At 8:30 am I made the call, actually it was two calls. It is
pretty hard to wake someone early on a Saturday when they don’t have kids. The
call was to my sister and my soon-to-be brother in law. I was trying to invite
them on a spur of the moment trip across the desert on the Pony Express trail.
Of course they said they would love to ride along (they’re usually up for an
adventure). Once we were all loaded up in the commander, we set out for some
high speed fun and a little history. We hopped onto the dusty trail, and made
quick time to the Pet Cemetery. Of course I had to tell the story of what it is
and who created it, I was planning on it already, but I wasn’t planning on a
crowd to hear my story. There were a few others exploring the stone wall, and I
soon became tour guide for lookout pass.
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From there we made it over to Simpson Springs station, and set up for lunch.
Here I didn’t have to play tour guide, but I did have to play bathroom monitor;
there is no lock on the restroom at the parking area, and there were a few
visitors needing to use the facilities at the same time as my wife.
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After Simpson Springs, we would only share the great American desert with the
pronghorn, and desert rats. The dirt road, as always, was great for making you
feel like a desert racer. We made quick time to Pyramid Peak, but as time can
get away from you, we chose not to stop at the geod beds, something I would very
much like to do sometime. I wasn’t paying much attention to my speed, and we
ended up catching some air off of a high point in the road. I thought it was
great, and so did my 2 year old son, but for some reason no one else in the
vehicle thought it was quite as fun. We stopped for a little break near some old
mines, and my wife asked me to let her drive, I think the jump had something to
do with it. From there it was a quick jaunt to Callao, a semi-ghost town, with a
few residents.
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Next up was Gold Hill, one of my favorite places in the West desert. There were
2 fellows working a claim right before town, I don’t know what they were digging
for, but they looked busy so we didn’t stop to chat. Once at Gold Hill, we all
got out of the Commander, and commenced to looking around. The old Goodwin
Merchantile really is one of the best old buildings to photograph in the desert
in my personal opinion. The rest of my crew had never seen Gold Hill, so they
were eager to look around and I got to play tour guide again.
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From Gold Hill, we made our way to Ibapah, and then on up to Wendover for
dinner, and out to the Bonneville raceway for some high speed fun.
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After that, we caught I-80 and everyone was tuckered out as we rolled on home.
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