Day 2: PARKFIELD to EL MIRAGE DRY LAKEBED

Blackwells Corner is at the intersection of Hwy 33 and Hwy 46. The old store was torn down 6/18/08 to make room for the new store, diner, and I hope soon-to-be gas station. The big billboard type bust of James Dean still stands, but the World’s Largest Parking Lot sign has been removed.

The Parkfield Interventional EQ Fieldwork (PIEQF) was a geologically interactive, kinetic earthwork that was temporarily installed in the remote township of Parkfield, Central California. This machine controlled earthwork ran autonomously for 91 days between the 18th August and 16th November 2008. PIEQF was triggered by near real-time reported Californian earthquakes from Magnitude M 0.1 and above.

Each time a Californian earthquake occurred, an array of 5/8 inch steel rods attached to an earthquake shake table oscillated and resonated reflecting the dynamic nature of the Californian landscape. On average 30-60 seismic events occur throughout California daily.

http://pieqf.allshookup.org/

The James Dean Memorial is located in the parking lot of the Jack Ranch Cafe. The crash site itself is a half-mile east on highway 46, and 200 yards to the west, in the middle of a field. (The intersection was realigned when the highway was repaved and renumbered back in 1973.) The old intersection and the last 8 miles of the highway that Dean traveled are on land belonging to the State Water Department, and The Jack Ranch, and permission must be obtained to walk or drive the short stretch of old highway.

The Memorial is made of stainless steel and aluminum alloy, wrapped around an Oleantheum tree.

“When the Transformers movie came out, that’s when it really woke me up,” recalled Tom Rhoads.  “I said, ‘Man, I could build me one of those.  I’m gonna get me a bug and build one!’”

Tom restores classic cars for a living in Lemoore, California.  He had the tools, skills, and the all-important robot-construction space next to his parents’ farm house.

Tom’s tips for aspiring Transformer builders.  “They turn out to be a lot bigger than you expect,” he said.  “I thought it was gonna be small; it’s just a Volkswagen.  But by the time I got the legs on and the proportions right – the sucker’s 18 feet tall!”

Bumblebee is visible from a mile away across the flat farm fields.  “I’ve been to Cadillac Ranch and I always thought it’d be really neat to have a landmark like that.  And now I do.”  Bumblebee can be seen from the highway, but Tom doesn’t mind if people come onto the farm as long as they’re respectful, drive slow, and are mindful of the children and the animals.

The tower, constructed in 1911, was transformed in 1985 to reflect the town’s Swedish heritage. The giant coffee pot, complete with spout and handle, is a colorful replica of the metal coffee pots available in local gift stores selling Swedish wares. The design and colors, primarily red, blue, yellow, and green, are authentic.

The Swedes are a nation of enthusiastic coffee drinkers, and the offer of a cup of the fragrant, brown brew is a gesture of hospitality in the United States. The display of a 60,000 gallon pot of coffee implies a mammoth welcome of the warmest sort.

The 122 ft. tall “coffee pot” is illuminated at night and visible for miles around.

Located 18 miles east of Paso Robles, CA, just off Highway 41, this two-story fountain spouted wine-colored water as recently as 2005, but now uses only clear water. Adjacent to acres of vineyards, there is no easily apparent reason for the location of this fountain at this spot.

The Lakeview Gusher Number One (1910) is regarded as the largest recorded U.S. oil well  gusher. Located about a half-mile east of the Taft Maricopa Highway (State Route 33), in the Midway-Sunset Oil Field in Kern County, California, the site is marked by a Caltrans guide sign and a bronze plaque. It is also identified as State Historic Landmark #485.

Nothing remains of the gusher but the pit it rose out of.

The 5 megawatt (MW) Kimberlina Solar Thermal Energy Plant in Bakersfield, California, is the first commercial solar thermal power plant to be built by Ausra. It uses Ausra’s fresnel reflector technology that substitutes trough-shaped solar mirrors with a series of narrow, flat mirrors, which mimic the performance of a solar trough at a lower cost. The power plant focuses the sun’s heat onto pipes that carry water, which is boiled directly into steam.

The Kimberlina Solar Thermal Energy Plant is the first of its kind to be built in California in more than 20 years, with the previous plant being the Solar Energy Generating Systems, in California’s Mojave Desert, which employs solar troughs.

Bakersfield, California – Muffler Man – The Indian Warrior ($50)

Bakersfield California is home to one of the few remaining “Muffler Men.” In the 1960s and 1970s a fiberglass company called International Fiberglass created these roadside giants, which now lay scattered across the highways of America. This example of the Indian variety spent 17 years lying behind a local school before a cowboy vowed to give the “Warrior” a home at his ranch. When the ranch was sold, the had the Warrior moved to a place of honor, standing atop a pedestal wrapped with bricks engraved with the names of sponsors along with this sordid tale.

A 10′ figure made entirely of air conditioning duct work presides over the entrance to American Air and Heating in Bakersfield.

