Spooky and beautiful: Shafter Lake ride report
For the first time in over ten years, I (along with some motorcycle
pals and pal-ettes) rode out to Shafter Lake yesterday. It was a last-
minute decision and I neglected to bring a camera, but luckily my good
friend Rodger had his little digital "box" camera with him and we were
able to take some simple snapshots.
Shafter Salt Lake is a huge Alkaline playa northwest of Andrews,
Texas. Right now, it's empty due to current near-drought conditions,
but in this satellite image, it appears to be partially filled:
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y158/TimKreitz/OSB/shafterfromspace.jpg
We took a wrong turn on the way there and ended up stopping for a few
minutes to rest. Dig Rodger's showroom-pristine 1986 GSX-R750. He also
has a matching 1987 GSX-R1100 to go with it:
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y158/TimKreitz/OSB/wrongturn.jpg
Soon thereafter, we were riding again and had crested the hill which
leads into the playa's basin. We stopped and parked at the observation
point on the south side of the lake. With Rodger's little camera, I
took a series of pictures of the entire lake, which I composited
together. This is a large image (2270x436):
http://www.timkreitz.com/photosection/shaftercomposite.jpg
Heather and Stephanie had never seen the lake before, and decided to
walk down into the salt:
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y158/TimKreitz/OSB/girlswalkingdown.jpg
We knew better than to traipse through that stuff and decided to watch
from the rim. Here's Rodger saying something like, "Those girls don't
have the sense God gave raisins":
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y158/TimKreitz/OSB/rodger02.jpg
Blane, me, and 'Busa Dave contemplating the moment on a perfect West
Texas day:
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y158/TimKreitz/OSB/ridersfromhigh.jpg
The girls in the salt:
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y158/TimKreitz/OSB/girlsonsalt.jpg
We warned them about the harshness of the lake bed, but they didn't
care. When heather returned, her shoes were ruined:
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y158/TimKreitz/OSB/ruinedshoes.jpg
The bikes again:
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y158/TimKreitz/OSB/bikesfromhigh.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y158/TimKreitz/OSB/bikesfromcamber.jpg
There is a cemetery and native-American burial ground nearby. Here's
the marker:
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y158/TimKreitz/OSB/shafterlakemarker.jpg
All-in-all, a fantastic day of riding. It was a bit cool around the
lake, but the ride home was warm and comfy. I got home around 6:30 and
cleaned my bike until 7:30. After a little dinner, I was wiped out.
There's so sleep so sound as the one you have after a good, long
motorcycle ride.
Cheers,
Tim Kreitz
2004 ZRX1200R
2003 ZX7R
DoD #2184
http://www.timkreitz.com
Nice pics, thanks for posting. Now a dumb question. All that white stuff
is salt? Is there water out there? Is/was it a lake? I know nothing about
that kind of thing.
Sue
Minocqua, WI
Yamaha '00 VStar 650
'04 TW200 (mud = fun)
Kawasaki '95 Vulcan 1500 V#15937
"Do what you want and say what you feel because those that mind, don't
matter and those that matter, don't mind". ~Dr. Seuss
> Nice pics, thanks for posting. �Now a dumb question. �All that white stuff
> is salt?
It's not table salt. It's an alkaline salt, a stable chemical
compound.
Is there water out there? �Is/was it a lake? �I know nothing about
> that kind of thing.
There are playas and lagunas secas (Spanish for "beaches" and "dry
lakes") all over the western USA. Cattlemen and sheepherders would
call them "alkalai flats". Any water in an alkalai flat would be
poisonous to live stock.
There are rivers all over the west which do not drain into a larger
river or into an ocean.
Instead, they drain into basins between mountain ranges and the water
evaporates, leaving all sorts of minerals.
Some of the minerals they leave are nasty and poisonous. Like, there
used to be a 75-mile long lake in the middle of the San Joaquin
valley. It was fed by the San Joaquin river, the Kings river, the Tule
river, and the Kern river.
But the state of California got on a program that wouldn't allow a
single drop of irrigation water to be used for anything except
irrigation.
So, what little water does get to the dry lake in the middle of the
valley leaves nasty chemicals like selenium that are deadly to the
migratory waterfowl that used the lake for thousands of years.
OTOH, White Sands National Monument in New Mexico is a bunch of white
sand dunes caused by salt crystals on a dry lake bed breaking up into
fine sand.
Amazingly, the larger salt crystals are not white at all, they are
tan, but when they break up into sand it looks white...
> There is a cemetery and native-American burial ground nearby. Here's
> the marker:
>
> http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y158/TimKreitz/OSB/shafterlakemarker...
