So now we live in Ridgecrest. It's different here. For one thing, it's very hot for about 6 months of the year. For another, it's cold with nasty winds for maybe 3 or 4 months of the year (not sure, we haven't experienced a full winter yet). It seems clear that most people spend most of their time inside.
It's also not a wealthy city and the infrastructure is a little lacking. I suppose the city just doesn't have the funds to put in a lot of delightful walking trails and that sort of thing. On the other hand, a lot of people come here to work at the base (China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station), and they tend to be intelligent, and intelligent people often recognize the benefits of exercise. Hmm.
One thing we noticed when we first moved here is that the curb cuts for driveways are very steep. The curbs are very high, as if floods were expected. This makes it so hard to push a stroller along the sidewalk. UP, down, UP, down. Many times the Graco stroller almost tipped over. But the hiking stroller is much lighter, so as long as we stick with that one, we're OK.
A month or so after we moved here I discovered a bike/pedestrian path about a half mile walk from our house. Now, almost every morning (5 or 6 days a week, we're lazy on the weekends), the babies and I go for an hour-long walk involving this path, and as I walk, I think about the path, and how it differs from paths in other places I've lived. Of course, because this is Ridgecrest, the path suffers in comparison. But I try to be fair.
The path, which runs east-west, is very straight and very flat (all of Ridge
crest is flat). It is paved. On the south side is a tall chain-link fence, which is protecting a streambed of some sort. On the north side is a big open field for part of the way, then houses, and then more open field. Alongside the path and in the fields there is dirt, and numerous ugly dry bushes. Some are creosote. I should learn the names of the others. It's hard to convey how unlovely the path is and how unlovely the big open fields are. But this is the desert.I spend the walks avidly looking for wildlife. I usually see rabbits, often lizards, and sometimes small fast-moving mammals (I don't know what they are). Never a snake or a tortoise or a tarantula. As for birds, twice I have seen a roadrunner. Several times I have seen quail. I thought they were California Quail, but maybe they are Gambel's Quail, which apparently are very similar but are found in the desert. I need to ask someone about that. Once I saw a horned lark, a few times I have seen killdeer, and often there are mockingbirds, hummingbirds, great-tailed grackles, and the usual mour
ning doves, house sparrows, and house finches. I think that's all. Each day when we set out, I think about what we might see, and it is very disappointing when there is nothing. I suppose it will get worse as the summer goes on, but I don't know. Maybe everything will estivate.Other people use this path too. Maybe it's busy early in the morning (the babies and I rarely get out before 8am), before people go to work. When we are out there, we usually see a few other moms with strollers, and a few older folks. Sometimes a bicyclist. They aren't what you'd call a friendly bunch. I figure they are all Republicans. OK, that is ridiculous. But they proba
bly are, since almost everyone in Ridgecrest is a Republican.Unlovely though the path may be, it is becoming one of my favorite things about Ridgecrest. Will I miss it if we move away? When I left Ann Arbor, I desperately missed my favorite walk, which I had taken almost every day for several years. I took a series of photos showing all the parts of the walk, so that I could remember it. That wouldn't be hard to do with my Ridgecrest walk, since it all looks pretty much the same.
But I do like those quail.
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