3-18-04
I just returned from a trip to Southern California
and Nevada. The trip's main intent was to visit the XB-70
Valkyrie crash site in Barstow, CA and to visit the History
Offices at Edwards Air Force Base. I met a guy named Mike
just outside of Barstow, and we drove in his Jeep to the
crash site where I met my friends Scott and Gary and Rich
from www.xb-70.com. |
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We
stayed a few hours at the site taking photos and looking
at small pieces of the Valkyrie that can be found on the
ground. We said bye to Scott, Gary, and Rich and drove about
10 miles to some very old petroglyphs etched into an old
lava flow by Native Americans many hundreds of years ago. |
The
next day my father and I drove to Edwards AFB. We were met
at the gate by two guards that were not very helpful at
all. Supposedly they didn't have a phone book so I couldn't
call the guy I was there to meet to get a ride into the
base. So, after about an hour of wondering how to get in
I remembered I might be able to send an email message using
my cell phone. This saved the Edwards visit because I was
able to email Dr. Puffer to come and pick my dad and I up.
(Dr. |
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Puffer was the contact I had made to get to see the History Offices
and do some research on the XB-70.) So, finally we met him and
he gave my dad and I an awesome tour of the base pointing out
all the historical parts of the base. (Areas like the pit where
the X-1 was loaded under the B-29 when it made the first flight
through Mach 1.) (Unfortunately no pictures are allowed to be
taken at Edwards, so I was unable to take any photos.)
I spent about three to four hours going through the photos and
documents Edwards has on the XB-70.
That night my dad and I started the long drive to Death Valley,
the hottest and lowest place in North America. We had to stop
and do a "free camp" along the way because we were loosing
too much sunlight. That night we ate our first MREs. (Mike had
given us two military MREs when we met him for the XB-70 site
trip.) Having never had MREs before, my dad and I were amazed
at how neat they are. Just add a touch of water and a chemical
reaction will heat your meal in 10 minutes. They are really quite
filling too!
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The
next day was spent driving around Death Valley. We stopped
and hiked for about an hour on the sand dunes that are in
the valley. We then preceded to the visitor center. Because
of the time we had left for the trip, we were not able to
make it to Badwater, the lowest point in North America.
(But that's okay, I had been there before.) The visitor
center is still pretty damn low though. It is located at
about 200 feet below sea level. |
That night we set up camp about a mile from a rest area on a
highway just outside of Tonopah, Nevada. It was a pretty neat
area, and I was looking forward to sleeping there even after watching
a two inch scorpion crawl out of a hole near our camp. My dad
and I walked down to the rest stop to use the bathroom. It was
getting pretty dark by then so I just stood outside the pit toilet
while my dad used it. I saw a white pickup truck on the highway
and watched it slow down as it came closer to the rest area pull-in.
I didn't really feel like talking to whoever it was and explaining
where our car was (since it was out of view) so I hid in the shadows
while the truck did something very weird. It drove into the rest
area, did a full circle of the parking lot, then preceded to drive
out and continue on its way. I didn't think too much of it at
the time, but I'm damn glad I stayed hidden while it was there.
Turns out a man has been steeling camping stuff and vehicles around
that area we were told by a cop that came by our camp site about
15 minutes later. I told the cop about the white truck I had seen
and he said that this guy they were looking for was driving a
white Ford pickup just like the one I had seen. He said the man
was "armed and dangerous." He hadn't shot anyone yet,
but it was discovered the guy had "many guns" with him.
After hearing that, and after what I had seen, my dad and I went
right back to Tonopah and rented a room at a motel for the night!
(More info on this guy here: http://www.pahrumpvalleytimes.com/2004/03/19/news/manhunt.html
| The next morning we started to
head north on a route that would take us to the top of Extraterrestrial
Highway, or as the locals say, "Alien Highway."
We stopped in the small town of Rachel, Nevada to eat at the
A'li'inn. This little motel/cafe/bar in Rachel is an awesome
place. It has tons of alien photos and books about aliens
and Area 51. We had breakfast there, and found out a little
about Area 51 from the women working at A'li'inn. After breakfast
we continued south on |
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Highway
375, Alien Highway, to the turnoff for Area 51. We saw the
famous "Black" mailbox that I have no idea what
its purpose is for. But it was neat seeing anyway. You really
can't see anything from the road of Area 51 since it is
behind a small group of hills.
After that we continued home and arrived
back at 9:00 pm. |
Aera
51 is just beyond a small group of hills. It is not visible
from this road. |
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