I drove through Shafter, CA yesterday. General Shafter had a ranch
near here...
Thanks Tim, nice ride report.
You may enjoy this:
http://www.lostamerica.com/roadside.html
What happend to his Star Trek uniform ?
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> >http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Rufus_Shafter
>
> � � � � What happend to his Star Trek uniform ?
It must be in one of the boxes in the archives at Stanford.
http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/spc/xml/m0072.xml
http://www.calarchives4u.com/organizations/sar/sar-r-s.htm
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/SS/fsh2.html
Shafter was a Medal of Honor recipient, and his ancestor fought
alongside my ancestor at the Battle of Bunker Hill.
>On Mar 10, 6:53?pm, .p.jm@see_my_sig_for_address.com wrote:
>
>> >http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Rufus_Shafter
>>
>> ? ? ? ? What happend to his Star Trek uniform ?
>
>It must be in one of the boxes in the archives at Stanford.
>
>http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/spc/xml/m0072.xml
>
>http://www.calarchives4u.com/organizations/sar/sar-r-s.htm
>
>http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/SS/fsh2.html
>
>Shafter was a Medal of Honor recipient, and his ancestor fought
>alongside my ancestor at the Battle of Bunker Hill.
OH shit here we go ......
Rhiannon did a good job of answering your questions. But I will add
that, in the case of this particular playa, there are certain times of
year when it can be completely full of water. It is usually in such a
state during the spring and late summer, when heavy, torrential rains
come.
As the water evaporates, the alkaline deposits are left behind, where
they bake in the heat. And yes, it's true that various naturally
occuring poisons are sometimes found there.
Thanks! I've been right by the ruins of that old lube shack in
Penwell. I think it's gone now.
He was an amazing soldier and explorer. He and Randolf B. Marcy, among
others, are important figures in the history of West Texas.
> Nice pics, thanks for posting. Now a dumb question. All that white stuff
> is salt? Is there water out there? Is/was it a lake? I know nothing
> about that kind of thing.
Dry lakes (playas) are sedimentary deposits left behind when the lake water
all evaporates. They vary in composition depending upon location, but there
is usually *some* salt mixed in with whatever else eroded and got washed
into the lake.
In some locations the surface is *mostly* salt, but licking it is
contraindicated as one of the other common things playas contain is arsenic
in greater or lesser amounts.
See below for a view of El Mirage Dry Lake, about 60 miles northwest of my
home.
http://digital-desert.com/map-sys/el-mirage-sat.html
In this satellite shot, you can see where dirt, dust, and etectera have
washed -or been blown- onto the lake during storms. As you can tell from the
colors, the lake surface is not composed of one particular thing to the
exclusion of all others.
Thanks to those who responded with the information. I would be the one who
would taste the white stuff just to check it out. I've been known to lick
dry rocks along Lake Superior to check out the colors for polishing.
>"P. Roehling" <> wrote in message > In some locations the surface is
>*mostly* salt, but licking it is > contraindicated as one of the other
>common things playas contain is arsenic
>> in greater or lesser amounts.
>
>Thanks to those who responded with the information. I would be the one who
>would taste the white stuff just to check it out. I've been known to lick
>dry rocks along Lake Superior to check out the colors for polishing.
Did you ever intern for Bill Clinton ???
>Sue
>Minocqua, WI
>Yamaha '00 VStar 650
> '04 TW200 (mud = fun)
>Kawasaki '95 Vulcan 1500 V#15937
>
>"Do what you want and say what you feel because those that mind, don't
>matter and those that matter, don't mind". ~Dr. Seuss
>
--
> Thanks to those who responded with the information. I would be the one
> who would taste the white stuff just to check it out. I've been known to
> lick dry rocks along Lake Superior to check out the colors for polishing.
An old California rockhound (my stepfather) once told me, "Don't *lick* the
darn rocks! Just spit on 'em and spread it around with your finger!"
Then he told me about the arsenic and other nasty minerals that commonly
lurk in our deserts...
> You may enjoy this:
> http://www.lostamerica.com/roadside.html
He walks through his time exposures with a flashlight. He makes the
commonplace exotic. Fantastic!
--
.. Chuck Rhode, Sheboygan, WI, USA
.. 1979 Honda Goldwing GL1000 (Geraldine)
.. Weather: http://LacusVeris.com/WX
.. 20° — Wind SSW 7 mph — Sky haze.
Hell, they probably french kissed each other, what with Krustys
constant fascination with "curious" historical events.
Brilliant stuff, indeed.
