CZ93X62
Official forum enigma
Final notes on the MNP trip and the jacks--I don't think NPS or the County salts or chemically-de-ices these roads in winter. It certainly snows out this way, and I have seen road ice from time to time--but the snow depth or its duration of stay is not extensive. Since the Federales took control of the area c. 1994, the road conditions have deteriorated to some extent. I don't know what the road maintenance arrangements are inside MNP, County Road Department still posts the closure and status info on the main arteries.
NPS hegemony has not been good overall for the area. The mining activities and ranching that once predominated hereabouts are strongly discouraged, and the Feds exert a lot of pressure upon landowners to sell out to them. The mines saw the writing on the wall, and are shuttered. These are in varying stages of "mitigation", with the EPA being its usual "Speedbump On A Freeway" self. There are a few ranches still left, but nothing like the vigor this industry once had out here. Kelso Depot at one time served as a through railhead for shipping live beef cattle to Los Angeles for processing--kind of a sub-compact Dodge City. The families used this same station to travel from--the main rail line of the Union Pacific RR's Los Angeles-to-Salt Lake City route has had many ownership names over the years. Kelso Depot seems like a curious structure, a very unlikely classic passenger station built with the Mission architecture influences of the Union Stations in Los Angeles and San Diego. It was a bit down-at-the-heels at the time NPS took over, but a VERY NICE restoration of the Depot as a historic artifact inside and out is now complete. The site also serves as the administrative center for the NPS/MNP. It is well-kept, and much of the interior is period-restored to its heyday of the 1920s as a historic site.
The small towns that border the MNP have not fared well at all. This is not entirely the fault of NPS, but NPS was a co-star in the production. The routing of I-40 away from the long-established towns along Historic Route 66 (made famous by John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath and musicians soon after that) was the real stake in this area's economic heart. These towns are thoroughly depopulated,and rate as ghost towns for all practical purposes. Marie and I topped off the Jeep's gas tank at one remaining gas station at Fenner, CA--and its gas cost $5.86 per gallon for 87 octane/regular. This is a feat only exceeded once in my lifetime--on Catalina Island for my boat at the gas dock at Avalon--$6.99. The 1 liter water bottles (Crystal Geyser, semi-local brew from Olancha, CA) that sell for $1.79 to $1.99 in the real world were $3.99 each, also. Hijo la!
Oh, well--there are "compensations" for the tariffs--mostly the incredible beauty of this high desert environment. And once away from the Kelso Depot and its Friday onslaught of Palm Springs-to-Las Vegas travelers and miscellaneous Harley riders and Subaru drivers.....we had the area largely to ourselves. Very nice.
NPS hegemony has not been good overall for the area. The mining activities and ranching that once predominated hereabouts are strongly discouraged, and the Feds exert a lot of pressure upon landowners to sell out to them. The mines saw the writing on the wall, and are shuttered. These are in varying stages of "mitigation", with the EPA being its usual "Speedbump On A Freeway" self. There are a few ranches still left, but nothing like the vigor this industry once had out here. Kelso Depot at one time served as a through railhead for shipping live beef cattle to Los Angeles for processing--kind of a sub-compact Dodge City. The families used this same station to travel from--the main rail line of the Union Pacific RR's Los Angeles-to-Salt Lake City route has had many ownership names over the years. Kelso Depot seems like a curious structure, a very unlikely classic passenger station built with the Mission architecture influences of the Union Stations in Los Angeles and San Diego. It was a bit down-at-the-heels at the time NPS took over, but a VERY NICE restoration of the Depot as a historic artifact inside and out is now complete. The site also serves as the administrative center for the NPS/MNP. It is well-kept, and much of the interior is period-restored to its heyday of the 1920s as a historic site.
The small towns that border the MNP have not fared well at all. This is not entirely the fault of NPS, but NPS was a co-star in the production. The routing of I-40 away from the long-established towns along Historic Route 66 (made famous by John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath and musicians soon after that) was the real stake in this area's economic heart. These towns are thoroughly depopulated,and rate as ghost towns for all practical purposes. Marie and I topped off the Jeep's gas tank at one remaining gas station at Fenner, CA--and its gas cost $5.86 per gallon for 87 octane/regular. This is a feat only exceeded once in my lifetime--on Catalina Island for my boat at the gas dock at Avalon--$6.99. The 1 liter water bottles (Crystal Geyser, semi-local brew from Olancha, CA) that sell for $1.79 to $1.99 in the real world were $3.99 each, also. Hijo la!
Oh, well--there are "compensations" for the tariffs--mostly the incredible beauty of this high desert environment. And once away from the Kelso Depot and its Friday onslaught of Palm Springs-to-Las Vegas travelers and miscellaneous Harley riders and Subaru drivers.....we had the area largely to ourselves. Very nice.
