Before I go any further here, there is something I need to
admit. I’m weird. Yes, just like
everyone else, I have a side of me that is what some people would call off the
wall, strange, and abnormal. But let’s
face it, we all have our little quirks.
If we didn’t, no one would have any uniqueness to them and we would be
like robots. Being completely normal
is…not normal at all. So, now that I got
that out of the way, here’s how I’m weird.
I like to explore places that most people probably couldn’t care less
about. Places no one has any reason to visit
and therefore, largely go unnoticed.
When I was a kid, I discovered a city about thirty minutes away from my
suburban Michigan hometown called Novi, Michigan. I thought the name of the city sounded cool
so I wanted to go there and check it out, just to see what was there. When I brought up to my dad, he stopped what
he was doing and gave me a puzzled look.
“Why would you want to go there?
There’s nothing there” he said.
Finally, I was able to convince my mom to take me out there for lunch on
a random Saturday. In college, I dated a
girl from the town of Gobles, a small hamlet just outside of my college town. Fascinated with this town, I was able to convince
one of my roommates to drive out there with me to a bar to have some drinks and
shoot pool. I can’t think of any
particular reason why I wanted to visit these places other than to explore and
see what was there. I have always liked
to venture out to small, no-name, desolate places and see what kind of trouble
I can get into, so to speak.
It was a rainy Saturday morning in Los Angeles, and I was,
again, feeling adventurous. It was time
for another field trip. I wouldn’t be
driving to the local trails or the beach to go running this morning. Instead, I was going to drive out to the
California high desert and set off on a run to another town that I was
intrigued by; Landers, California. A
tiny desert town with a population of around 3,000, Landers is located in San
Bernardino county, just north of Joshua Tree National Park. I stumbled upon this place a couple of years
earlier while reading online about the Giant Rock, supposedly the largest
freestanding boulder in the world. The
town is in the middle of the Mojave Desert and is composed of dirt roads,
mobile homes, modest sized houses, a few restaurants and gas stations, a couple
of stores, and large desert fields chock full of Joshua trees, desert plants,
and random junk. However, due to it’s remote
desert location, the town is known for having spectacular sunsets, dazzling
star filled night skies, and world class sunrises. Still, unless you’re an astronomy enthusiast,
or just a curious individual who likes to explore, there probably isn’t much of
a reason to visit Landers. There may not
much happening there, but today I was going to see for myself.
The rain fell on my windshield as I drove along the 10
freeway eastbound through the cities of Upland and Fontana. Rain was forecasted in and around Los Angeles,
but the high desert area was forecasted to remain sunny and dry. By the time I reached Mount San Jacinto, the
rain had stopped and some of the clouds had dissipated. The sun was now making its way into the sky
with rays of orange light breaking through the clouds in front of me. The 10 freeway is a major gateway that passes
through the Coachella Valley into the cities of Palm Springs, Palm Desert, and
Indio, followed by miles of open desert to the Arizona border, to Phoenix, and
beyond. I had never been further east in
Southern California than the Indio area and I thought about how fun it would be
to travel this road and see all the places it passed through. I would have to save that for another day
though. To get to my destination, I
would need to exit the 10 and make my way north up highway 62.
As I arrived in the town of Yucca Valley, I pulled into a
gas station near the road on which I was going to be running. When I opened my car door, a rush of cold
morning air blew inside. It made me
shiver, but it was refreshing as I stood outside my car and took a deep inhale
of the clean, crisp desert air. I
walked inside, used the rest room, and made my way to the checkout counter with
a big bottle of water. The clerk and I
were chatting as she rang up my purchase.
“It’s raining all over LA, so I came out here to unwind and go for a
nice long run” I told her. “Where are
you running to?” “I’m going to start here and go to Landers and back” I
explained. “Wow, good for you!” She
said, smiling. “Thanks! We’ll see how it goes”. I exited the gas station and drove to a small
residential street off the 247 highway to park my car. My plan was to run along the side of the road
in the bike lane, head north from Yucca Valley, and turn around once I got to
Landers. I made my preparations and
headed out on foot towards the 247. The
road in front of me climbed a few hundred feet, curving off to the left in the
distance. On both sides of the road were
large rock formations, resembling giant light brown marbles and stones in a
heaping pile. As I made way around the
bend, the piles of rocks formed walls on either side of the road. It was early in the morning and the road was
still relatively quiet, but every few minutes, a car would pass by. I was running with the traffic, so people on
my side passed cautiously, while on coming drivers gave me looks as if to say
‘whoa, you’re running out here? Okay, that’s cool, I guess!’ Just then, a pickup truck passed by and gave
a couple of quick taps of the car horn as they drove up behind me. Initially, I was annoyed, but as they passed,
the passenger leaned out the window and flashed me the peace sign. Those feelings of annoyance were promptly
reverted, and I smiled, returning the favor.
