13 April 2004, Tehachapi, CA: Did you know that some western motels allow you to camp in their parking lots overnight? Here we are enjoying the natural scenery at a Travelodge. This was most welcome, having started from SF at 5pm and covered about 350 miles by 11pm. Sarah inherited a new Jeep, with a V8 engine, and it made the pulling much, much, much easier than before. We thanked her father's memory with each mile.
	14 April 2004, Mojave, CA: This looks like an operational Banshee at the Mojave Airport, I believe it was the first carrier-based jet that saw action in the Korean War.
	14 April 2004, Mojave, CA: All sorts of old aircraft can been seen at Mojave.
	14 April 2004, Mojave, CA: In the office of Scaled Composites, the aircraft company of Burt Rutan, you can find the Collier Trophy and the Lindberg Trophy and just about every other major award in aviation crammed in a tiny cupboard. This is where history will be made later this year with a private space venture pictured below (White Knight mated with Spaceship One).
	14 April 2004, US 14 N. of Mojave, CA: A most promising resort offering.
	14 April 2004, China Lake, CA: At Naval Air Weapons Systems, China Lake, the U.S. Naval Museum of Armament & Technology has a boatload of missiles and rockets... once you get clearance to enter the base.
	14 April 2004, China Lake, CA
	14 April 2004, China Lake, CA: The Harpoon antiship missile makes it's own entry hatch.
	14 April 2004, China Lake, CA: The famous Tomahawk cruise missile, almost never misses it's target (unless the target is Saddam, Bin Laden, etc.). When something absolutely positively has to be destroyed overnight, send the Marines.
	14 April 2004, China Lake, CA
	14 April 2004, China Lake, CA
	14 April 2004, China Lake, CA: China Lake's main claim to fame is the Sidewinder missile, now operational for over 50 years. They began as heatseekers using vacuum tubes, but have evolved into many versions including anti-radiation models for attacking ground radar. The following pictures are of a reconstructed 50's-era lab bench, humorously captioned.
	14 April 2004, China Lake, CA
	14 April 2004, China Lake, CA
	14 April 2004, China Lake, CA
	14 April 2004, China Lake, CA
	14 April 2004, China Lake, CA
	14 April 2004, China Lake, CA
	14 April 2004, China Lake, CA
	14 April 2004, China Lake, CA
	14 April 2004, China Lake, CA
	14 April 2004, Big Pine, CA: We rendez-vous'ed with Pedro & Lisa (and Billie) as they exited the pass from Saline Valley. After reprovisioning, we did some bunkio camping overlooking the town, the Inyo Mountains and the Owens Valley Radio Astronomy Observatory.
	14 April 2004, Big Pine, CA: Billie provided security for the campsite
	14 April 2004, Big Pine, CA: Snowcapped Sierra Nevada peeks up behind our little site.
	15 April 2004, Big Pine, CA: Next morning, and after several swell meals, we cram in some lightning rounds of doms before separating in opposite directions.
	15 April 2004, Big Pine, CA: The ultimate winner will be determined next weekend at the Hut, initiating a short lived reign of semi-justifiable gloating.
	15 April 2004, Pedro, Lisa & Billie headed north to the Mammoth hot springs areas; we headed southeast to Panamint Valley. As expected, Panamint Springs had the highest gas prices of the trip, but I lost my bet that it would top $3.
	15 April 2004, Panamint Valley, CA: We intended to stay at the ghost town of Ballarat, but learned the current "mayor" is not too hospitable. So we found a piece of wilderness in the Valley all to ourselves.
	15 April 2004, Panamint Valley, CA: Believe it or not, the purpose of this trip was astronomy, but each evening I was thwarted by clouds and haze. Some people would have enjoyed these colorful evenings, I was disappointed.
	16 April 2004, Death Valley, CA: Stopping for a roadside lunch on the eastern slopes of the Funeral Mountains. Very windy!
	17 April 2004, Tecopa, CA: South of Shoshone are the Tecopa Hot Springs, with a public campground next to public, segregated pools. It doesn't look like much but they are very well maintained, full of snowbirds and free.
	17 April 2004, Mojave Preserve, CA: Continuing south in search of better weather, we restocked in Baker, cruised south to Kelso Junction for lunch, chatted up the post mistress in Cima, then camped near Kessler Springs. This was the dark sky spot that we had intended to reach by this night of a new moon.
	17 April 2004, Mojave Preserve, CA:
	17 April 2004, Mojave Preserve, CA: Looks pretty, but dark clouds were forming.
	17 April 2004, Mojave Preserve, CA: By dusk it began to rain... and rain... and rain. Then the rain froze. About 3am I checked the sky, it was mostly clear, but well below freezing. I did not set up the telescope.
	18 April 2004, Mojave Preserve, CA: Next day it quickly warmed up to the mid-60s and was beautiful again.
	18 April 2004, Mojave Preserve, CA
	18 April 2004, Mojave Preserve, CA
	18 April 2004, East of Edwards AFB, CA: Unable to do any astronomy, we worked our fallback hobby, aviation archeology. Perhaps 20 miles northeast of the Edwards runways is a JF-104 crash site from 1957. We dropped the Puck near the highway and headed across the desert, under railroad tracks and wash culverts, until near the target we spotted the telltale riveted aluminum shards.
	18 April 2004, East of Edwards AFB, CA: Even after 47 years, the desert is bare at the crash site, where Sarah reenacts the accident.
	18 April 2004, East of Edwards AFB, CA: The pilot ejected safely when his jet suffered a total loss of control. It crashed almost vertically at a very high rate of speed, scattering thousands of tiny fragments over many acres.
	18 April 2004, East of Edwards AFB, CA:
	18 April 2004, East of Edwards AFB, CA: One of the larger fragments. It was a challenge to figure out their original purpose.
	18 April 2004, East of Edwards AFB, CA: Sarah is pointing at our truck in the distance, giving an idea of the expanse of the debris field.
	18 April 2004, East of Edwards AFB, CA: The impact crater, about 20' across.
	18 April 2004, East of Edwards AFB, CA: Was this desert tortoise the only fatality of the accident? Perhaps.
	18 April 2004, Red Rock Canyon State Park, CA: A small campsite near Inyokern, were I set up the telescope on the last night, despite an overcast sky. I put the scope away about midnight; not a star was visible.
	19 April 2004, Rte. 178 near Onyx, CA: This is not a horse trailer, but is a 1937 factory-built camper. The galvanized sheet metal has held up well, but the asking price of $900 is going to have to wait for a real collector.
	19 April 2004, Rte. 178 East of Bakersfield, CA: The Kern River as it flows into the Central Valley of California.
	19 April 2004, Rte. 178 East of Bakersfield, CA
	19 April 2004, San Francisco, CA: Home again, backing the Puck into the plainest house on Harrison Street.