first hike, view to the north, Palmdale 7.28.90

On our first camping trip together we took the old Dodge truck down to meet his Mom and Dad in the still-beautiful Joshua forest of Palmdale, California .  Their house is in the slash of green trees dead center.  These are the hills where we scattered his ashes.

Steve and Mickie at San Andreas Fault, looking south

Driving home by way of Highway 395, I saw the Eastern Sierras for the first time.  We camped near Hot Creek,  visited the fish hatchery, camped at Rock Creek Lake.  Our last night out we stayed at Deadman Campground on Highway 108 below Sonora Pass.

We slept on the ground in down sleeping bags, wrapped up like a burrito in a white cotton painting tarp.  In the morning we witnessed the amazing complexity and diversity of one species, a family of scrub jays (and one Western Tanager) that were fat, thin, tall, short, with various personalities in the pecking order as they came down to clean potato scraps from the frying pan.

Pretty sure Steve caught a fish here, he looks pretty happy about something.

On June 24, 1990 Lynn, Steve, and I drove in the Mothership up the coast to search for Steve’s ancestral lands, around Stewart’s Point and Fort Ross, where the Kashiya Pomo tribe lived (some married and left with Russians) in the 1800’s.

Kashiya Haupt family circa 1924

We found the site of Haupt Ranch where his mother Elsie was born, and where the family portrait was taken in 1924.  Steve’s mother is the little blond girl on her mother’s lap on the far right.  The cemetery still has many old stones from his German Great Great Grandfather Charles Haupt on through the early 1900’s.

The old schoolhouse where Elsie went as a child is still standing just south of Stewart’s Point.

Haupt family cemetery in 1990

Steve and Lynn at Haupt Ranch site 

When I met Steve he had a turquoise-blue 1966 Dodge pickup with an oil leak and bad seals.  I thought it was a really cool.  I liked its face  .  .  .  It’s what he came to rescue me in when my 510 blew a gasket on the way home from Oregon.

1966 Dodge camper truck

Lynn sold us this orange 1979 Datsun truck, with a white door, which we used the hell out of–What could go wrong?  Once almost stuck at a campsite with a very steep road out.  I had to get out and walk to lessen the load.  Later we tried driving down a 4×4 road from Bristlecone Pines in the White Mountains to Bishop–hey, if it gets tricky, we can just turn around, right?

1971 Datsun 510 Wagon.  I loved this car–the back was huge.  I could carry my whole Tama drumset and a couple of amps and guitars.  I called it Beep Car because it had a weird silly horn.  .  Beep Car made it to Oregon and almost back, then later to Anza Borrego and back.

1971 Datsun 510 wagon

1981 gold Mazda GLC–Stuck in sand wash in Anza Borrego;  almost stuck in Saline Valley in the snow!  A Great Little Car, thanks Darlene.

1957 VW Type III, Betsy at BBRR, July 7, 2007

Betsy, a 1957 Volkswagen van with big custom bumpers–Orcas Island by Ferry 1996, Palmdale, Y2K–blew a rod, thus precipitating:

a Rental White Chevy S10 truck

1981 white Toyota 4×4 “Orca”, because it looked so huge when we got it home.  We bought it in Palmdale after searching for the perfect 4×4 for a couple of years.

1995 Toyota Tacoma, my work truck.  called into service one Christmas when the 4runner blew a fuel pump on the road, 75 miles from home.

1983 Volkswagen Westfalia, Steve’s Dream.  I call her “Babygirl” because she was a creampuff with 54k miles.

And still going, Steve’s prize 1988 4runner, Big Red, that we got from his sister Jo for $1.

Upper Warm Springs Canyon, Death Valley April 16, 2006

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packed for the trip home, 4/24/06