that he would like to see the words "under God" removed from the Pledge of Allegiance. I wonder how he let that one specific slip through?

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George Phillies
His website. He would withdraw immediately from Iraq and opposes war with Iran. He would prosecute those who tortured or committed warrantless wiretapping. He would end prohibitions on marijuana and internet gambling. Opposes both federal AND STATE meddling in the right to abortion! Would repeal No Child Left Behind, the Military Commissions Act and the Patriot Act.

Gets a perfect score from Outright Libertarians. Endorsed by Outright Libertarians. He lives in Worcester, Mass., and promises to swear his oath of office with his hand on the Constitution, not the Bible.

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Christine Smith
Here's her website where she lays out all the issues. She favors an immediate withdrawal from Iraq. Wants to end the war on drugs. She favors marriage equality and opposes Don't Ask/Don't Tell and the Defense of Marrage Act. She would try to end the income tax and abolish the IRS. She wants the legality of abortion to be determined on a state-by-state basis.

Gets a perfect score from Outright Libertarians.

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Alden Link
He's got a website with specifics! But he does wander in and out of pure libertarianism. He calls for the complete repeal of the Patriot Act. He says United Nation headquarters should be moved to Somalia, and criticizes UN delegates for enjoying "$200 lunches." Somebody on his staff should let him know that a $200 lunch in New York hardly impresses anyone. He supports the end to the war on drugs. Pornography and prostitution should be completely legal. He proposes the elimination of property taxes (not in the jurisdiction of the President, I'm afraid), and cutting the income tax back to a flat 10%. Estate and capital gains taxation should be eliminated. He does NOT call for an end to the war in Iraq, but seems to favor a change in strategy. The Defense of Marriage Act must be repealed and the Don't Ask/Don't Tell policy must be ended. All federal recognition of marriage must end! Even Ron Paul won't go that far. Link aslo says the states should stop issuing marriage licenses, but as with property taxes, that's none of the President's business.

He also does some math showing that 1 billion watts produced by a nuclear power plant is the same amount of energy as contained in 15,542 barrels of gasoline. From that math he makes the leap that the electricity from the nuclear power plant could be used to actually MAKE 15,542 barrels of gasoline using nothing more than carbon dioxide and hydrogen which comes from water, but he doesn't calculate how much energy is required to separate that hydrogen from its oxygen.

So, he can address the issues directly, but you might also be able to sell him a perpetual motion device.

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Dave Hollist
He's got a website, but have a good time trying to extract meaning from his ramblings. If he simply said he was a pothead and was running to legalize marijuana (or some other fun substance), then it would make a little sense. He says that he honors the Libertarian Party Pledge, and that should be all he needs to say. Here is the pledge: I hereby pledge that I do not believe in nor advocate the initiation of force or fraud as a means of achieving political or social goals.

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Wayne A. Root
His website. Check out his photo. Hair like Mitt Romney, pink necktie and pink pocket handerchief. He calls himself a "Libertarian-conservative." Uh-oh! He's behind the WinningEdge website, too. He says Barry Goldwater is his hero and mentor. He says this on his website:

Abortion is a states' rights issue. Education is a states' right issue. Medicinal marijuana is a states' rights issue. Gay marraige is a states' rights issue. Assisted suicide- like Terri Schiavo- is a states' rights issue. Come to think of it, almost every issue is a states' rights issue. Let's get the federal government out of our lives.

That's not libertarianism, that states-rights-ism. Transferring government powers from one government to another rather than to the people is NOT libertarianism.

He acknowledges the failure of the war on drugs, but rather than call for its end he supports only medical marijuana. He supports not only the legalization of internet gambling, but also its taxation! A libertarian calling for a new tax?! He supports limitations on abortion. He supports gay civil unions, but says gay marriage is a "states' rights issue." He says he supports the separation of church and state, but "I believe in school prayer, God in our pledge of allegiance and on our currency. To remove these religious symbols would be to deny the rights and freedoms of religious Americans." He says the war in Iraq is a disaster, but we should stay in it.

