Ridgecrest, CA

It's pretty amazing that you can meet normal people out here, because some of these towns are pretty freaky. I am in southwestern California for the Desert Tortoise Council's annual workshop. It was meant to be a 5 1/2 hour drive, but with construction and traffic it turned out to be more like 7 hours. Eehh, at least I have audio books. I will be listening to I am America [and so can you] on the way back.

Forty-five minutes outside of Ridgecrest there was this weird junction, not actually a town, where I stopped to get gas at dusk. People were staring at me. The gas station had it's wares on full display, such as stuffed and mounted road runners, and other awesome crap. I don't get spooked that often, but I jumped back in my car pretty quick and locked the doors.

I'll go back to check out that crap on Sunday. In the daytime.

The hotel here is pretty decent. It certainly beats Tonopah, NV, where everyone gave us the stink eye. I had a decent meal at the hotel pub, which was actually quite lively and suprisingly clean. I took a few glances around and spotted one guy with a ponytail and loud shirt and thought immediately that he must be here for the tortoise workshop. Anyway, several of us found each other quickly and joined in on a few beers and a round of pool. Apparantly there is a keg party tomorrow night for workshop participants...

Here are some photos from my first ATV ride. I've done it several times since, but these are pretty funny. They were taken by Lee, by far my favorite Mormon that I have met here so far. He literally has 37 grandchildren.