Category Archives: Uncategorized

Northwestern Nevada: day three, bailing out

Americana, Camping, Travel, Uncategorized

On our last day, we woke with frost free sleeping bags. The wind was there, the flat light was there, but it was clearing down south and the sun was almost coming out from behind the clouds. That is how the post started and then after about two more hours of work, I hit Save Draft and everything but the pictures disappeared. Shit! I can’t believe it.

Here is the summery: We got up and the weather was bad with wind and clouds. We went for a walk and the weather got worse.  It even rained a few big drops. With the wind, the flat light, and, maybe, rain; we decided to go home early. I was still worried about the car so I took the highway south past the remains of Lake Winnemucka which had been drained in the early 20th century, stopping to take a picture of its old shoreline. I got home in time to watch the sun set over San Bruno Mountain. It was a fun trip and enjoyable to hang out with Peter. Check out Peter’s take on the trip here.

 

 

We bailed out.

 

 

Northwestern Nevada: day two

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For another take on this trip and some beautiful pictures, be sure to check out Peter Kuhlman’s blog. Really! Day one is here and here. My version of day one is below. Now back to the story.

The sun woke us early even though it was still chilly. I peaked out of my bag just long enough to see that it had a nice layer of frost and that Peter was sitting up, taking a picture. Probably of the sunrise, but I wasn’t going to find out this early.  The sun got higher – but still pretty low – the temp got warmer, and we got up. Most of the clouds from yesterday were gone and the day looked very promising.

As we had our morning coffee and tea, looking over the Smoke Creek playa, everything was backlit and the morning was glorious.

We went for a walk up the closest canyon starting by walking through the backlit grass and sage. .

In the canyon, everything was glowing,

 

Especially the blooming sage. (Probably Salvia dorrii which is a mild hallucinogen when smoked. Backlit, it was pretty hallucinogenic without smoking.)

As we got further up canyon, we ran into pools of water and steeper rock.

 

And, as we walked up the canyon, we ran into pools of water and steeper cliffs. As an aside, I completely understand why most Arab flags are green. It is a color that is rare in the desert and it should be respected and honored. End aside.

 

When we had gone about as far as a couple of old men can do without any heroics, we turned around and wandered back to the truck. Back through the grass and lots of hidden rocks.

Then it was down the hill and on to Planet X. Except that – while driving down the dirt road – the steering seemed to lock up while trying to get around a rock. I backed up and tried again and the steering worked fine. Then it locked up again. Again, I backed up and everything was fine. This left me very worried and I was still worried after – at Bruno’s gas station and garage – a mechanic crawled under the front end and said everything was fine.

We pressed on to Planet X.

 

Planet X is a pottery manufacturer – somehow that is not a good descriptor and potter doesn’t seem to work, either, maybe potter and artists –  owned by Rachel and John Bogard. I stop by about once a year and they don’t really know me, but Michele spent a week there taking a painting class, so they sort of know me through her.  We, also, had to stop by because Planet X is one of the obligatory sights and because they always have a big sale around Memorial Day.   And they make some very nice pottery. Here is one of their pots with whole wheat pasta and roasted tomatoes.

 

To be continued….and check out Peter’s Blog for a different take on the trip and some very nice pictures.

On the Road to northwestern Nevada

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Sunday morning, I left to meet Peter Kuhlman  at Bruno’s Country Club Casino in Gerlach, Nevada. There are several ways to get to Gerlach from the Bay Area and they all start out on the freeway and end up on gravel or seldom used tarmac. Taking pictures of the drive to northern – actually northwestern – Nevada – explains it all. For the first half or more of the trip, when I want to take a picture, I have to find an overcrossing where I can pull off the highway; then, as I get closer, I pull over to the side of the road to take a shot; then, when I am almost where I want to go, I just stop in the middle of the road – get out – and take the picture.

But, way before I stopped in the middle of the road, I ran into snow going over the Sierras. Snow in the Sierras on Memorial Day – come on! In retrospect, I should have expected snow – it was raining the Bay Area the day before – but it did surprise me. Still, it wasn’t sticking so I decided to take a backroad route that Mike Moore had recommended. I got off the freeway at Truckee. It was a great suggestion, taking me through Sierraville California and by Sierra Vally for the first time.

