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NATURE ALI'S
GRAND ADVENTURE - Day 30 - July 19, 2009
California border to Fontana to home
Waking around 4 a.m. in Quartzite, AZ, I immediately jumped up brushed my teeth
and washed the sweat off my face. It was so hot, and I was very tired. I
reentered California as dawn began to break and then drove across the Mojave
Desert to meet up with my friend Ellen in Fontana before driving over the Cajon
Pass to home. I encountered a small dust storm in the
Mojave desert which brought back memories of how I got to California in early
1976.
I had met an
interesting man during a tropical storm in Panama City in 1975, after giving his
party a place to sleep and giving them a meal, he left with his friends. A month
later I heard a knock on the door and there stood Clayton who I didn't
recognize, a series of exceptionally strange circumstances ended up with us
being married four days later (we divorced after 15 years). We hitchhiked across
the country and when we reached California, a fellow driving a retired hearse
picked us up. Driving along Interstate 10, the winds were horrific and a bad
dust storm ensued. The driver, rolled down his window and asked us to do the
same for he said that the dust would frost the windows… but it sandblasted us in
the vehicle instead! What a weird fellow and a funny memory.
I drove into Fontana to deliver a birthday present to my friend and to see where
she had been working for the past month. After having a nice breakfast at
Brandon’s Cafe, (I ate there because it had the same name as my son), I went off
to visit Ellen who was coming back to work after her one day off. Ellen is one
of the few biologists who is trained to find the Delhi Sands Flower Loving Fly
and has been hiking back and forth through vacant fields six days a week where
the habitat has been very much destroyed by the developer in an effort to thwart
the endangered species act. According to the non-ethics of developers,
biodiversity is to be destroyed for money, which is the only thing that these
people care about. Although so many people see no value in insects unless they
are “pretty”, if it were not for flies, caterpillars, mosquitoes, and so many
other annoying bugs… most birds, reptiles, amphibians, and many mammals would
not survive. I am glad Ellen is searching for the fly (she found one) and I hope
the government which rarely ever does the right thing when it comes to
protecting species, will do it this time.
I left her to do her job and then drove up Cajon Pass and through the desert
looking forward to getting home. It was wonderful to see the land of creosote
and Joshua trees again. Although, I just drove through Red Rock Canyon State
Park, it is always lovely to see.
It is very sad the administration of California State Parks have begun to allow
the motorcycle community to destroy the remaining pristine habitat in the park.
Trails are beginning to crop up in unauthorized places even though the woman in
charge of the state parks thought that by allowing motorcyclists one trail they
would actually stay on the trails. Why anyone would trust these lazy people to
respect the land after they have destroyed one of the most unique areas in the
Kern desert is beyond me. (Geologically, Jawbone Canyon was one of the most
amazing places before motorcyclists trashed every inch of land… now they
complain about how ugly it is… duh!).
I climbed up Walker Pass and drove back to my beloved Kern River Valley just in
time to visit with the researchers from UC Berkeley’s Grinnell Re-survey Project
who I let stay in my house. I arrived home at 12:30 p.m, 30 days and 10,232
miles after leaving. It was a wonderful adventure and I hope to revisit many of
the places I discovered during my journey. Thank you to all who helped along the
way and to those who have followed my journey virtually.
367 miles |
