Dec 7 -- Meager Accomplishments

Meager Accomplishments

...some meager accomplishments you may have missed because I never mentioned them.

I'll have to haul out that to-do list to see if I've done any of the items it includes, but, while tiny, I've managed to get some things done. A couple official paperwork items have moved from do to done which means that San Bernardino County now contains another “no party affiliation” voter, the DMV knows where I live, the property taxes are paid up to date, and with the issuance of an updated Grant Deed in my name, I'll soon be able to take my trash to the nearby dump for free!

There are some rules for using the dump, some of which I've no doubt forgotten, but there's a weight limit (per visit? Per week? Per month?), a restriction on the number of tires I can annually discard, a prohibition on liquids and hazardous waste, but most challenging is the requirement that my trash be covered with a tarp.

The people who have pickup trucks, which looks to be just about everyone out here, have no problem with this since they just throw a tarp over the bed of the truck, usually one of those blue ones that were all over that Lost island. I have a few of those myself and, if I don't get that trailer, will have to use one to cover the trash I'll haul in the back of the Jeep.

The dump is only a couple miles past the post office, so its just a few minutes away from here.

As far as the area here goes, Minardi and I have done some sightseeing and have possibly visited three of the nearby Landers landmarks. I say possibly because one of them, the Landers airport, no longer exists and what we saw may have been evidence of its absence or simply more featureless desert. The other two we have seen, but not as smoothly as one would hope.

The first true Landers landmark we visited was the Integratron (http://www.integratron.com/). It was closed, so about the only feeling I got out of it was one of disappointment. Any energy, psychic or otherwise, generated or captured by the structure may have been blocked by the chain-link fence surrounding the property, though, but it did look just like it does in the pictures.

Following that, we drove off to find Giant Rock, which is (was?) claimed to be the world's largest freestanding boulder and also supposed to have something or other to do with psychic energy or UFOs or aliens or something. It's only a few miles up some dirt roads from the Integratron, which is only a few miles from my home, so it's not a very long trip.

At first, Minardi and I took the wrong fork on a dirt road and didn't see Giant Rock at all, just more awesome desert. So, we doubled back, took the other fork, and quickly found an outcropping of rocks that looked promising. One of the rocks was big, so we thought we'd found the place and parked the Jeep and began investigating.

It didn't take long to see all the graffiti that I'd read about (http://www.yelp.com/biz/giant-rock-landers) and also the remains of burned out campfires, spent bullet casings, and broken glass that seems to follow teens wherever they go, but it pretty much pissed me off. We went back a day or two later, took another route, and found the actual Giant Rock (http://www.lucernevalley.net/giantrock/) which, while still marked up with graffiti, wasn't nearly as bad as that other place. Minardi marked off a few places to capture for himself some of that vaunted energy, drawn to it, or perhaps just to contain it, and I thought about the guts it must have taken to excavate a home beneath it.

It really is a huge boulder and I can see why the native Americans were drawn to it. Out here in what's pretty much a featureless desert, something like that would be a natural reference point. We got back in the Jeep, Minardi tolerating being picked up a little bit better each time it's done, and began the drive back home.

The road turned a couple hundred yards farther on and took us to the spot I thought was Giant Rock on my first visit. So, yeah, I was wrong, but I was close!

And, in a final burst of optimism and energy, I planted some wild flower seeds. When I went to sign up for water there was a small box of them on the counter, the proceeds going to some organization or other, so I got some seeds for myself and my sister who's looking at properties that are in much more civilized areas, but still desert-y.

So, I followed the directions and put them in the ground, but perhaps over less of an area than I should have, and sat back to wait the four months or so until they show signs of life. Then, we drove to town to pick up a watering can to help them once they raise their little green arms into the air and begin waving for attention.