 

It continued to snow all the way to Sierraville but the snow never stuck and, then, I then dropped below the snow line and skirted Sierra Valley. Watching shower spots – for lack of a better word – move across the valley. As I left the valley, I began to get concerned. The snow ahead of me looked lower than I expected.

On Saturday, the weather forecast was for possible snow on Saturday and Saturday night in Gerlach, but clearing on Sunday. I was confident that it was accurate, loosing my confidence only as the roads got narrower and less used. I kept looking ahead where it was snowing and thinking of alternate plans to camping out in the – in my now active imagination – rain or snow, or worse, cold, almost snow.

Finally, just as I was getting to Sand Pass overlooking the Smoke Creek Desert, the sun broke out.

At Sand Pass, I looked ahead and saw lots of blue sky and even more running down the west side of the Smoke Creek, past an old, long abandoned, farm; I was sure the weather would work out. On to Bruno’s to meet Peter.

But Peter wasn’t at the bar where I was sure I would find him because I was a couple of minutes late. At the bar, I nursed a drink; sure that Peter was going to show up any minute. Finally, an hour after our meeting time, I got worried and went out to check my phone. When I had arrived at Bruno’s, I had checked all the cars in the parking lot for Idaho plates, what I hadn’t noticed was the car parked across the street, parked the other way. It turned out to be Peter, waiting for me outside of Bruno’s watching the road for my arrival. My backroad entry with 60 miles of gravel roads brought me in the back way and had had thrown him off.

After loading up the Range Rover, we drove back to the Smoke creek and then up a dirt road that took us through fields of wild grasses – all backlit  – to a great spot overlooking the desert. Dinner was marinated chicken thighs  from Ikeda’s Country Market with roasted potatoes and greens.

After sunset, it turned even colder and we climbed into our bags early for a – hopefully – nice sleep.  To be continued….

 

 

 

 

Israel in the West Bank

Americana, Current Affairs, Politics, Uncategorized

Listening to Bibi Netanyahu’s speech – OK, not really listening to it, just listening to stuff about it like Congress fawning over him – just puts me in a rage. I grew up in a family that thought Israel was the greatest. Bringing democracy to the heathens, making the desert bloom, blah, blah, blah. I am not sure when I started to think that Israel was doing evil – maybe it started when I realized that Making the desert bloom. was another way of saying that We are using everybody’s water, including the Palestinians, it was almost certainly by the time I learned that Palestinians children were being killed at a rate of over seven times that of Israeli children1 – but I do now. And I don’t use that term lightly.

For sure, I don’t use that term lightly. Using it opens me up to too many charges. Charges of being a self hating Jew; charges of being an anti-Semite. Because anybody who disagrees with Israel must be an anti-Semite. It puts me in the company of alot of haters that I find abhorrent. But – the bottom line is – what Israel is doing and what they have been doing is evil.

I don’t think that Americans have any idea what is going on with the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and I don’t think we want to know.

It’s not just that the Israelis are building settlements in the west bank, it is – to protect those settlements – that they have to control Palestinian movement and access in the West Bank. Like all occupiers, to stay safe, the Israelis have to completely dominate and control the Palestinians. They have to maintain a full press occupation of the West Bank. Of course that leads to harassment both institutional and ad-hoc.  Alain Salomon and Katia Solomon have a Op Ed in the New York Times that gives a chilling description of going through an Israeli checkpoint near Ramallah. They say As we entered this narrow space I looked at the barbed wire further on. We are Jewish, and began to weep. How was it possible that our own people, who have gone through such suffering, can inflict this ordeal, intended to humiliate and intimidate another people?

Towns like Hebron have been turned into virtual jails.

And – very importantly – what Israel is doing will lead to failure for Israel. Thoughtful Jews like Emily Hauser and Rabbi Brant Rosen know that as do a huge number of Israelis in Israel. It is sad that our Congress doesn’t seem to.

1. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Interestingly – but depressingly – the American Press reports those killings at a ratio of about seven times – for the New York Times – to twelve times – for ABC Television -more for the Israeli children so we dobn’t know more Palestinians are being killed.