This guy is not a libertarian. As a Republican he would be something of an improvement on Ron Paul, except that his issues are muddled.

He's been endorsed by John Hospers, who got one electoral vote in 1972.

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Steve Kubby
His website. He has endorsed Ron Paul! He says he is still running for President, but that if Paul gets the Republican nomination, Kubby will campaign for Paul and ask the Libertarian Party to nominate "None Of The Above." Not much of a libertarian, I'd say.

Wants to repeal the Patriot Act and Military Commissions Act. Immediate withdrawal from Iraq. Wants to end the war on drugs.

His website is silent about abortion and gay issues, nonetheless he gets a perfect score from Outright Libertarians.

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John Finan
His website [music warning!] complete with spelling and grammatical errors. "war, unfortunately, is part of the human condition and needs to be managed... perhaps better." That sounds like it could be a quote from Hitler, not a Libertarian candidate. He goes on to say that we should withdraw our military from Iraq immediately, but "we must leave behind a strong industrial component to help rebuild this nation to the best of its ability." That "industrial component" seems to be nuclear power plants, if I read him correctly. So, my tax dollars to build nuclear power plants in an oil-rich middle-eastern nation, but we would have no military presence there to protect the plants?! I'm beginning to think Finan may be some kind of weird Democrat.

Here's a page where he discusses water purification using ultraviolet. He doesn't say what that has to do with the presidency or libertarianism, but he closes with this: "people should be able to dance wherever they want to in New York City, so long as the proprietor of the establishment allows it, not as dictated by the Mayor."

I think he's in favor of gay marriage, but I don't understand what he says here:

Yes. Federal tax benefit granted the same as traditional marriage, although distribution granted by county. Some areas of our country are more ready for this than others and they should be allowed to be so. People who want to have a same sex marriage could choose to live where this is condoned and supported within the community socially and fiscally or not. This is their freedom to do so. I feel that if a loving home can be created to raise children and if two people derive happiness from being together and they are of the same sex they should do so and be supported. Our time on this planet is too short to not allow people to experience it in the way in which they can derive as well as generate the most happiness and good from it.

Is he saying that individual counties would be allowed to control federal tax policy? And that gay people would be free to move to counties that allow marriage? Is that somehow different from the time when black people were free to leave the segregationist south to move to Chicago to get a job?

WTF is this, his housing policy?

Is he asserting here that the federal government should intrude itself into divorce and custody issues? If so, he's a Democrat.

Here is his full discussion on the abortion issue: "Pro Choice: Yes." Well, that's just great that he's pro-choice, but he needs to say a bit about what he thinks the federal government involvement in the issue should be.

He proposes to immediately nuke Iran. Republican or Democrat, he's certainly not a libertarian.

"The drug situation needs to be regulated, controlled, and taxed." I'm pretty sure that's the current policy of our government. On the same page he says that tax shelters for the rich should be done away with and the money redistributed to the middle and lower classes!! Why does this guy think he will find a home in the Libertarian party?!

On this page entitled Christmas Trees and The Easter Bunn [sic] he says "The United States is a Christian based democratic country." I think he's in favor of increased federal funding of space exploration, but it's hard to know what he's saying. Senior citizens should prepare to devote their lives to serving their country and take a multi-vitamin as well as "creatine NO2."

This guy's a nut.

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Bob Jackson
His website. He's in favor of dividing Iraq into three states and withdrawing. He favors a national sales tax to replace other federal taxes. He says abortion is not a federal issue, but points to the tenth amendment, saying that it's up to states or individuals. He's got some interesting typos on his site, like this one: Stipid is stupid does.

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Barry Hess
He ran for governor of Arizona two years ago. Doesn't he resemble Vladimir Putin? He doesn't seem to be doing anything to win the Libertarian nomination for President. His campaign has no website, but here's something he wrote last April.

