The 1000 Trails Soledad Canyon Preserve (45) near Acton CA almost wasn't here this year. Over Labor Day weekend in September, the huge Station Wildfire came within a couple of miles of the park, and it was ordered evacuated. Fortunately, the smoke-eaters were able to stop the fire before it got to the park, but the combination of the fire and the evacuation resulted in contaminating the park water
supply. We know that because the day we arrived the water finally passed the quality tests and was declared drinkable. Sometimes we have good timing and don't even know it.
Acton is an interesting little town - still a wild west town in many ways. Most of the buildings in the central part of town date to the late 1800s, which means the town is a popular Western movie location. In fact, being this close to Los Angeles means almost every place around here has been immortalized on film at one time or the other. The AM/PM Market was in Terminator 3, and even the local Presbyterian Church was used in some episodes of the 6 Million Dollar Man and Touched by an Angel.
The major industry hereabouts is aerospace, largely driven by Edwards Air Force Base about 40 miles north of here. Edwards Air Force Base is where almost every new military aircraft developed since before WW2 was tested. It's where "The Right Stuff" really happened. It's where Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier, and where Joe Walker became the first astronaut when he rode the X-15 rocket plane into space. It's where the Space Shuttle was tested. Unless you have some connection with
the Air Force, getting into the air base isn't easy. But every few weeks they quietly offer a tour to a limited number of people, and we managed to snag two seats on the bus. It was an absolutely fascinating day. Much of the really good stuff we got to see was in no-photo zones (dang), but just to be able to see it was great.
About half the tour was of NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, where we saw both of the modified 747s that are used to fly the Space Shuttle around. The day we were there three teams were
competing for a $2 million dollar prize to demonstrate a "space elevator". They had to lift a platform a mile up a wire, but the platform could contain no fuel or propellant. The solution was to fire a laser at photocells in the bottom of the platform, which would then convert the light to electricity to run the motors that lifted the platform. Some of the competitors from Canada shared part of our tour. Our tour included lunch in the NASA cafeteria and visits to a couple of on-base museums. We saw
lots of exotic aircraft. It was a wonderful day.
Most of the military aircraft that weren't tested at Edwards were the really secret birds - the U2, the SR71 Blackbird, the B1 and B2 bombers, and probably a lot more we don't know about. Most of them were developed in ultra-secrecy by the legendary Lockheed Skunk Works, which just happens to currently be located in Paid CA, about half-way between our RV park and the air force base. The Skunk Works is part of Air Force Plant 42, where almost every major aircraft company has a facility. Plant 42 is where the Space Shuttles
were all built. The City of Palmdale has a unique city park where they intend to display every aircraft that was built or in some way "touched" at Plant 42. It's a work in progress - there are currently about 15 planes on display, ranging from the huge B52 to small fighters.
But the real gem is right next door - the Blackbird Air Park. It's where the Air Force displays the real sexy planes - the original prototype Blackbird A-12, an early model U2, one of the production Blackbird SR71s. There are only four
planes on display in that little area, but wow! Almost as much fun were the two retired Lockheed guys manning the gift shop. They were both involved in building and testing these super-secret planes, both at Plant 42 and at Groom Lake, the infamous Area 51. And they love to talk. One would tell a story, and the other one would chime in "they told us we're not supposed to talk about that". And then they'd be off again talking about "that". Great fun.
We've heard of the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles almost all our lives, so we decided to drive into town for a visit. The tar pits are right downtown in LA, on Wilshire Blvd. They're a natural seepage of asphalt, which over the years have captured thousands of animals. Folks have been pulling bones out of the tar for about a hundred years now, and the result is over a million fossils. Sounds like a lot, but they estimate that on average there was just one entrapment event a year over the 40,000 year life of the pits. Of course, an entrapment
event involves several animals. A grass-eater (mammoth, deer, horse, bison, etc) would get trapped in the tar. Carnivores (lions, wolves, saber-tooth cats, bears, etc) would then attack and feed and some of them would get trapped. Eventually the dead animals would attract scavengers (vultures, ravens, foxes, etc) who would feed, and some of them would get trapped. One guy gets stuck, and takes 15 or 20 others down. The tar actually forms in pits up to 30 feet deep rather than a big puddle, so getting the bones out is a messy challenge. So far, there are
(or were) over 100 pits, but new ones happen from time to time. When we were there, a fresh tar seepage was forming in the lawn just outside the museum. Gooey, messy, smelly, sticky stuff. A street musician was trying to get some of the fresh tar into a jar as a souvenir and was getting quite gunked up. A museum has been built to house, display and process the fossils recovered. If you're into old bones, it's a fascinating place to visit. The bones haven't been mineralized, just impregnated with tar stuff, so they don't weigh as much as bones that have turned to stone. Therefore, most of the bones displayed in the museum are the real thing, not resin casts as you'll find in most museums.
