One morning in Colorado, we got up to find this little critter laying on our back porch step.
Now a coon isn't going to hang around people without a bit of hissing and snarling and generally making a fuss. Not a peep; he looked up at us then laid his head back down.
It was pretty obvious this little guy was sick, drooling, looked like he pee'd himself in place ... and look at his expression. No obvious blood though.
Likely rabid; I'm not getting close ... but we did put out a bowl of water and a bit of food (no cats at the time, so no kitty krunchies)
I may be willing to kill an animal - quickly - but I hate to see one injured or sick. I wasn't going to kill this one so we kept an eye on him and left him alone. Kept the water bowl filled; kept a bit of food nearby. But he's on his own - rabies isn't something to fool with - better to get bit by a rattlesnake.
He more or less stayed in place on the porch step for a few days; eventually crawled under the porch. Probably safer - coyotes couldn't get under there (but damn! now I'm going to have to get down on my knees and pull the body out if he croaks under there!)
I forget where I found this. On the edge of a town not much bigger than this egg as I recall. Kansas I think; maybe Nebraska. I don't think I was on a main highway - so on one of my travels along lesser known roads ... or more likely, a once main road faded into obscurity along with the towns it passes through when newer highways were built that bypassed the bottleneck towns.
But those are the places where such things still exist.
When I was living in Williamsburg, work required me to spend a week or two in Santa Barbara to deal with a vendor. I was working with the Federal government at the time and had to travel under government rules.
I forget the details now, but there was a flight sequence I could use to fly from the Williamsburg airport (PHF) (about 10 miles from home) to Santa Barbara (SBA). One advantage is that PHF was only a few miles from home and the vendor would provide transportation from SBA.
But the government wants to save money.
To save $50 on the flight ticket, I had to fly out of Norfolk (ORF) to Los Angeles (LAX). This required me to drive 40+ miles to ORF (at 50¢/mile), rent a car at LAX (~ $200/day+mileage), drive to Santa Barbara (100 miles), let the rental car sit for the 10 days or whatever I was there (the vendor drove me around - easier to get through the gate), then drive back to LAX (another 100 miles on the rental) ... and, because of flight times, rent a hotel room at LAX at $200/night. Then drive back to Williamsburg once I arrived at ORF.
But the government saved $50 on the flight.
I did enjoy my time in Santa Barbara though. I wandered down to the harbor at sunup and got this photo. Dark ... but I like it.
I can enjoy the shore but I'm still a desert/mountains type.
The USS Wisconsin (BB64) was commissioned in 1944, decommissioned in 1948, re-commissioned in 1951, re-decommissioned in1958, re-re-commissioned in 1988, re-re-decommissioned in 1991, finally discharged from the navy in 2006.
Served in WWII, Korea, and the first Gulf War. It is now a museum ship in Norfolk, VA where I took this photo. Her keel was laid after the Missouri's but was commissioned before. The Wisconsin was the highest numbered battleship to see service, and along with the Iowa, were the last battleships in active service.
The ship collided with a destroyer in heavy fog at the entrance to Chesapeake Bay in 1956. Her bow was heavily damaged and in order to get her seaworthy, the bow from the under-construction USS Kentucky (BB66 - ever completed, never commissioned) replaced that of the Wisconsin, resulting in the nickname "Wisky".
The Kentucky was to be the last battleship built but was never completed, was used for parts, and finally scrapped in 1958.
It was from Galata Tower, now part of Istanbul, that the first intercontinental flight took off. Ahmed Çelebi was an Ottoman scientist who experimented with winged flight until one time in 1638, with the assistance of southwest winds, he jumped off the top of the Galata Tower (in Europe) and soared about 2 miles over the Bosphorus Strait and landed in Üsküdar (in Asia, also now part of Istanbul). The Sultan of the time awarded him with a sack of gold ... and exile to Algeria: "A man to be feared, whatever he wishes, he can do. He can not stay".
The tower was built in 1348 and stands just shy of 220 feet tall. The roof was replaced in the mid-1960s.
Out along the old 1840s Emigrant Trail along the Truckee River Route - just west of the Humboldt Sink - was the most difficult terrain of the journey. Hot, dry, and sandy, covered with vast alkali flats, there was no water between the Humboldt Sink and the Truckee River some 40 miles distant. A rough wagon road was constructed by the late 1840s but travel was so difficult that by 1850 most chose to tackle the equally dreaded but easier travel of the Carson River Route through the 40-Mile Desert between the Humboldt Sink and the Carson Sink to follow the Carson River to the Sierra. The route split near what is/was Toulon, Nevada along I-80, just east of the following maps.
In today's terms, travellers chose to follow US 95 from just west of Lovelock south to Fallon and US50 over the Sierra south of Lake Tahoe to Placerville rather than follow I-80 west to Fernley and beyond over Donner Pass north of Lake Tahoe to Sacramento. Both routes pretty much follow the original wagon trails of the 1840s. That's long ago out this way.
Mrs DT laughs about that.
But the Truckee Route was not totally abandoned. Just a few miles west of where US95 cuts off from I-80 were deposits of almost pure salt. By 1864, the area was a significant source of commercial salt, annually producing several hundred tons of salt used in silver ore reduction. When the Central Pacific built past here in 1868, the White Plains station was built here, greatly reducing transportation costs. Prospectors in the area found deposits of silver - the nearby Desert Queen Mine is considered the oldest lode mine in northern Nevada. By 1879, the White Plains settlement had a post office. Salt production started to decrease, the railroad was re-routed to the south, and by 1909, the town of White Plains essentially ceased to exist.
1890
However, not far north of White Plains, a significant gold deposit was discovered in 1908, causing a new mining boom town of Jessup to be established. For a short while, Jessup was home to around 300 people with saloons and grocery stores serving those that worked the 8 mines in the area. The boom was short-lived and by 1909, the mines had played out and by 1912, Jessup had faded away.
1908
Well, one of those days very long ago when I was too ignorant to know how unprepared I was for being out so far that even the boonies were a long way away, I was wandering around some of the back corners of the Trinity Range west of the Jessup site. What's missing from the picture is my wreck of a 1964 Chevy ¾ ton pickup that I was driving at random through the sage. At some point, I came across some old mine workings ... and nearby was this old cabin. This cabin was so remote, blue-enameled pans were still hanging on pegs on the walls, an old stove nearby, and remnants of furniture were laying around inside the cabin.
I may have cut a trail others would follow. Didn't think of that at the time. I left the pans hanging there but even though that was almost 50 years ago; who knows, maybe the cabin and pans are still there.
I put together a little video sequence overlaying the 1890, 1908, and "now" maps to show changes ... and no changes. This region shows the region of the split in the California Trail between the Truckee River Route and the Carson River Route; the Truckee Route heading SW (I-80), the Carson Route heading S (US95).
One can still follow the wagon ruts through 40-Mile a mile or so off US95; old busted oxen shoes and other such metallic trash still lies buried in the sand; any graves though being long ago obliterated.
ghostsniper's comment reminded me - I should have added these two views:
Looking up road to Jessup - other side of those hills on the left
Looking south at the north end of 40-Mile desert. US95 along base of hills to left
