We drove from Barstow, CA to Pahrump, NV, through Death Valley, today, and the views were spectacular. Molly, zoe and I caught up to Harvey the RV at one point, and the scenery dwarfed our house on wheels, reinforcing the quote we have on the back of our rv.
Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.
–Gustave Flaubert
Near Shoshone, CA, miners carved dwellings in the caliche clay embankments in the 1920s. Clearly, this was the coolest place to be in the hot hot hot summers.
We were quite fascinated by the antique trashpiles of rusted tin cans and broken glass … the area is a Historic Site, so someone must have decided that the antique trash should be preserved. (Of course, there was some evidence of contemporary trash, but it wasn’t too bad.) Most of the caves had locked doors, so we could not go inside. The caves that were open were mostly just big enough for a person to sleep in.
Some caves had split levels, stovepipes and even garages. There was a two-hole outhouse that, obviously, the kids had to look inside. 🤪 (used, of course) Apparently, some people lived in these caves up til the 70s! We saw rusted out bed springs in a few and a broken antique ice box sitting outside. Other than that, it was completely abandoned.
There was a cemetery nearby that had very, very old markers that were unreadable, mixed in with some contemporary headstones of people that died between the 30s and 70s.
A second site of caves was down the road. Most of those caves were too high to reach and seemed too small for “houses.” One had a door and seemed to have multiple rooms. There were piles of rubble that looked like caves had collapsed.
It was fun to roam around and contemplate living that simply. It would be even more fun with a group of friends and more time to climb.
Kymani spent much of today, curled up on the floor next to Sophie and Frodo.
pjamz5 