Shortly after reaching the bottom of the hill, I came upon an
intersection with a dirt road. As I
approached the intersection, a jeep came barreling down the dirt road and fish
tailed to a stop, kicking up a cloud of dust.
I cruised by and waved to the occupants.
They were two teenage guys who were off-roading on the desert
trails. They looked surprised to see me
but smiled and gave me a thumbs up. As
time passed, the road gradually got busier.
I was nearing the crest of another hill when an old SUV came down the
road towards me in the oncoming lane. I
didn’t take much notice until I heard a loud bang as it passed by. The startling noise shook me from my focus
and my head spun to the left. ‘What the
hell was that?’ I said out loud. Seeing
the smoke from the exhaust pipe, I realized the SUV had backfired as it passed
me, due to the restrain that the driver was putting on the engine to get over
the steep hill. However, the desolation
of the desert environment was making my imagination run wild, and my mind
pondered the idea of some strung out meth head driving down the road early in
the morning and thinking it would be pretty hilarious to fire his gun in the
air as he drove by, just to scare the living hell out of me. Running down the hill was steep, and I had to
slow myself. By the time I reached the
bottom, I saw a sign indicating that Landers was just another five miles up the
road. I continued along with nothing in
sight except for the open road, the blue ski, and the mountains in the
distance. Several Joshua trees crowded
the sandy, rocky desert landscape on either side of the road and I reveled in the
morning calmness of the desert. Only
when I paused my ipod did I realize how peaceful it was. There was not a sound to be heard except the pattering
of my feet. It was so soothing that I
decided to keep my ipod paused for a few minutes and just enjoy it. A few more miles were covered, and eventually
the town of Landers came into view. I
had found a trail that ran parallel to the road that wove through the Joshua
trees, which had just dumped me back on the roadside as I entered the outskirts
of town. Once I reached eight and a half
miles, I crossed the road, and began heading back to Yucca Valley. About a half a mile later, I came upon an
establishment that consisted of a Valero gas station and a small building that
acted as the local diner, liquor store, convenience store, deli, etc. When I entered the building, I made a left
towards the dining area and walked past some tables towards the restroom to
relieve myself. As I walked out, I saw
in front of me a middle-aged lady sitting at a table by herself sipping some
coffee. We made eye contact and I nodded
at her as I was walking by. “How far are
you running?” “Hmm, let’s see” I answered.
I pulled out my cell phone to check how many miles I had covered on my
Strava app. I’ve gone about nine miles
and I’ll be doing seventeen all together”.
“That’s great!” she proclaimed with a big smile. “I love it.
We’ve been watching you out on the road.” I didn’t sense that she was a runner or that
she would be taking up the sport any time soon, but I was flattered that she
was intrigued and excited about my little desert running escapade. “Thank you!” I said, smiling back. “Thanks for
the support!” “Alright!” she proclaimed
again, throwing her arms in the air.
Just then her family came and sat down. I bade them farewell and headed
back out the door. As I ran down the
road and headed back towards Yucca Valley, I got a nice cadence going, thanks
to the new burst of energy I got from my encounter in the diner. It was moving to me, knowing that some of
these people driving along this desolate road were supportive of my adventure
and yet they had no clue who I was, where I was from, or why I was doing this. But they saw some nut case out here running
along the side of the road and they thought that was pretty freaking cool. I continued to get occasional waves and nods
from passing vehicles, and eventually I came over the top of the final hill. I was treated to a spectacular view of Yucca
Valley with the town center directly in front of me, the mountains and the desert
resting on the horizon. I made it back
to my car, jumped in and started heading back home. During the drive I laughed to myself about
the morning’s events and thought about how unique this run was. I felt like I had gotten a small taste of
what it was like running Badwater, only it was much cooler outside. The last thought I had before drifting on to
other thoughts was “wow, running sure has taken me places!”
