Spring 2017 Travels

Big Bear--Southern California Playground. The view of the valley is obscured by the clouds below.

Slash X Ranch on Hwy 246 just off Hwy 15 west of Barstow California. 4x4 enthusiasts weekend playground. Free camping with big food choices as displayed below.

Yes, that's 3 meat patties in one bun. What more could one ask for after a day of hard 4x4 excursions

Art Project "Seven Magic Mountains add vivid color to the Desert just south of Las Vegas.

Nevada Nuclear Test Site Tour Mercury Nevada. First Detonation 1951. No cameras, no GPS, no telescopes, no Binoculars, no cell phones, no lap tops, no firearms. Oh and no shorts? 

Next Stop Norm's brothers in Nevada. The Carroll Shelby Car Museum, Pawn Stars Pawn Shop, Mob Museum and the Nuclear Museum.

Valley of Fire, Red Rock Canyon and Hoover Dam

Hoover Dam.(not my photo) That about does it for this trip to Las Vegas

Tuweep. 65 miles of 4x4 travel to experience this obscure North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Bring the camping gear. There is a cool campground located up here in Tuweep. Only high clearance 4x4 can make it to the top.
Below is a cool Shot of Tuweep

Gasping our way through the dense pollution in Page Arizona.

Canyon de Chelly for a memorable 6 hour jeep ride through the canyon. Meet Ben Tiller. Full blooded Navajo, born in the canyon and conducting tours for the past 60 years. For an exorbitant price we rode in a dilapidated  Jeep Cherokee for 6 hours with this phlegm spitting 80 year old who continued to  eye the 4 wheel drive levers suspiciously as if he never had seen them before. Equipped with doors that only opened from the inside and windows permanently in the down position. No air conditioning (did I mention the temperatures were reaching 100 degrees) and all the dials on the dash were pegged at zero. 

I told Norm, this will be an adventure we won't soon forget. Thank you Ben.

Canyon de Chelly. In Navajo speak Canyon de Tseyi.

The Anasazi built their homes in the cliffs of Canyon de Chelly. They arrived long before the Navajo, who didn't arrive until  the 1600's. And the Navajo were not cliff dwellers, they built their lives on the canyon floor.

Pictographs depicting life of  Navajo ancestors  in Canyon de Chelly

Window Rock to the left . The seat of the Navajo Government and capitol of Navajo Nation.

Navajo Code Talkers of World War II. The Japanese cryptographers were unable to decipher the Navajo language based code 

 

    Hells Gate! On Hells Revenge Trail Moab. Worse than it looks.Yikes!

Mickeys Hot Tub on Hells Revenge Moab

 A side trip off the White Rim Trail in Moab. Down Lanthrop Canyon. The visitor center  neglected to mention this water feature

2009 Jeep Rubicon For Sale

See Add on Craigs List

https://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/cto/5772193535.html

 

MANZANAR WAR RELOCATION CENTER HWY 395

 110,000 Japanese Americans were interned from 1942 to 1945.  Most were American Citizens of Japanese Ethnicity.  

 Rich and Poor, Old and Young. 

All lost their liberties, Most lost their homes and property. Arriving with only what they could carry in a suitcase.

Spending 3 years fenced in and surrounded by 8  armed guard towers with  search lights. 

This internment established with the stroke of a pen of the President of the United States

President Roosevelt  Executive Order  9066 issued on February 19,1952

And it might surprise you to know that citizens of German and Italian descent were also detained due to this World War II hysteria. 

 We were surprised to learn of  10 Japanese Internment camps established through out the country in 1942. 

As well as various Army facilities and isolation centers to house the Japanese

  Each Building housed 6 families in a divided room approximately 16 x 20 feet. About the size of a living room.

Sharing meals in a Mess Hall. Community Showers and Community  toilets. Garden were planted, parks created, community centers and schools were constructed.

It is interesting to note many of the eligible young men of the internment camps were asked to volunteer for Military Service for the United States during World War II, which many did.

 Following the Attack on Pearl Harbor , those of Japanese ethnicity  experienced extreme prejudice. Jobs were lost, Japanese businesses were boycotted, children were harassed in the schools and violence against the Japanese citizens of the U.S became more frequent.

Jobs and housing continued to be in scarce supply for these folks upon release from the Internment Camps. 

Baically these folks lost everything they owned when interned by the U.S. government. They lost their houses, business, cars and belongings.