The minor-league baseball team where I live is called the Rockhounds
(slang for geologist, for those who don't know). In which area of the
profession did your step-dad work? It's all about oil out here.
I think Krusty is a Mormon. Afterall they have really nice and accurate
geneology department open to the public.
Hell, even my dad spent a week there researching my family history. But I
think his goal was to get my sisters into the Daughters of the American
Revolution.
I know that I have family buried in the Waltrip[1] family cemetary.
[1] As in the NASCAR Waltrips.
> The minor-league baseball team where I live is called the Rockhounds
(slang for geologist, for those who don't know). In which area of the
profession did your step-dad work? It's all about oil out here.
Hah! I never thought to ask him! Both he and my mom had long been retired
when they married, but he kept on digging rocks for fun right
p -literally- until he passed away.
Anything having to do with Geology interested him, and I've got a basalt
Native American club head that he dug up somewhere sitting on my mantle to
remind me of him.
> I think Krusty is a Mormon. �Afterall they have really nice and accurate
> geneology department open to the public.
Like I said, my famous Mormon relative was with Parley Pratt as they
emigrated from Nauvoo to SLC. His wife and five children were murdered
by Gentiles at the winter camp. He helped build the St. George temple
and he's buried in a cemetery near Mesquite.
> I think Krusty is a Mormon. ?Afterall they have really nice and accurate
> geneology department open to the public.
Like I said, my famous Mormon relative was with Parley Pratt as they
emigrated from Nauvoo to SLC. His wife and five children were murdered
by Gentiles at the winter camp. He helped build the St. George temple
and he's buried in a cemetery near Mesquite.
--->
Oh dear, you mean Brigham Young's henchman? Why doesn't that suprise me.
How many of your "white and delightsome" relatives were at the Mountain
Meadows Massacre?
You are such a name dropper. Next thing you know you'll tell me your are
related to the Hinckleys. Hell, you should be on a first name basis with the
Bensons or Packards.
What is your connection to the Butterfields, or hell the Smiths?
Please, it is time for you to shit or get off the pot. What is your Last
Name? I can do the research you fucking piker.
You are so full of fucking shit. A blivvet. 10 lbs of shit in a 5 lb bag.
Yep, that's you.
Oh wait, your relative was "with" Parley Pratt. What the hell does that
mean?
I really liked the wide range of geographic locations, from the southwest to
the upper midwest. The colors are like a slap to the head.
> Oh wait, your relative was "with" Parley Pratt. What the hell does that
> mean?
It means that his "relative" never existed.
It's funny how some belongings take on a whole new meaning after we
lose the person who gave them to us. I have a rifle that my granddad
gave me when I was in my teens. It was always one of my favorites, and
I put thousands of rounds through it over the years. But since my
granddad died in 2002, I've stopped shooting it for some reason. I
have no idea why, but it just doesn't seem right to take that rifle
into the field anymore.
I think Krusty and I are related thru Buffalo Bill. He apparently
fucked a skinhead and sired Krusty's side of the family and popped a hot
mamasita creating the stone cold sexy Bag dynasty.
Is that the brown paper bag industry?
Oh, you said DYNASTY.
My mistake.
> I think Krusty and I are related thru Buffalo Bill.
No, I'm actually related to Wild Bill Hickock. He was like my great
great grandpa's cousin.
>�He apparently fucked a skinhead and sired Krusty's side of the family
My English Puritan ancestors were Roundheads, not "skinheads". They
cut their hair short so nobody would mistake them for a long-haired
French cocksucker.
My Scottish ancestors were original capital R Red Necks who left
Scotland to kick Irish cathalick ass in the 17th century, before
continuing to America to kick Cherokee ass in the Appalachians.
It's funny how some belongings take on a whole new meaning after we
lose the person who gave them to us. I have a rifle that my granddad
gave me when I was in my teens. It was always one of my favorites, and
I put thousands of rounds through it over the years. But since my
granddad died in 2002, I've stopped shooting it for some reason. I
have no idea why, but it just doesn't seem right to take that rifle
into the field anymore.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My grandfather died in 1972. His corduroy coat is upstairs in my closet.
I was about to say it fits me perfectly, but that's probably not the case
anymore.
Robert
You better have another look at Wild Bill Hickock. He is a long haired
long nosed Frenchie if I ever saw one.
> My Scottish ancestors were original capital R Red Necks who left
> Scotland to kick Irish cathalick ass in the 17th century, before
> continuing to America to kick Cherokee ass in the Appalachians.
Sounds like they need a trophy.
