Victor Valley Visit - Saturday 6/21/2008

Here we are! It always cool to wake up some place new. I sat in the dinette in the trailer and wrote, and then went out to see if I could walk around the lake.



This was taken across from our campsite. There are quite a few people scattered around the lake fishing for the stocked trout and catfish.

This body of water is a natural oasis (which may have been enhanced with damming) formed by the Mojave River. The Mojave is completely dry and sandy above ground in some places, but apparently still flows below the surface.

Click here for an aerial view.


This was taken looking north from the northern end of the park. Those are cattle in the background. I have some closer shots, but I liked this posts, too.



It was really too hot to think about sitting on a fiberglass seat in my denim shorts, but the boats look nice, huh? It was 98 degrees when I started my walk at 10 a.m.!



This guy asked if I was trying to get a picture of the ducks. He'd just seen a mother duck and her babies disappear into the reeds. He asked if they were catching all the fish at the other end of the lake. I told him that's what they asked me about his end when I was up there!

He said one time he was here and he saw a whole flock of white water birds on the lake. They swam around in pinwheel circles, then go butt-up all at once! Then resurface and slowly spin until they dipped again. He said it was beautiful and kind of funny, too.



There are horses--which you can hire to ride--and camels at the other end of the park (though this shot was taken later, from the window of the Tahoe.)



We visited the California Route 66 Museum in Old Town Victorville. It's a really nice little museum. Very well maintained, and chock-full of interesting memorabilia from Route 66 itself, and about the businesses and desert characters that were once in the area.

Interesting fact: Sammy Davis, Jr. almost died and did lose one eye in an automobile accident in Victorville on November 19, 1954, on his way from Las Vegas to Los Angeles.


Inside the museum. That sign for Mahan's Half Acre used to advertise a folk art construction of glass bottles out in the desert.



For my tastes, this is the weirdest display in the museum. False fingernails painted with Route 66 scenes! Brought to you by Lissa Anderson.


This rather grim sign is a reminder of just what it meant to travel Route 66 back in the day!



Luckily for us, it was only a few minutes to Johnny Reb's for lunch. We split catfish and a hamburger. The burger was way over done, but the catfish was crunchy and wonderful. And hush puppies! Hydra is not impressed with a fried ball of corn meal dough, no matter what you call it, but I was transported back to vacations in South Carolina as a kid, and that was just fine.



Passed this very expressive Vietnam War Memorial in Old Town, near Johnny Reb's.


We could have bought this cool coin-operated Uncle Sam riding chicken at The Antique Station in Oro Grande. But noooooo.



Whatever you think Soylent Green might be, we're pretty sure they make it in Victorville.

Took this on the way to the hoot, which was the main excuse we had for going to the area for the weekend. Met a bunch of friendly desert Songmakers we'd never met before and stayed out realllly late.

No, really late for us. Like 1 o'clock.

Which leads us to the last adventure of the day. Or the first adventure for tomorrow... Whatever.

When we got back to the campground, the gate was locked! And it had been since 10pm.

So I held the tire-gouging strip on the exit down with one foot while Hydra drove slowly into the park. I don't think I could have actually stood there with the Tahoe coming so close to me and the headlights shining into my eyes if Hydra hadn't gotten out a big flashlight so I could hold it and see that the tire wasn't going to go over my foot.

Still that was less scary than the thought of driving over the thing myself! Whew!