Bishop, California

Friday 21 August

Here we are, closing the loop fast, back in California

yesterdays highlight, Death Valley.

It got its name from the efforts of some early settlers trying to get their wagon train across to California a quick way

over half of them turned back, the rest battled on to climb over the Panamint Mountains on the other side of the valley on foot,

having eaten their much deprivated and distressed wagon bullocks.

One person died, hence the name

and that was only the end of the Death Valley part of the story,

there's 2 more equally daunting valleys, though not as countersunk, and mountain ranges, to cross after this lot.

Good try, but I think they were nuts,

not exactly a sealed highway for the wagon wheels to run on, and I couldnt even get over the mountain ranges on my 4 wheeler

let alone a bullock wagon

and the heat

all this pantomime playing out under the watchful eye of the Shoshone whose antecedents started living there 10,000 years ago.

Whats this, people living there....?

so, behind the smoke and mirrors of what people might tell you about their monumental crossing of Death Valley

its actually a National Park, and you're only nuts if you try and cross it in mid-summer when the temp can peak at 50c

or mid winter when it snows,

or you're not properly prepared

or you're trying to do it by bullock wagon.

At the south end servo we saw a missing persons poster

some bloke entering the place on a pushbike and never seen again, hardly a surprise

but we had a favourable day for it, peak temp around 111deg

the temp dropped 5deg for every 1000 ft we climbed over the passes.

I missed the lowest part of the valley, nearly 300' below sea level.

Talk about deceptive, I could have sworn we went downhill from there.

We did see a bit of the wildlife the Injuns must have existed on

I saw a rabbit and a lizard cross the road, others saw a desert rat, and there's always the odd snake.

Had the compulsory stop at Zabriskie Point, popularised by the post Woodstock cult movie "Vanishing Point"

we had to walk to the viewpoint, but have the pic to prove it, and of the surrounding Badlands.

Of interest was to see the relics of a late 1800's borate mining industry

for borax, used in timber preservation and cleaning products

common mode of transport for shipping the stuff out was 20 mule wagon, pic attached

2 ore jinkers and a 1200 gallon water tank towed behind

I could only think, poor mules

and wonder how it could ever have been an economic undertaking in those days.

Getting out of the park we paused at a mountain-top viewpoint to gingerly peer down a huge canyon

when suddenly, Jan shrieks, grabs my arm, and I jump myself as a huge flash of metal accompanies an equally huge roar,



Spot the F21, its the white dot, midway down right, 3/4" in

 its the US air force doing a Will Smith up the canyon, and we hang around to watch them do several passes

leaves us with the feeling that some of the stuff you see in the movies might have some reality

these boys really can fly.

We get further entertained as we commence down the other side of the range

being buzzed by the jets hardly 200' above

we reckon they were probably testing a weapons lock-on scenario, pretending we were fleeing al queda.

Another desert oddity was to come across a small fleet of cars, totally clothed in fabric covers

must be folks concerned about heat damage to their pride and joy

until Richard saw one sputter to a halt, and a Japanese man seen to jump out

that we guessed it was pre-release endurance testing of a cloaked new model.

Joshua tree

On past another huge salt bed valley, oddly familiar whiff of Rotorua in the air

"Sulfate Rd", on a signpost gave the game away, open cast suphur mining, scraping it off the valley floor.

Shortly after, we finally left the desert behind, things gradually greened up, pockets of irrigation appearing

then in to Bishop, locating the bike shop where I ordered the replacement front tyre

service manager never heard of me

"hell, I never look at my email, you gotta get on the phone if you want anything"

but they had a single compound Metzler near enough in size, and the bike feels so much better on it.

While looking for the bike shop, called in at an engineering shop servicing CAT machinery to ask directions

displayed my CAT labelled trou to the office girl, saying look here, same logo from the other side of the Pacific

You from NZ, she exclaims, I been there, got 2 married friends, one in NP, the other in Wellington, where do you live?

Everywhere you go, NZ's known

the Mandy girl said it was Peter Jackson's LOTR that opened the floodgate of recognition

LOTR having gone over so huge here.

Zabriskie Badlands