Citizen Grouch

Saturday, November 30, 2013

Music Interlude

Young son loaned me his Monsters and Men CD the other day and I'm hooked! I particularly like this track, so here it is for your auditory pleasure.

Saturday, November 23, 2013

Citizen Grouch visits the Radium Queen and a mine

Some friends and I went exploring recently in the Mojave desert and found the home site and graves of Josie Bishop 'The Radium Queen' and one of her sons.

Here is Josie's story: http://www.explorehistoricalif.com/feb07.html

All that remains of Josie's home is a foundation and the two graves.

The grave site

Josie's grave

A write up about Josie at the site of her home

Josie's view from where her front door used to be.

After visiting the Radium Queen we traveled on the the location of an abandoned mine. There are untold numbers of abandoned mines in the Mojave although the BLM is doing its best to fill them in to protect us from ourselves. The Mojave bankrupted many a man and the remains of their various sure-fire schemes are everywhere for us to visit. This location was once a going concern with a lot of activity but it is all pretty much gone now.

The mine shaft is on the upper left

A deep hole

One of the many scattered scraps left behind by the miners. I thought the label reading "made in the U.S. of America" was interesting!

Citizen Grouch goes off-roading

When off-roading, the hill you climbed or the hill you descended never looks as steep in a picture as it does when you are sitting in your Jeep contemplating the challenge waiting for you. Here are a series taken by a friend as I was coming down a pretty steep hill in my trusty Jeep. Back about 20 years if I had done this in my open differential Samurai it might have been a bit more sporty but with my Rubicon it is almost ho-hum. But, it was fun anyway!

At the top - it looks pretty steep from up here

Here I go, low range first gear, sway bar unlocked, differentials locked

No problems here

The only problem is that I'm going too slow! Low range first gear is really low and slow!

Talc mine visit

We visited the talc mines on the Mojave desert trip last weekend. I have been here before and blogged about the site but my friends had not visited here so we stopped for a look-see. This place is very Star Wars looking. I almost expect to see Luke and Uncle Owen step out of one of the mine tunnels!

The picture doesn't give justice to the scale of the excavation

Yes, that is someone down at the bottom!

One of my fellow travelers and some other visitors to the area

"Uncle Owen! This droids no good!"

Citizen Grouch visits Bickel camp

During the same off road trip that you'll see on your visit today to Citizen Grouch was a stop at the famous Walt Bickel camp. I've blogged about this place previously but each visit brings some new discoveries. First off, you should read about Walt Bickel here: http://www.desertusa.com/mag06/feb/d_man.html Once you've done your background research you will understand the photos more easily.

Bickel's camp in all of its junk yard glory.

Another view. Walt must have been quite the guy! The story is that Walt could fix anything and was the go-to guy for everyone for miles around to have their machines fixed.

I would love to have given this a spin!

A car abandoned by two L.A. Times reporters that seems to be sitting where it stopped running. the other side of the car body is completely sand blasted of all paint down to bare metal but this side protected from the wind and sun still has the original paint. The frame was used to make a well drilling machine.