It's Saturday and I'm feeling soooo much better. I had a good night's sleep, packed up, left sin city behind me, and moved west through the Mojave Desert. Barren, and yet beautiful. I love cacti!
I have Sirius satellite radio in my car, which I put as I drove through the desert. They gave me a free, three-month subscription when I bought the car in late June. I have a love/hate relationship with Sirius radio. I really hate how they hound me incessantly to buy a membership, extend my service, whatever. Still, it's nice to be able to dial into a specific type of music, or news, or comedy that you want to listen to. I have two presets or favorites programmed in, but I'm not sure how they got there. I do not remember specifically choosing and making them favorites myself. Anyway, one is music of the 80's, the decade I graduated high school and went to college. The other is contemporary pop music, of which I know next to nothing. Taylor who...???
As I left Las Vegas, I put on the 80's station. They were doing a countdown of the top 40 hits for the week of September 3, 1983. -- the exact week I left home for my freshman year of college. Oh boy! Now I will admit there were some songs that I barely remembered, as they never climbed higher than the 20's or 30's on the top 40 roster for that week. But there were some that were very popular, but that I had forgotten. It's funny how some songs, even though very popular in their heyday, don't become classics. Others have staying power, and get played with some regularity even now. As I hit the freeway, one came on that I really liked in 1983, but one that I couldn't recall if I'd heard at all in the intervening 40 years. I COULD STILL REMEMBER EVERY WORD! I sang along at the top of my lungs as I sped westward. Very fun and a bit cathartic to belt it out.
With regard to the current pop station, I will admit that I haven't listened to it much at all. I often joke that I open People Magazine these days and don't know 80% of the celebrities they are following. I'm that out of touch. The same could be said of me and pop music these days. I mean, who are these people and where did they come from??? Out of boredom, I started listening to the today's pop station. I have to admit, I liked some of the stuff. Eminem did a song that used the baseline and chorus from an old 80's hit, "Abracadabra," done then by the Steve Miller band. The combination was clever and pretty fun, though I'll admit I couldn't get all the words he rapped in between the choruses. I heard a Taylor Swift song played a couple of times, that I now can actually recognize as hers. Finally, they played "Die with a Smile," a duet between Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars, that I REALLY liked and recommend. Their voices blend so nicely. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQ7rx70mTzY Check it out!
I crossed the border between Nevada and California and almost immediately ran across something that caught me eye. There was this bright point of light on the horizon, like a reflection of a mirror far away. As I approached, I realized it was a solar facility. Now this wasn't just a field of solar panels, but rather, it was the Ivanpah Solar Facility. It consisted of three huge circular panel fields, where all the panels in each field reflected their energy on to a central collector mounted on a tower. It's hard to describe, so I've shared a few pictures below. However, suffice it to say, it looked like something out of science fiction. The sun in the desert that morning was strong to begin with. Now, imagine that heat and energy multiplied a thousand times. Wow!
*(the above is not my photo, but one I pulled from online to give you an overhead view)
(This is what I was seeing from the ground. Pretty amazing)
After enjoying the little side trip to explore the solar project, I got back on the road and travelled a bit further. I decided to stop and get some bottled water at a gas station and the next exit was for "Ghost Town Road." Oh Really??? Yes, of course there was an actual ghost town near this exit and, yes, of course, I had to go see it. The town of "Calico" was established in the 1880's near a silver mine. It thrived up until the 1920's, then was abandoned wholesale. Apparently is sat empty until the 1950's when one man decided to reclaim it and restore it. It was only about three miles off the interstate, so I drove up there. Turns out, the backstory is true and most of the structures were at least partially original. However, it's now mostly a tourist trap. I paid my $18 entry fee and trooped around for a bit. It was kind of interesting, but I would have preferred it to be completely abandoned.
As I left and started back down the ridge, I noticed a big, flat, empty plane, devoid of the sagebrush ubiquitous to the area. What's more, I saw a big dust plume from a vehicle tearing across the area. I then recognized it for what it was - a dried up lakebed - with someone having a lot of fun doing donuts and other tricks in their car. Did I get a closer look? You bet I did. As I wound down the ridge toward the lakebed, I drove through this community of what seemed like old hippies, survivalists, and people who seemed to want to live off the grid. I've read some things about the communities around the Salton Sea in California and this seemed kind of like that. There were also a lot of "Keep Out" and "Beware of Dog" signs on peoples' properties. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salton_Sea
When I reached the dry lake bed, it was sandier that I had expected. Despite wanting to drive around in it, I decided it was probably best not to push my luck in the California desert, so I watched the others do their stunts for a bit, then got back on the road. See, I can exercise good judgement sometimes :)
My destination tonight is South Pasadena, CA, where my brother and sister-in-law live. I'll take a few days off the road to visit and regroup. They live in a really beautiful area. I'm one admires that arts and crafts style of architecture and Pasadena has some of the most stunning examples. In fact, some call this area "Bungalow Heaven." If I snap a few pics, maybe I'll include them in my next post.
Bye for now!
