Goodby Terry.

Terry is the name of the lovely little trailer we have been living in for the last week. True luxury compared to sleeping on cold dirt in my little tent. She is about 18 feet in length, and 6 and one half foot wide. Sleeps four (not including the family of birds living in the siding) and has a nice vista of baby goats and the Mojave desert.

I have had a great time here. We did a bit of work, mainly hauling weeds out of the orchard and grape field, and helped with some other small projects around the property. The work was really a nice change of daily excercise and I feel very rejuvenated for hiking tomorrow.



We mostly worked in the morning, and used the afternoons for snacking, resting and field trips. Mostly the field trips were town stops for more snacks and other important things. But one day Bill took us on an extreme tour of the desert. He first took us to Red Rock Canyon, an amazing red wall of weather chiseled rock. then a tour of Trona, CA. This is a very interesting little town, and it was worth driving thru. Next came the main event of the road trip.

After driving on a bumpy dirt road, across the hot desert floor, we arrived at Gold Bottom mine . This abandoned mine adventure included entering into darknes through a hole 3 feet wide by 1 foot tall. Then we walked across old wooden beams spanning vertical shafts that disappeared into the inky blackness below. The experience was intensefied by our gear. Little ultralight headlamps work perfectly for night time journaling and bathroom trips, but are about as good as a candle in the wind when it comes to spelunking. So cool. I will be sending home a memory card with photos of this place. There's only a few from the mine but they are really cool.




We returned safely, and none of us will forget our tour with Bill.

Well for dinner tonight is cornbread, baked beans, potatos, and Mojave green rattle snake. Not kidding. We have almost steped on a number of these snakes over the last 100 miles, and every time they try to kill you. So tonight it's our turn.




That's fried snake next to the corn bread and potatos.

It was a really great stay here at the goat farm, and many many thanks to Sheree and Bill, and Lacy for taking us in as family, sharing their farm and dogs and stories with us. This week will definitely stand out as a bright highlight of my trip.




Fiona and chicks




Hershy and I