September 30, 2014---Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, California

Early this morning we went to Ridgecrest.  It is about 80 miles south of Lone Pine.  The trip along Hwy. 395 was rather dull, except for a few spots. 

We went past the Crystal Geyser plant.  It is a large operation that is situated on the edge of Owens Lake.  That’s the lake where the dirt is contaminated.  Hm-m-m-m-m!  The water company has the words “spring water” in their title.  I don’t know where the spring is, but it would be interesting to know.  Curious and curiouser!

We stopped in the area of Little Lake to find two caches.  The first one was simple to find.  The information said it was at the site of an old hotel.  There was a small, old building close by, but it didn’t look much like a hotel.  In search of the second cache, Bill had to climb up on lava rocks.  I stayed down on the road and cheered him on.

Further down the highway, we turned onto Nine Mile Road.  Before leaving that area, we had logged six more finds.  None of them were difficult to find, but it was fun being on a back road.

When we got into Ridgecrest, our first stop was for breakfast before going to Walmart for my two prescriptions.  It was a long way to go for meds, but it was our closest choice.  We did other shopping, but it wasn’t a Super Walmart so there were still several items on the list when we checked out.  

In the next block was a large Albertson’s.  When we were looking for cabbage in the produce section, I saw something I hadn’t seen before...celery roots.  The were big and ugly, but the celery stalks were small and pathetic looking.  I have no idea how they are cooked or what kind of recipe uses them.  Any ideas?

I had loaded 12 caches in the GPS for the area around Walmart.  All we had to show for our efforts was two DNFs.  It was getting hot, and for some reason, neither one of us was too interested in poking around in bushes for tiny containers.  One thing I can tell you for sure...Ridgecrest is not a place we might want to live someday! 

After eating lunch at Burger King, we headed north for Lone Pine.  Our only stop was at the Rest Area.  The cache was a light pole cache, usually simple to find, but we are out of practice.  We needed Coleson with us.  He is a good geocacher, especially the light pole kind.  That’s the first place he always looks.  He has been known to yell, “I found it” even before I get out of the car.

Both of us were really tired, so our after dinner walk was only about 20 minutes.  That was more than enough for me!