This is a great site! I love looking at how Ridgecrest came to be. It is also nice to show friends that it did not sprout up overnight in the middle of the desert!Ridgecrest does have history.

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The first thing I remember about R/C was my first day at BHS as a Junior, just moving into a "big high school" from small town Oregon, was that it was HOT!  August of 81.  I was taken back by boys wearing pink Izod shirts and leg warmers.  We didn't dress like that in Oregon.   As time went by, I got used to it and even wore a pink shirt or two.  John's Pizza is a highlight in my memory, the remodel of the building into what it is today and the square cut pizza.  Lot's of good memories there, not only from the 80's.  My children love to bribe grampa into taking them there.  Course he puts up a good front, he loves it too.  Had a great time in the flood of 84.  Ran around in dad's truck and pulled people out of ditches and generally went puddle hoppin'.  Went to Cerro Coso for a couple of years, and then joined the military in September of 85.  Moved back in 90 for about 3 years, working on the base for the Boeing Company.  Moved out in late 93, and have been in Colorado since, and love the moderate temps... We visit often, probably always will, it's who we are...  Thank you for the memories... mt

This has been a fun trip down memory lane.  Sometimes, I really miss Ridgecrest and wish I'd never left.  You only have one home town.

I checked in at China Lake, NOTS, the day of the Tehachapi earth quake. I transfered up from San Diego and brought along Don Stewart and an experimental machinist from North Island NAS. My wife, Mary and three kids, John, Judy, and seven week old Kathy moved into a small trailer on 3rd place. Gravel roads in those days. We lived in two houses during our tour, an old Normack and then into a new Capehart on Burros Ave. We had four more girls during the tour. Sheri, Lynda, Ruthie, and Marjorie. Right now our kids are coast to coast. If you want their email's, let me know. We dearly miss all our friends on the desert, but we don't miss the wind and blowing sand. It's good to hear and see of days gone by.

I worked civil service for 15 years out at Thompson Lab.  Lived out in Ridgecrest Heights and Ripley Estates for a while then bought a place north of Inyokern where I lived for 12 years.  Really miss the clear nights and all the stars.

The Sierra Club in Inyokern was my home away from home--hope it's still there.  I remember having keys to it for a while so that we could go watch football before the bar opened in the morning.

I remember when WalMart opened and it seemed that everyone went in on the weekends more for running into friends than for shopping.

The drive-in movie died--somehow tied in with a ponzi investment scandal.  I remember the Ridgecrest movie thater growing from two screens to five--big town stuff!

Also miss JD's; it closed before I left.  I saw traffic lights go up everywhere; Ridgecrest /China Lake Blvd had the only light when I moved into the valley.

Most of all I miss the friends I left behind and can only blame myself for not staying in touch.

                     to all who see this

                     and anyone who remembers me,

                              take care,

                                                 steve