Friday, May 29, 2026

Me in "Desert Mode" - Or One Of Them, Anyway

 

That actually is my favorite hat.

I got that hat at Alien Fresh Jerky in Baker, CA

That actually is a recent pic of me, jazzed up in an old-school local TV station test pattern with my own design and a watercolor media effect, courtesy of Gemini AI.

I did see a UFO once, here in Temecula, but it just flew by overhead. I've seen a couple of strange things in this life that were pretty "out there." Stuff happens, and it's a big universe. Who knows?

To me, the universe seems a lot bigger in the desert, especially at night. You sure can see a whole lot more of it at night out there, that's for sure.

I wore that hat when I was covering High Desert, which means up the 15 from San Bernardino and out along the 40 almost to Needles. 

The clerk at Roy's in Amboy asked me if I wanted to trade for a Roy's hat one night. I said no, but I told him he could find one of his own over in Baker.

I've seen the End Of The World in Wonder Valley, too. 

One of my favorite things, though, was the Chili Hot Dog Lady at Roy's on Friday afternoons. I got lunch from her a couple of times. I always wondered what the back story for those fantastic chili dogs was. I love hearing the stories of folks out there in the wilds of the Mojave. 

I want to interview as many of them as I can for the YouTube channel. What brought them to the desert? What mysteries do they think about out there? How did they get started doing what they do? What would they have to say about life in the desert if they could? What little hidden gems of history do they hold.

That's what I most want to do with the channel. The desert isn't just cool historical places and mysteries. The desert is really the People of the desert.

If some of them went out there to vanish into time, that's OK, too. But what can be saved should be saved. THAT is the "desert spirit" that I really want to chronicle.

Keep looking up at those stars at night, but keep an eye on the ground around you, too. And carry water.

Peace, and warm night breezes to you.

Dan

Randsburg, CA Facing Decimation If Off-Roading Ruling Goes Through

 Check out SF Gate's excellent reporting on this issue at:

 https://www.sfgate.com/california/article/randsburg-california-town-lifeline-22265400.php

Original image attribution: "inkknife_2000 (7.5 million views +), CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons" - Converted to Watercolor by Gemini AI

The town of Randsburg, CA - surviving by a thread on income from visiting off-roaders, faces complete economic devastation from a federal ruling to protect an endangered species. 

There's plenty of locals with grit, but the question is one of scratch.

According to Google, Randsburg is about 1h 11m (67.6 mi) drive time from Victorville, CA coming from the South - you can add about 30 minutes to get there from Riverside, most likely.

I'm wondering about maybe three yearly festivals; Arts & Crafts in the Spring, Country & Western music in Summer, and Blues in the Autumn. Maybe Winter could be a film festival? Just thinking out loud here. 

Maybe they could get lucky and find an alien base under the old gold mine. ;-)


Randsburg Festival Committee?

I hope they find a way.

Dan

Google Map for Randsburg:

Me in "Desert Mode" - Or One Of Them, Anyway

  That actually is my favorite hat. I got that hat at Alien Fresh Jerky in Baker, CA .  That actually is a recent pic of me, jazzed up in a...