At the end of our three-week stay in this area, we took the motorhome to the Rexhall motorhome factory in Lancaster CA (46) to have our water leak corrected. That involved replacing the seals around the slide-out room, a process that was complicated by the age of our rig - those seals aren't available any more. Retrofitting the currently available seals took three days and didn't go really well, but we're hoping the leaks are gone. So far it hasn't rained on us, but we're quite sure we'll see soggy sometime soon. While the techs worked, we stayed
in a motel, shopped a little, and went to several movies. And on Nov 18, we rolled across the desert and over the mountains to our next destination just north of Temecula CA. Hopefully we're done with errands for a while and can get back to our touristing lifestyle.
Most of our slideshow for this report is pictures of either airplanes or fossils. There are about 70 images, and you can see them here.
The major industry hereabouts is aerospace, largely driven by Edwards Air Force Base about 40 miles north of here. Edwards Air Force Base is where almost every new military aircraft developed since before WW2 was tested. It's where "The Right Stuff" really happened. It's where Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier, and where Joe Walker became the first astronaut when he rode the X-15 rocket plane into space. It's where the Space Shuttle was tested. Unless you have some connection with
the Air Force, getting into the air base isn't easy. But every few weeks they quietly offer a tour to a limited number of people, and we managed to snag two seats on the bus. It was an absolutely fascinating day. Much of the really good stuff we got to see was in no-photo zones (dang), but just to be able to see it was great. 
About half the tour was of NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, where we saw both of the modified 747s that are used to fly the Space Shuttle around. The day we were there three teams were
competing for a $2 million dollar prize to demonstrate a "space elevator". They had to lift a platform a mile up a wire, but the platform could contain no fuel or propellant. The solution was to fire a laser at photocells in the bottom of the platform, which would then convert the light to electricity to run the motors that lifted the platform. Some of the competitors from Canada shared part of our tour. Our tour included lunch in the NASA cafeteria and visits to a couple of on-base museums. We saw
lots of exotic aircraft. It was a wonderful day.
Most of the military aircraft that weren't tested at Edwards were the really secret birds - the U2, the SR71 Blackbird, the B1 and B2 bombers, and probably a lot more we don't know about. Most of them were developed in ultra-secrecy by the legendary Lockheed Skunk Works, which just happens to currently be located in Paid CA, about half-way between our RV park and the air force base. The Skunk Works is part of Air Force Plant 42, where almost every major aircraft company has a facility. Plant 42 is where the Space Shuttles
were all built. The City of Palmdale has a unique city park where they intend to display every aircraft that was built or in some way "touched" at Plant 42. It's a work in progress - there are currently about 15 planes on display, ranging from the huge B52 to small fighters.
But the real gem is right next door - the Blackbird Air Park. It's where the Air Force displays the real sexy planes - the original prototype Blackbird A-12, an early model U2, one of the production Blackbird SR71s. There are only four
planes on display in that little area, but wow! Almost as much fun were the two retired Lockheed guys manning the gift shop. They were both involved in building and testing these super-secret planes, both at Plant 42 and at Groom Lake, the infamous Area 51. And they love to talk. One would tell a story, and the other one would chime in "they told us we're not supposed to talk about that". And then they'd be off again talking about "that". Great fun..JPG)
The tar pits are right downtown in LA, on Wilshire Blvd. They're a natural seepage of asphalt, which over the years have captured thousands of animals. Folks have been pulling bones out of the tar for about a hundred years now, and the result is over a million fossils. Sounds like a lot, but they estimate that on average there was just one entrapment event a year over the 40,000 year life of the pits. Of course, an entrapment
event involves several animals. A grass-eater (mammoth, deer, horse, bison, etc) would get trapped in the tar. Carnivores (lions, wolves, saber-tooth cats, bears, etc) would then attack and feed and some of them would get trapped. Eventually the dead animals would attract scavengers (vultures, ravens, foxes, etc) who would feed, and some of them would get trapped. One guy gets stuck, and takes 15 or 20 others down. The tar actually forms in pits up to 30 feet deep rather than a big puddle, so getting the bones out is a messy challenge. So far, there are
(or were) over 100 pits, but new ones happen from time to time. When we were there, a fresh tar seepage was forming in the lawn just outside the museum. Gooey, messy, smelly, sticky stuff. A street musician was trying to get some of the fresh tar into a jar as a souvenir and was getting quite gunked up. A museum has been built to house, display and process the fossils recovered. If you're into old bones, it's a fascinating place to visit. The bones haven't been mineralized, just impregnated with tar stuff, so they don't weigh as much as bones that have turned to stone. Therefore, most of the bones displayed in the museum are the real thing, not resin casts as you'll find in most museums.
At the end of our three-week stay in this area, we took the motorhome to the Rexhall motorhome factory in Lancaster CA (46) to have our water leak corrected. That involved replacing the seals around the slide-out room, a process that was complicated by the age of our rig - those seals aren't available any more. Retrofitting the currently available seals took three days and didn't go really well, but we're hoping the leaks are gone. So far it hasn't rained on us, but we're quite sure we'll see soggy sometime soon. While the techs worked, we stayed
in a motel, shopped a little, and went to several movies. And on Nov 18, we rolled across the desert and over the mountains to our next destination just north of Temecula CA. Hopefully we're done with errands for a while and can get back to our touristing lifestyle.