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Daniel Imperato
Born in Boston, here's his website. Here's a Wikipedia entry about him. There it says he is in favor of federal funding for alternative energy and an aggressive foreign policy. It also says he sought the Reform Party's nomination. The Reform Party grew out of H. Ross Perot's candidacy.Here is their website, a true work of beauty. He may also be courting a Green Party nomination.

On his energy policy he says "We...must develop, and equally distribute, throughout the Americas ethanol, biodiesel, wind, and solar, electric powered processes." On the war in Iraq he says we should declare an immediate cease fire and then send in ADDITIONAL troops! He also seems to support some complex harebrained government scheme to keep Social Security going. He's not a libertarian.

Barker Ranch

For me, the highlight of the trip to Death Valley was getting to Barker Ranch where Charles Manson had gone into hiding and was arrested in 1969. Here's the Wikipedia article about it:

Barker Ranch is infamous as the last hideout of Charles Manson and his "family" during and after the gruesome LA murder spree. It is located inside Death Valley National Park in eastern California.

The local county sheriff department, California Highway Patrol, and National Park Service law enforcement captured the group in raids on October 10 and October 12, 1969. Manson was caught hiding under the bathroom vanity. At the time of his arrest they were unaware of the magnitude of their find. They wanted to prosecute the persons responsible for vandalism within Death Valley National Monument (the unit was upgraded to National Park status and expanded in 1994) further north, unaware that they had a mass murder suspect and his followers.

Barker Ranch is located in a rock and boulder filled valley in the Panamint Range. It is only accessible by sandy, primitive and rugged roads. Streams feed this little valley and provide much vegetation. There is a small one room guest house located to the side of the main house. There is also a makeshift swimming pool (this was probably a cistern to store water from the spring) made from cement and rock boulders towards the back of the property. Approximately half a mile up the road is the Myers Ranch, which was owned by the grandmother of Manson family member Cathy Myers (aka Catherine Gillies) and served as an additional residence for family members.

Today the ranch is not occupied, and visitors can find a guestbook there. The bathroom vanity where Manson hid is gone.

Some of my photos:

The bathroom where Charles Manson was found hiding in the vanity (which is now missing).

Many more photos can be seen here.

The Amboy Shoe Tree

Maybe a quarter mile east of Amboy on old Route 66 is the famous Amboy Shoe Tree. I know you must be wondering how a town with a big neon sign, a trough urinal AND a shoe tree could be a ghost town, but California is packed with such curiosities. My set of of photos is here, and these are the samples:

Other people's photos can be found here.

Johnson Canyon

The view from Johnson Canyon down into Death Valley just as sunset was casting the shadows of the Panamint Range onto the Amargosa Range across the valley.

Pat is easily pleased.

One among us suggested that there were signs indicating this rock structure was being used for Wiccan ceremonies.

Real autumn leaves in Death Valley; you just have to go find a spring up at 4,000 feet and there you are!

Ed's photos from this Death Valley trip can be seen here.

And here are Scott's photos.

The Ten Essentials

We've had some rain in southern California, but here in the Coachella Valley the drama was mostly limited to the sight of the great huge clouds piling up on the other side of Mt. San Jacinto and then spilling over. We've had a little rain, but not enough to make me shut off the drip irrigation.

But it was worse on the other side of the mountains. In that linked article I want to draw your attention to the part about the lost hiker. Scroll way down for that.

"He's a pretty avid hiker and he's familiar with survival techniques," San Bernardino County sheriff's spokeswoman Arden Wiltshire said of the missing man, identified as Dean Christy, a part-time resident of Green Valley Lake.

I think Arden Wiltshire is trying to put things in a positive light. This weather we've been having has been predicted for days — rain storms coming to southern California are heralded just like a blizzard sweeping down on New England from Canada. When the news is full of predictions of 10 inches of rain in the mountains you don't go out and hike in the mountains, by yourself, without a compass or GPS. Mr. Christy does have a cellphone, which is NOT one of the "Ten Essentials."

