A Trip to the Desert

This past Saturday Ms. not a grouchette, me and two of her dogs (Pie and Fancy) journeyed to the Jawbone off road rec area past Mojave and Edwards AFB out into the desert. I have been going to this area for over twenty years to Jeep, hike, and shoot but recently I've noticed that it is getting pretty crowded. I knew it was getting more use but I wasn't expecting the crowd we encountered when we arrived in the area. Our trip seemed to be snake-bit right from the beginning. Ms. NaG was not feeling well, in fact she was feeling so poorly that she brought an in-flight barf bag just in case. When we arrived at the Ranger station at the main road into the area we noticed a lot of dirt bikes and quads racing about. Once we actually got into the trail area I was staggered at the sheer number of motor homes, trailers and buzzing dirt bikes. The things were everywhere! We got onto a trail and hadn't gone more than a hundred yards when I realized the hi-lift jack on the tailgate of the Jeep was loose and wiggling about. Turned out a bracket had snapped clear through. I had to dismount the jack, the spotlight attached to the jack, and the mounting hardware and toss it into the Jeep.

We traveled on, only to be beset by buzzing swarms of dirt bikes all traveling at high speed and kicking up clouds of dust. It was extremely annoying! They harried and harassed us for miles until I just couldn't take it and pulled over to cool off. After that things started to turn for the better.
(Click on the photos for a full size image)
We drove on, getting out of the worst of the dirt bike groups (did I mention that they traveled in packs of 5 to 10 or more like Indians on the warpath except on motorcycles instead of ponies?). We found a nice spot to pull off the dirt/sand road for lunch and some plinking.











Ms. Not a Grouchette decided to try the Communist SKS carbine. She is going to impale the target with the bayonet if she misses.







The Grouch looking for a target to feel the wrath of his shootin' iron













The Grouch and Pie - look at the size of the tongue on that dog!









After we shot off most of our ammo and destroyed the Halloween pumpkin that we brought as a target we drove on. The further from the RV park that we got the fewer dirt bikes until finally there were no more. We stopped at the site of an abandoned mining operation. The debris of the buildings, old vehicles and even the remnants of a bike were scattered everywhere. Marla found the vertical mine shaft and we decided that it wasn't deep enough to kill us if we fell in but we'd probably be pretty well hurt so we stayed away from the edge of it.
The sun was starting to go down at it was getting cool.








On the way back out of the area we encountered some cattle grazing near the road. Ms. NaG was sure they were going to charge us but they looked pretty peaceful to me. They probably
are used to Jeep traffic through their dining area.





RIP Blossom

When we got home that evening poor old Blossom wasn't looking too well. Ms. NaG said that he has not been doing well for the last couple of weeks. We learned today that Blossom past away over night. Blossom was a rescue from a county animal shelter. Although he did not live with Ms. NaG very long, he was much loved by her and had a good life with her. He was a gentle dog and his only need was to be with her. Blossom was a nice old dog and will be missed by us all.