> You better have another look at Wild Bill Hickock. He is a long haired
> long nosed Frenchie if I ever saw one.
Barbers were few and far between in Dodge City and Deadwood.
"Hickok", "Hickock", "Hickox", and "Hitchcock" all derive from the
Englick term for a haystack, which was "haycock".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Ripley_map_of_cephalic_index_in_Europe.png
Racially superior people (like me) with dolichocephalic skulls
(cephalic indexes of less than 80% width/length ratio) originated in
Scandinavia and Spain and spread to England.
Nice pics! But why do you Texas-types call a lake area "playa"? Don't
look like much of a "beach" to me...;~)
> Nice pics! But why do you Texas-types call a lake area "playa"? Don't
> look like much of a "beach" to me...;~)- Hide quoted text -
The southwest was first explored by Spaniards, who didn't exactly know
where they were, or what was going to happen to them. Perhaps they
really thought that a dry lake bed was a seashore.
On one occasion, Spanish explorers of California's central coast fled
back to San Diego, fearing they might get trapped by a blizzard in the
Santa Lucia range and starve to death.
Well somewhere along the line, someone in your family vacationed in France.
Nobody else in Dodge or Deadwood seems to have had similar
problems getting a haircut. More likely your ancestor Hickock was gay.
> "Hickok", "Hickock", "Hickox", and "Hitchcock" all derive from the
> Englick term for a haystack, which was "haycock".
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Ripley_map_of_cephalic_index_in_Eu...
>
> Racially superior people (like me) with dolichocephalic skulls
> (cephalic indexes of less than 80% width/length ratio) originated in
> Scandinavia and Spain and spread to England.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cephalic_index
"However it was studies by Franz Boas between 1910 and 1912 that
most effectively challenged the value of the method.
Boas argued that if craniofacial features were so malleable in a
single
generation, then the cephalic index was of little use for defining
"race"
and mapping ancestral populations."
In other words, that crap went out a century ago along with phrenolgy.
> > Barbers were few and far between in Dodge City and Deadwood.
>
> Nobody else in Dodge or Deadwood seems to have had similar
> problems getting a haircut. More likely your ancestor Hickock was gay.
Look at Buffalo Bill and General Custer's hair. They wore it long and
nobody has ever suggested that any of them were
the least bit gay.
> �"However it was studies by Franz Boas between 1910 and 1912 that
> �most effectively challenged the value of the method.
Who pays any attention to Boas anymore. The pseudoscientific debate
about intelligence passed on skull shape was actually a debate between
Jews and Christian Germans.
Skull shape isn't that important anyway. Skin and hair color and eye
color (1) are more indicative of racial superiority.
(1) White-skinned, blond-haired, blue-eyed people led the rest of the
human race out of the neolithic 6K to 10K years ago.
Yeah, and you put George Bush in the White House too. I'd call it even.
Maybe it was only Hickock then.
> Skull shape isn't that important anyway. Skin and hair color and eye
> color (1) are more indicative of racial superiority.
>
> (1) led the rest of the
> human race out of the neolithic 6K to 10K years ago.
Horseshit. Those folks were sitting in the woods scratching their
asses while agriculture, metalurgy and cities were being
invented in the near east and Indus valley. Not that this makes
a lot of difference except that it's a delusional bullshit myth
perpetuated by buffoons.
I'm always amazed by the loosers who have no claim at all to
any personal accomplishments yet still try to claim they've
inherited some kind of superiority from their family and
ancestors.
Funny thing is, Krusty's a damn sharp guy...making his allegiance to the
trailer people all the more curious.
> Horseshit. Those folks were sitting in the woods scratching their
> asses while agriculture, metalurgy and cities were being
> invented in the near east and Indus valley.
We Nordic herrenvolk know that some of our Indo-European ancestors
were Aryan, but we built upon that foundation and sent men to the
Moon.
I haven't read about any Persian astronauts recently.
> Funny thing is, Krusty's a damn sharp guy...making his allegiance to the
> trailer people all the more curious.- Hide quoted text -
Well, I can't get no job at Taco Bell, porque yo no spikka da spic. So
I might as well grab onto my redneck roots.
Near east was Semitic. Indus valley, Dravidian.
>
> I haven't read about any Persian astronauts recently.
So what exactly were your personal contributions to
the man on the moon effort ?
Now I know you're BS'n. I remember a very well written response from
you in Spanish once.
They are too busy picking apart our trillion dollar military with cell
phones and homemade explosives right now.
> So what exactly were your personal contributions to
> the man on the moon effort ?
