Waking around 4 a.m. I reentered California as dawn began to break and then drove across the Mojave Desert to meet up with my friend Ellen in Fontana before driving over the Cajon Pass to home. I encountered a small dust storm in the Mojave desert which brought back memories of how I got to California over 33 years ago. I had met an interesting man and married him four days later (we divorced after 15 years). We hitchhiked across the country and when we reached California, a fellow driving a retired hearse picked us up. Driving along Interstate 10, the winds were horrific and a bad dust storm ensued. The driver, rolled down his window and asked us to do the same for he said that the dust would frost the windows… but it sandblasted us in the vehicle instead! What a weird fellow and a funny memory.
I drove into Fontana to deliver a birthday present to my friend and to see where she had been working for the past month. After having a nice breakfast at Brandon’s Cafe, (I ate there because it had the same name as my son), I went off to visit Ellen who was coming back to work after her one day off. Ellen is one of the few biologists who is trained to find the Delhi Sands Flower Loving Fly and has been hiking back and forth through vacant fields six days a week where the habitat has been very much destroyed by the developer in an effort to thwart the endangered species act. According to the non-ethics of developers, biodiversity is to be destroyed for money, which is the only thing that these people care about. Although so many people see no value in insects unless they are “pretty”, if it were not for flies, caterpillars, mosquitoes, and so many other annoying bugs… most birds, reptiles, amphibians, and many mammals would not survive. I am glad Ellen is searching for the fly (she found one) and I hope the government which rarely ever does the right thing when it comes to protecting species, will do it this time.
I left her to do her job and then drove up Cajon Pass and through the desert looking forward to getting home. It was wonderful to see the land of creosote and Joshua trees again. Although, I just drove through Red Rock Canyon State Park, it is always lovely to see.
It is very sad the administration of California State Parks have begun to allow the motorcycle community to destroy the remaining pristine habitat in the park. Trails are beginning to crop up in unauthorized places even though the woman in charge of the state parks thought that by allowing motorcyclists one trail they would actually stay on the trails. Why anyone would trust these lazy people to respect the land after they have destroyed one of the most unique areas in the Kern desert is beyond me. (Geologically, Jawbone Canyon was one of the most amazing places before motorcyclists trashed every inch of land… now they complain about how ugly it is… duh!).
I climbed up Walker Pass and drove back to my beloved Kern River Valley just in time to visit with the researchers from UC Berkeley’s Grinnell Re-survey Project who I let stay in my house. I arrived home at 12:30 p.m, 30 days and 10,232 miles after leaving. It was a wonderful adventure and I hope to revisit many of the places I discovered during my journey. Thank you to all who helped along the way and to those who have followed my journey virtually.
367 miles
