Eclectic Views

    
Was one of them wearing a picnic shirt with ants crawling across it?
That would have been <static>.
  

    
Time to wake up this topic - the season for road trips is coming upon
us!!
  

    
I drove down to Lake Havasu for a VW bus meet last month. 
The Mojave desert is wonderful, nearby and accessable. Great camping
too. Y'all need to go there!
  

    
Would love to drive over to Death Valley this time of year, but not sure the
best route from SF Bay area.
  

    
Bakersfield to Tehachapi to Mojave.
580->5->58 and then up.
Don't think about it, just get in your car and go.
  

    
Or add two hours by going over hwy 50, and enjoy the most
beautiful route in the country, hwy 395.  Hwy 5 is evil.
  

    
We've been promising ourselves a Death Valley hike while it's not too
cold/not too hot for two years now. We keep missing the window.

When we do get around to it, we'll have to decide whether it's
possible to access our trailhead with a Toyota Tacoma. Might actually
have to rent something with more clearance, I guess.

As to the food angle: how long would you guys trust the shrink-wrapped
string cheeses in a backpack? I've taken them on overnights, but never
risked a third day with them. If they're air-tight, though, it
shouldn't be a problem, should it?
  

    
Might wanna read Tim Cahill's account of his walk through Death Valley.
It starts with something like "The newspaper almost read 'Two Dumbasses
Found Dead in Desert.'"
  

    
I've carried all kinds of cheeses into the back-country for a week or more,
hard soft, and String - I use up the softer ones first  - but String cheese,
hormetically sealed - I'll even bet if you look at the ingreedients, you'll
see a preservative of soem kind - easy for a week in the woods.
  

    
Hey! I found a stupendous Chinese restaurant in Sparks. Unfortnunately
for anyone headed to Reno or Sparks in the next week, I can't remember
its name. However I'll be eating there for lunch on Wednesday and I'll
reember it.

The last time I was there, also the first time, I had something that
was quite nice. I also had a spicy beef dish, the name of which escapes
me. Every bite made my mouth explode in a gustitorial orgasm of
flavors and succulence the like of which I can't recall. To say that it
was good is like saying that you'd get wet at the bottom of the
Marianis Trench. It was stand up on the table and shout, "God DAMN,
that's GOOD!"

Eating in the casinos on I-80 in Nevada is a hit or miss proposition.
I asked the keno lady in one casino in either Elko or Wells where to
eat breakfast. She said to go to a different casino for their buffet. I
did, it was good and plentiful. I'll eat there again and remember
where for you guys if it is close to eating time when I'm going through
town.

I've been cooking steaks on my engine block. What I've been doing is
to get a chunk of tri-tip. I wrap it in a big piece of aluminum foil
and then place it next to where the carburettor ought to be if my car
had a carburettor. Then I drive for three or four hours. I try to have
a good cursty baguette with me so I can make a steak sandwich. 

What I'm planning to do is to buy a chuck or 7 bone roast, a Reynolds
baking bag, a bunch of spices and a can of beef broth. I'm going to put
the stuff that you'd imagine ought to go inside the bag with the beef
in there. Then I'm going to wrap the bag in a bunch of aluminum foil.
Then I'm going to drive for three or four hours.

I'll report back. It ought to work.
  

    
Love road trips. 

Growing up as a kid, on early Saturday mornings, my dad would toss us
kids in the back seat and off we would go to some new adventure.  He
would stop at his favorite butcher shop and have the butcher slice up
some bologna. Dad would also buy a loaf of bread and a 6 pack of soda. 
Either creme or orange and often it was the only time we would get
soda.  Mom would sit up front and pass the treats to keep us subdued
until we got to our destination.  

We went to the Columbia or Snake river to hunt agates on the beach.  I
can remember going to a farm in Oregon where my Dad paid a farmer
$1.00 to hunt "thunder eggs" on his property.  Once in awhile our treks
might be to a museum and we always stopped at every roadside fruit or
novelty stand.  

To this day I enjoy packing for a road trip.  No bologna. Usually,
some cheese, dry salami, fruit, a good bread, maybe a bottle of wine
and always a good piece of chocolate or two. 
  

    
What are "thunder eggs," rosebud?
  

    
A "thunder egg" is a very large agate.  I think the correct name is 
Geode.  Shaped like a round egg and very rough like dried mud on the
outside.   In fact, the name "thunder egg" came from the Native
Americans.  We found them mostly in the John Day area of Oregon.  My
father was a lapadarist and so he had the tools to cut them open and
once polished they are very beautiful.  

I will see if I can google a pic.  I am sure they will be familiar to
you.   
  

    
http://www.cst.cmich.edu/users/dietr1rv/thunderegg.htm
  

    
Anyone who is in the Bay Area, if you want to seem some jaw-dropping 
examples, go to Crystal Reflections on the main drag in San Anselmo.
  

    
Ah. Yes, I recognize those things. They're so lovely, aren't they?
  

    
Anybody remember those old iron sandwich toasters for the campfire?
One piece of bread on either side, filling, close it, then hold it by
its long handles over the fire. Don't know how I'd like it these days,
but at the time, it was the height of fine cuisine.

They're still out there, in a catalogue here and there. They're all
fancy and non-stick though - not the kind you had to smear with tons of
butter first (yum).
  

    
Those are called "Hobo Pies". I dined on those while camping in the
Mojave recently.

I don't own that tool personally, but I was traveling with someone who
did. I *do* carry a Primus stainless steel toaster however, as well as
a telescoping marshmallow fork. Those items are in my VW camper van
all the time, just in case.
  

    
(slippage)

Wow, Angie, that brings back some memories!  I'm actually thinking of
a Cuban eatery I used to frequent on Sunset Blvd. in Echo Park (LA). 
It offered a variety of items in the "torta planchada" (or "ironed
sandwich") genre.  My favorite was the "media noche" - ham & cheese &
miscellany on a sort-a-french-roll.
  

    
(slippage)

We called them "mountain pies" in Pennsylvania.

A telescoping marshmallow fork!  That's great!
  

    
I love my telescoping marshmallow forks or also referred to as the
"weenie stick."  I own four of them.  Each one has a different color
wooden handle.  Two are monogrammed.  One with my name and the other
with my ex husband's name.  Anyone by the name of Bill need a new
telescoping weenie stick? 

Actually, I need to send it to him.  
  

    
Do they telescope in the traditional manner, using concentric tubes that
slip down inside the larger ones? I would think a better design would be the
classic two-handled criss-cross arrangement; extending and pulling back in
become effortless and instantaneous.

Or maybe something spring-loaded?
  

    
spring-loaded, telescoping marshmallow forks?

I don't think so, woodman. Imagine a spring sproinging unexpectedly after
you've retracted the fork to retrieve your scorching-hot marshmallow.
Imagine the marshmallow soaring into the air, arcing over the fire and
forcefully splotting onto the forehead of your campmate, where it sticks
with all its melted marshmallow goodness, sealing itself to the campmate in
a painful gooey mass.
  

    
You have a problem with that?
  

    
Camping trips are all about hilarious mishaps. Besides, it would be great to
see the reaction when you impale your marshmallow on a stick that's visibly
only 8 inches long, point it nonchalantly toward the fire, and SPOING! I see
it as a sort of replay of the Elliott Gould "it's not a martini without an
olive" scene in _MASH_.