I was a Spacecraft Mechanic. My hands were personally on every capsule
and service module that went into orbit or went to the Moon, and I
worked on some capsules that never left Earth, they are in museums
across the country.
I was very surprised when I walked into the rotunda of the Smithsonian
Air and Space museum and saw Apollo 11 sitting there.
I never thought I'd see that thing again. There is another Apollo
capsule in the Smithsonian, it's part of the Apollo Soyuz display.
Another capsule is at Kennedy Space Center, and another is at Johnson.
If they flew at all, the Block II Apollos flew in production sequence.
Apollo CSM #101 was the one Wally Schirra flew into orbit.
#102 was worn out from two many repairs and was scrapped.
#103 was the one that Frank Borman flew around the Moon at Christmas
of 1968
#104 went to the Moon to practice LEM docking maneuvers in Lunar
orbit, but the LEM had no landing legs.
#105 was an acoustic vibration test capsule, it never flew
#106 practiced docking maneuvers in Earth orbit
#107 was the Apollo 11 capsule
#108 was Apollo 12, the second landing
#109 was Apollo 13, which had to abort
#110 was Apollo 14, the third landing
>I was a Spacecraft Mechanic. My hands were personally on every capsule
>and service module that went into orbit or went to the Moon, and I
>worked on some capsules that never left Earth, they are in museums
>across the country.
Ok asshole. Put up or shutup.
This is where my father served:
http://www.aeroflight.co.uk/mus/uk/1-b/100thmus.htm
And here is his picture:
http://www.100thbg.com/mainpages/crews/crews6/wooten_ed.htm
This was my father's friend, I've shook his hand:
http://www.100thbg.com/mainpages/crews/crews2/rosenthal.htm
I shouldn't have to remind you who and what they fought against. And won.
You've got enough information, look me up. I've got nothing to hide.
> This is where my father served:
>
> http://www.aeroflight.co.uk/mus/uk/1-b/100thmus.htm
>
> And here is his picture:
>
> http://www.100thbg.com/mainpages/crews/crews6/wooten_ed.htm
He bears a striking resemblance to motorsickle journalist Mitch Boehm.
I don't know what that entailed exactly, but it's certainly
a way more reasonable thing to take satisfaction from
than any claims about ancestry.
> And here is his picture:
>
> http://www.100thbg.com/mainpages/crews/crews6/wooten_ed.htm
> You've got enough information, look me up. �I've got nothing to hide.
How did your father get into this? is this some sort of "my dad can
kick your dad's ass" contest, in your imagination?
I was thinking "My Father's Whiter Than Yours." And while this may be
cause for a medal to you, the cost of sunscreen over a lifetime is enormous.
> I was thinking "My Father's Whiter Than Yours." �And while this may be
> cause for a medal to you, the cost of sunscreen over a lifetime is enormous.
The skin cancer problem is the downside to being a direct descendant
of Odinn.
Otherwise it's great being his 66th-great grandson...
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/space/03/10/space.shuttle.ap/index.html
My bet is robots will replace the manned space capsule movement, and
men will take capsules to get their glimpses of space.
"Open the Pod Bay Doors, Hal."
"I'm sorry, I can't do that, Dave."
....
"Dave's not here, man."
>And now they've got Dextre.
>
>http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/space/03/10/space.shuttle.ap/index.html
>
>My bet is robots will replace the manned space capsule movement, and
>men will take capsules to get their glimpses of space.
>
>"Open the Pod Bay Doors, Hal."
>
>"I'm sorry, I can't do that, Dave."
>
>....
>
>"Dave's not here, man."
Can I talk to Dave, then ?
--
Click here every day to feed an animal that needs you today !!!
http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/
Paul ( pjm @ pobox . com ) - remove spaces to email me
'Some days, it's just not worth chewing through the restraints.'
'With sufficient thrust, pigs fly just fine.'
HVAC/R program for Palm PDA's
Free demo now available online http://pmilligan.net/palm/
Not to detract from your arguement but this isn't entirely true. Northern
Euros were smelting iron and building huge stone henges that predict
astronomical events with accuracy about the time you mention. They used a a
12 decimal system, which is why we have no "oneteen". Nobody knows what
happened to these people - they were not Druids but rather predated them.
Druids told Romans that these folk were magic and could converse with
animals and "wish" huge stones into places they wanted them but that's as
doubtful as the middle eastern myths we favor.
>...They used a a 12 decimal system, which is why we have no "oneteen".
<pedantic mode on>
That's nonsense.
ITYM "base 12"
<pedantic mode off>
--
Turby the Turbosurfer