Death Valley from Bay Area

JoKEpLaYeR led some young men on a long road trip from Concord, California, through Death Valley, including Saline Valley earlier this week. He's got some great photos starting here. It looks like Saline Valley got some rain and the young men committed the nearly unspeakable obscenity of bathing with clothes on. Terribly SFW.

Amboy Motel

Photo by Echo_29.

Merry Christmas Riverside

The new 60/91/215 interchange in Riverside opened to traffic a couple of days earlier than scheduled, after 3 years and $368 million.

Televised City Council Meetings - In Santa Ana

In light of the recent idea floated (and then unfloated) by Desert Hot Springs City Manager Rick Daniels to cease televising city council meetings, this article about Santa Ana's tussle over the same issue is very interesting. The Santa Ana city council has decided to televise one-half of its meetings. "[Mayor Miguel] Pulido said at the meeting that he preferred to limit viewing because cameras made some council members nervous." Wow, poor guys. The article doesn't mention if there has been an investigation to find out who held a gun to their heads to make them run for office.

"'In my experience, I haven't heard of a city that has cut back on their meeting coverage,' said Robin Gee, a board member of the California and Nevada chapter of the National Assn. of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors."

In addition, one meeting a month since October has been held away from City Council chambers, sometimes in the same building but in a different room with no microphones.

The meetings are held in different places "to confuse people, and there's no signage," [Councilwoman Michele] Martinez said.

"Councilwoman Claudia Alvarez said at the Dec. 3 meeting that despite two years of study by the council's technology committee, the city had not been able to figure out how to place meetings on the Web for on-demand viewing." You must remember that California is a backward third-world nation and Santa Ana didn't even have telephones until last summer.

Quick Survey Of The San Andreas Fault

The San Bernardino County Museum is offering a field trip to the southern end of the San Andreas fault on January 26. I have a friend who's been on this tour, and he would characterize it as "San Andreas Lite." Starting from Riverside you do a complete loop of the Salton Sea. That alone would be a full day trip, but in addition you stop at "Thousand Palms Oasis, Painted Canyon in the Mecca Hills, Salt Creek and the mud pots and rhyolite domes associated with the Salton Sea geothermal field." There won't be much time to get up close and snuggly with the geological features. But if you're new to southern California, or are just getting curious about that San Andreas fault thingy, this may be for you. Here's the full description of the tour:

1/26/2008 - Field Trip to the San Andreas Fault

Registration is now open for a San Bernardino County Museum field trip led by Senior Curator of Geology Kathleen Springer and Curator of Geology J. Chris Sagebiel. The one-day field trip will explore the San Andreas Fault on Saturday, January 26, 2008.

Springer and Sagebiel will lead the group along the southern section of the San Andreas Fault from Redlands to Bombay Beach at the Salton Sea. This segment is the focus of intensive current research by earthquake scientists in terms of recognizing past large?magnitude earthquakes and the potential for future ones.

The trip will focus on recognizing fault features of the desert landscape, and will include stops at Thousand Palms Oasis, Painted Canyon in the Mecca Hills, Salt Creek and the mud pots and rhyolite domes associated with the Salton Sea geothermal field. The trip will circumnavigate the Salton Sea, and include stops that highlight the geology of the western side of the trough.

The cost of $60 per person ($50 for Museum Association members) includes transportation, coffee and muffins, lunch, snacks and water. Check in time is 7:00am at the museum, and return time will about 6:00pm. Participants are advised to wear sturdy and comfortable shoes for moderate hikes.

Space is limited, and pre-paid registration is required by January 14, 2008. Call LaWanda Avery-Brown at (909) 307-2669 ext. 225 or visit www.sbcountymuseum.org for more information.

Springer will also present a lecture, "Geology of Salton Trough," at the county museum on Saturday, January 13, at 2:00pm that will provide valuable background information for trip participants. The lecture is open to public and is free with museum admission.

The San Bernardino County Museum is at the California St