Welcome to Zzyzx

Zzyzx, CA~We're here! We left Las Vegas this morning about after lunch for our two hour ride down highway 15. Those that are from this area are familiar with the Sunday afternoon/evening traffic from Las Vegas back to Los Angeles. Well, those that are not used to the traffic (Me)were awestruck by the bumper to bumper trip. It was a mass exodus! It reminded me of leaving Myrtle Beach on a Sunday afternoon and traveling on 501 or maybe I-26 west on Memorial Weekend. Stop and go's all the way and at one point our van was making clunking noises in the transmission (we guess...being on not sound mechanic knowledge). It is currently 10:50 on Sunday evening in the Mojave and as I sit on the "Castle" porch on the second floor, I can still see the line of lights from the cars traveling back from Las Vegas.

However, our scenery was awesome! I saw my first Joshua tree! The terrain is so unlike SC. SC scenery is very specific based on the region that you are driving through at the time. Palmetto trees for the lowcountry, pine trees for the midlands region and hardwoods for the upcountry. Driving on highway 15 was very unique. Mountains with lava flows tops, different color sand and even desert varnish. I saw the largest mirage I have ever seen and there were even land sail races on the dry lake beds.

The research station is a former health and mineral spa. Built in the 40's as a resort the owner lost it in the 1970's due to nonpayment of taxes. We are not to drink the water due to mineral contact. Actually, you can but then mother nature takes its course. So, I guess I will stick with the potable water from the "white sink". Currently, it is run by the Department of the Interior and it host groups for research. Today, they put the hot air balloon up for a short period of time. That was an adventure! Tomorrow morning if there is no wind it is supposed to be set up again. It is going to be used to locate and compare lava caves using remote sensing. Flexibility is the key to this expedition due to weather concerns that may interfere with some of the events.

Breakfast is at 7 AM and at that time we will sign up for activities to do for the day. We will take a box lunch and then return for breakout meetings with our "home" group and prepare for the next day. Each home group will be responsible for a blog entry a day to be posted to the Spaceward Bound webpage. My day is Thursday. This give me time to recover from jet lag.