The Inyokern Airport Dragstrip opened in 1954, and was the second oldest continuously operating dragstrip in the United States, until its closure in 2005 due to new Federal Aviation Administration regulations. Inyokern Dragstrip was a 1/4 mile NHRA dragstrip, operated by the Dust Devils Car Club, and used a taxiway for racing.

In this dusty desert crossroads, John A. Kostopoulus, “King Of Toilet Seat Arts,” painted celebrity portraits and political slogans on lids and rims, hanging over 400 from the hurricane fence that surrounded his home. Celebrities from Tony the Tiger to Joey Buttofuoco – bold images in paint and ceramic – glistened in the sun.

The King of Toilet Seat Arts passed away in 1996. After his death, his collection was quickly dismantled and destroyed (a few seats may have been salvaged).

At the Mojave Airport, close to Edwards Air Force Base, retired planes are cannibalized for spare parts. Although fenced off with concertina wire and patrolled regularly, it is possible to walk up to the fence and peer at the abandoned aircraft. Crossing the fence without permission will get you arrested.

This location was not meant to be a graveyard; but it has become one. Most of the planes were stored here temporarily during economic downturns. Inventory peaked after the 9/11/2002 attacks when 360 planes lined the taxiways and runways, their windows and engines covered with plastic to seal out the blowing desert grit.

Also used by Hollywood – if there is someone blowing up a plane, it is probably filmed in the Mojave.

Charles Elwood “Chuck” Yeager (born February 13, 1923) is a former Brigadier General in the United States Air Force and noted test pilot. Originally retiring as a Brigadier General, Yeager was promoted to Major General on the Air Force’s retired list 20 years later for his military achievements.

In 1947, at the age of 24, Yeager flew a rocket-powered Bell X-1 faster than the speed of sound, reaching Mach 1.07, at an altitude of 45,000 feet. Two nights before the scheduled date for the flight, he broke two ribs while riding a horse. He was so afraid of being removed from the mission that he went to a veterinarian in a nearby town for treatment and told only his wife, and his friend and fellow project pilot Jack Ridley, about the accident.

The Singing Road in Lancaster, CA has returned. Once again music lovers can enjoy “The William Tell Overture” as they drive down a remote but scenic stretch of road on the outskirts of town.

OWNER: Michael Lujan

Blackbird Airpark, an annex of the Air Force Flight Test Center Museum at Edwards Air Force Base, offers a look at the unique Blackbird series of military aircraft. Included in the collection are the Lockheed SR 71A Blackbird reconnaissance plane, its predecessor, the A 12 test plane, and the ultra secret D 21 drone. The park is manned by retirees from the aerospace industry, some of whom worked on the aircraft displayed at the park.

This tiny park features the SR-71, the fastest plane on earth, known as the Blackbird, created by aerospace researchers in this community. This is one of only two places in the world where you can see both an SR-71 and a YF-12 on the same field; the other is in Dayton Ohio at the USAF Museum.

Just outside of Victorville, California lies the town of Helendale and its most famous attraction – Exotic World. Once the private residence of famed dancer Jennie Lee, Exotic World is the only museum in the world dedicated exclusively to preserving the art and artifacts of the golden age of Burlesque.

Following Jennie’s death in 1990, her friend and fellow Burlesque veteran Dixie Evans quit her job and moved to the ranch to help transform Jennie’s collection into “Exotic World, Home of the Movers & Shakers’ Burlesque Museum & Striptease Hall of Fame.”

In 2006, after the death of Charlie Arroyo, the owner of Exotic World ranch, the Museum became the Burlesque Hall of Fame and moved its operations to Las Vegas.

Helendale, California – Elmer’s Place – Bottle Cacti ($35)

Take the National Old Trails Highway (an old stretch of Route 66) west out of Barstow, and you’ll pass “Elmer’s Place,” a front yard chock full of bottle cactus/folk art scuptures, between Barstow and Victorville. It lies on the right the crest of a little hill, and can be seen from at least a quarter mile away. Hundreds of bottle cacti, topped with objects Elmer has collected from childhood, crowd his yard.

Daggett, California

With a 354 MW installed capacity, Solar Energy Generating Systems (SEGS) is the largest solar energy generating facility in the world. It consists of nine solar power plants in California’s Mojave Desert, where insolation is among the best available in the United States.  SEGS III-VII (150 MW) are located at Kramer Junction, SEGS VIII-IX (160 MW) at Harper Lake, and SEGS I-II (44 MW) at Daggett.

The average gross solar output for all nine plants at SEGS is around 75 MWe - a capacity factor of 21%.  The facilities have a total of 936,384 mirrors and cover more than 1,600 acres. Lined up, the parabolic mirrors would extend over 229 miles.

The installation uses parabolic trough solar thermal technology along with natural gas to generate electricity. 90% of the electricity is produced by sunlight. Natural gas is used to power the turbines only when the solar power is insufficient to meet the demand.  FPL, operator and part owner of the facility, claims that the solar plants power 232,500 homes and displace 3,800 tons of pollution per year that would have been produced if the electricity had been provided by fossil fuels, such as oil.