It feels like spring, and it's just Tom's birthday

Well it's now official that Tom has begun the last year of the 6th decade, and so far so good. (Not so for Penn State at the Rose Bowl, and that's too bad after a great season) The day was spent in subdued reflection with the high point a great brunch at the Crowbar Cafe in scenic nearby Shoshone, a wholly-owned private town. The evening was spent greeting patrons at the hot springs and later cleaning the pools.

This town was founded to service the Tonapah & Tidewater RR in 1909. There is the Charles Brown General Store (and gas station), the Amargosa River Conservancy office (a "river" runs through here and Tecopa ending in Badwater Lake at 232 below sea level in Death Valley), the Shoshone Museum (home of a composite mastadon skeleton), a post office, motel, land development office, clinic and a French restaurant. Not bad for the middle of the highway and halfway to Death Valley (from Baker, CA that is).

Nearby are some cave dwellings from earlier inhabitants and likely prospectors and railroad workers. These dwellings were carved into the mud hills on the outskirts of town.





The view here is along the well-maintained Hwy 127 between Tecopa and Shoshone. The Lake Tecopa Yacht Club does a wonderful job keeping the roadside free of litter. This whole region was lakebottom real estate millions of years ago and the mudhills and mineral rings around the area are testament to that time long ago.

Weather has been incredibly sunny and balmy with temps in the 70's and almost no wind. The smells are of spring. (It was in the 80's earlier in the week in SanBernardino with wildflowers blooming along some of the roadways!) All else is well here as we look forward to January 20, 2009 and the Inauguration. Be well and keep in touch...