10/18/04
Where do you live now? Ridgecrest
How many years were you in the desert? Been here since Jan 1986
Are you willing to help with pictures? Don't have any old ones.
Are you willing to help with stories? Not here long enough but I've heard a bunch of them from old timers.
Comments:
I came here in early Nov 1985 on a interview trip. I flew into LAX and rented a car. I had never really been to Southern California as an adult so I was in for a slight cultural shock. As I left LAX airport, I stopped for a map and asked the guy at the station if he knew where China Lake was located. He said sure he did, it was way out east on I-10 at the California and Arizona State line.
Luckily, this didn't seem to jive with what I had been told so I went to the map and found Ridgecrest. I started driving and since it was late in the year, the sun would set early. When I reached Lancaster, I stopped for dinner and called my wife in Houston, TX. She asked what it was like and I told here that there were several business and housing areas close to where I was at at that moment, but I had not arrived at China Lake yet. I finished dinner and started up the road towards China Lake. As I drove on, it became dark and I kep watching the gas guage and the odometer. I was mentally calculating when the point of no return would occur so I could get back to the last gas I had past in Mojave, CA. I knew I had missed a turn or something as I kept drivng in the dark. Soon, however, I saw the glow of a small town and then to my relief, a sign indicating that there really was a city of Ridgecrest out in the god forsaken desert. My first night in what would become my home town was spent at the Heritage Inn.
The next morning I was awe struck by the emmense natural beauty of the surrounding mountains and the dusting of snow they held on the tops. I knew righ then and there if I were given a job offer I would be coming here. I took a roll of photos while driving around town that afternoon. I showed these to my wife and told her that the town was small but had a charm that just seemed to permeate everything there.
A week or two later I received an offer from the Navy as an engineer at the 'Lake as it became to be known to me in my travels for the gov't. I asked my wife if she wanted to see it before I accepted the offer (as I had already made up my mind when I opened the offer letter). She said no, she was going wherever I went. We started the process and arrived in the valley ready to start our new desert life on Jan 14, 1986.
I had her close her eyes until we rounded the last curve of Business 395 by the White Star Mine heading into the southside of town. I still remember her immortal words as she opened her eyes and looked out on her new home, "[I]Is it too late to go back to Houston?[/I]"
But we did stay and we're still here and have no plans of ever leaving. I just wish someone would fix the thermostat on the outside for summertime. But as they say " It's a dry heat".
10/28/04
Where do you live now? Union City, California
How many years were you in the desert? Depends on which desert you are talking about.
Are you willing to help with pictures? Upon Request
Are you willing to help with stories? Upon Request
Comments:
Pat, This is the first time I have had the honor to view your web page. I'm sure that I will be viewing it a lot more now that I know where you are located. Please take care friend and Semper Fi.
Chuck
10/07/04
Where do you live now? Ridgecrest
How many years were you in the desert? 38 years
Are you willing to help with pictures? Yes
Are you willing to help with stories? Yes
Comments:
I am the managing editor of "The China Lake Observer", which is the newest in the line of base newspapers that followed the "Rocketeer", "Weaponeer", and "OnTarget".
My paper is privately owned and is not backed by the base, but 1800 papers are delivered to the base, along with 2,000 others distributed in Ridgecrest.
It is a weekly newspaper, which comes out each Thursday. As of 6 Oct. 04, we have had 15 editions come out.
I was born in Tehachapi and adopted by a China Lake family in 1966. I lived on base until 1979, when I entered the Army. My parents stayed aboard until my dad's retirement in 1984.
I returned to China Lake as a China Lake Police Officer in 1984, and once again lived on base until 1988. I remained an officer until 1997 when I retired.
10/19/04
Where do you live now? Boulder City, Nevada
How many years were you in the desert? 11
Are you willing to help with pictures? Yes
Are you willing to help with stories? Yes - have dozens of them dating back to 1957
Comments:
My first job was at China Lake as a summer employee in 1957, and my last job will probably be at Ridgecrest as a contractor in 2005. I have many wonderful memories of the people who worked at China Lake...what a dedicated group of people! I was unaware of this website until I read about it in the base newspaper today. It is a shame that more people aren't aware of it. Thank you for making the website available and for maintaining it. One category that you might think about adding would be POWs who served at China Lake. Two of my office mates were both Vietnam POWs: Cdr. Howard Rutledge and Cdr. Allan Brady. I know there are others.
10/28/04
Where do you live now? Santa Monica, California
How many years were you in the desert? 3
Are you willing to help with pictures? Sure, and I have.
Are you willing to help with stories? You bet
Comments:
I will never forget my first view of the Indian Wells Valley. I had spent the previous 3 years in Honolulu, Hawaii, had bitterly fought to stay there when my Dad was stationed at what was then China Lake N.O.T.S., and felt I had been transported from Paradise to Hell. 8,000 abandoned souls--that was the population then, and I was a big-city kid, lost in the ever-present desert sand. I was horrified, mortified, depressed. I proceeded to enjoy three of the greatest years of my life. I formed all of my most enduring friendships in those years--with one of the greatest human beings ever, a teacher at Burroughs High School, and with several other fellow students from my class year--1966--and earlier class years. The desert gave me focus; I learned the importance of friends and mentors, competing, doing your best, surviving the impossible. Surmounting the odds against you. What I am, Burroughs high school made. I will love Ridgecrest, China Lake and Burroughs, and all the people I knew there, until my dying day. I had the immense good fortune to experience what was the Norman Rockwell American experience, a magical thing too few among us ever have the chance to enjoy. I owe a debt of gratitude for that I can never repay. So many stories. I hung with the honors kids and the total thugs. I did Work-study on the base in physics and held a minimum wage job at a local gas station on the base. I had the athletic skills of Fat Albert but the speaking skills of Demostenes. And I had a counselor who steered me towards what became my incredibly successful future. I was there at China Lake for the visit of President Kennedy, just a scant few weeks before he was assassinated. I have the commemorative medal still. My sister, her husband and their two kids still live in Ridgecrest, and she still works on the base. My mother and father are buried in Ridgecrest Memorial Park. Though I spent so small a part of my life there, Ridgecrest, China Lake, Inyokern and Burroughs were THE defining places in my life. A confluence of place and times. Thanks for this site, Pat. It has been a privilege to enjoy it and to contribute to it in a small way. As I grow older and more infirm, my years in the desert glow brighter and brighter. It was and remains a special place. And always will be, I think.
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