Dean (the husband) and
Shalane (the wife :O)
As promised in yesterday's post, we will tell you about the 2nd day of our trip. I woke up a little earlier than my wife so I took a little walk in the early morning sun and enjoyed the rugged landscape, the crisp morning air, and mostly, the quiet.
Yea, because, remember, I had taken two sleeping pills, so I was still enjoying my happy dreams. At the time, the temperature was 55 degrees so it was a little cool but had certainly been great sleeping weather.
I went ahead and got a fire started with the wood that we had collected from the roadside along our drive out yesterday. It helped to warm the bones a little.
It prodded me to get out of bed, as I love an early morning camp fire. I boiled some water in a small aluminum pan from a mess kid that we had picked up from a Boy Scout fundraiser. I made some hot cocoa with extra marshmallows. :O) Since we are currently living in an RV Resort in Las Vegas, the peace and intense quiet of the early morning was a wonderful change of pace.
After a breakfast fiber bar and a nice cup of hot chocolate, we were all set to break camp and start our day.
Well, we can't continue our blog without sharing my bathroom experience. It was AWESOME! I never had such a great outdoor peepee! Ladies, we all know that guys have it easy and we got jipped in this department. However, we had an old 5 gallon bucket and had purchase a toilet seat specifically for it. I put a trash bag in the bucket, filled the bottom with kitty litter and snapped on the toilet seat. We also have a bathroom tent but were so remote that we didn't need to use it. SO, I took a little tinkle, at it was fabulous! The seat was super comfy. You just can't beat sittin' out in the open morning air, staring at a beautiful sunrise and doin' your business. Before we left however, we got out the slingshots and did a little target practice. Shalane had bought some "high dollar" slingshots at Outdoor World and I was impressed with their power.
When I bought them, Dean thought I was silly. We have discussed many times whether or not we wanted to purchase firearms. We still haven't totally decided if this is something we will do or not in the future. However, at this time, as part of our emergency supplies, I felt like a good sling shot could take out small animals in an emergency survival situation. Dean had never used one like this before and felt like they were more of a toy than a useful tool. I grew up shooting slingshots and knew how powerful they could be. I shot first while Dean watched. When he heard the whoosh of the air and saw the power of the hit, he was impressed and anxious to give it a try. One shot and he was hooked.
We then decided to drive into Shoshone, CA for a walking tour of the town of 52 people. Yes, that is no typo. The town is tiny and mostly a tourist trap. However, it had some cool sights. We started at the museum and worked our way around the town. They actually have a combination middle school/high school there. My wife and I, both teachers in Vegas, just had to give it a closer look. It had a tiny courtyard in the center of the campus, surrounded by classrooms. There are a total of 50 students going to the school. Some students drive 60 miles each day to attend. I teach in a high school of 2600. It was fascinating!
Dean has spend most of his 20plus years of teaching in small schools such as this, so I think it made him a little nostalgic. Most people wonder who in the world would want to teach at a school like that. We tend to wonder who in the world would NOT want to teach there. We LOVE small towns, small schools and small town people. Just across from the school was a nice little RV park with pull-through sites and a natural warm springs swimming pool.
Another cool site was the cave homes built into the side of small clay bluffs. Created by miners and lived in until the 1970's. I can see why it would be considered a good idea. Walking into one of these caves made for about a 20 degree difference in temperature. Shoshone is within a few miles of Death Valley National Park and it gets VERY hot there, so the caves proved to be a smart choice in accommodations.
I really enjoyed seeing the little cave community as well. It was fun to peek into the multi-room "homes" with their carved out shelves and fireplaces and imagined how these miners must have lived. Rustic, yes, but I think an adventurer's mind tends to romanticize the unfamiliar lifestyle. I know I did. I could picture Dean and I in there with a fire going and reading a good book.
Shalane then wanted to go to a place called "China Ranch". It was an old farm that someone had turned in a "date" plantation. Now I have seen dates in the store, and quite frankly I never thought that they looked even remotely appealing.
They look like giant cockroaches! Yuck! Still, it was only 7 miles away according to the sign, and she really wanted to go, and I love to make her happy, so we headed that way.
At this point, I would like to be able to say that we had a nice, enjoyable drive home, BUT about 10 miles down the road the left front tire blew. Changing a diesel truck tire in the middle of the afternoon in the hot California desert is not my idea of a good time, but it did get done. I put on the spare only to realize that the was very, very low. I did my part too. :O) I held a sun umbrella over Dean's head and made sure he drank plenty of water. 
I have had a few people ask me if I will give some specific info on the "green" products that we have been using like what brand they are and how easy they are to setup and use. I will share my reviews on these products in future blogs. We're really pretty new to solar power and many of the gadgets that we are working with. We feel that it's important to make use of these things several times before recommending them to anyone else. So far we have had some really good experiences, so you will probably see us giving more details soon on the products that have worked well for us and where you can go to get them. Until then, Happy Trails!
