Mojave (Mohave): not OSX

[jane-e]

Mojave is more than the newest OSX.

For those who live outside of the United States, the Mojave Desert in Southern California and parts of Utah, Nevada, and Arizona occupies 47,877 sq mi (124,000 km).

Mojave Desert - Wikipedia

https://www.mdlt.org/about/

The desert is named after the Mojave (Mohave) tribe of native American Indians:

Mojave tribe: Location, Clothes, Food, Lifestyle, History and famous Chiefs***

The Mojave River is unique because it flows inland instead of toward the ocean:

Mojave River

Here is a map from the National Park Service:

https://www.nps.gov/moja/planyourvisit/upload/MOJAmap1.pdf

[Chuck Uebele]

I was very young, when I first visited the Mojave. I remember trying to capture what I thought was a land walking lobster. Luckily I didn't catch it!!!

[Nancy OShea]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Chuck+Uebele  wrote

I remember trying to capture what I thought was a land walking lobster. Luckily I didn't catch it!!!

Not exactly my favorite pet  but to each his own.

[Chuck Uebele]

That's a big scorpion, Nancy! I only found smaller ones around where I lived.

[Chuck Uebele]

Photo I shot a few years back while driving through Mojave.

[jane-e]

Chuck, that's so beautiful!

[Chuck Uebele]

Thanks, Jane.

[Chuck Uebele]

My grandparents and great-grand parents used to live on the Rosamund dry lake, which is now Edwards AFB. They had a few stories about living out there. My great-grandfather had a homestead there and wanted to grow rice on the lake. That never happened, ended up raising chickens and working in some mines out there. A cousin told me that he would have my great-grandmother drive their car, while he sat on the fender with a rifle and run down coyotes. I looked on Google maps, and it looks like the ruins of their house are still visible near the end of a runway. I wanted to try and get permission to go out there and see, but haven't done it yet. Here's a shot of their home.

[Kat Gilbert]

Chuck- what an amazing photo. Your touch with photography began way back in your family's history!

(Since I am a plant person would love to know what the tree is!)

[Chuck Uebele]

That's a Joshua Tree.

[Kat Gilbert]

Thanks Chuck!

https://www.sciencealert.com/it-could-take-300-years-for-joshua-tree-national-park-to-recover-from-t...

[Chuck Uebele]

Yes, very upsetting to hear about vandals at Joshua Tree. Horrible how some people have no regard for things and people.

[gener7]

Chuck, I had read somewhere that the government offered land to WWI veterans to homestead there, but for some the isolation was a bit too much. Must have been a long drive for provisions, and not much in the way of social interaction and services.

Did your grandparents stay there or did they decide to move on?

[Chuck Uebele]

Jane, I'm not sure. Most likely a well, but I do remember hearing that my grandmother had to draw my grandfather's bath hours ahead of time so it could cool off.

Gene, my great-grandfather died of silicosis from the mines around 1935. My great-grandmother sold it to MUROC, which later became Edward's AFB. She lived to be 96, and attended my wedding. She was the best. Told me that only the good die young, so don't be too good.

[gener7]

96 and attending your wedding. Can't ask for better.

I don't know if there is any one secret to growing old, but your great-grandmother has a good point.

I once landed at Edwards on a cargo plane for a short stopover. No passenger terminal, we had to hang around the plane. I wanted to grab a snapshot of the High Desert terrain, but due to a chance of classified experimental aircraft using the runways, I was politely warned not to.

[Chuck Uebele]

Yea, I've done a lot of classified photography, and have been told what I can take and what I can't. To answer you question about social interaction, my great-grandmother loved to party, and they would drive a long ways (40 miles) to go to dances on the weekends and play cards. Sometimes we would go to Tahoe and drive around the lake, she wanted to be dropped off at the casinos. She had more fun on those trips than I did.

Got this one story about her from a cousin: my great-grandfather, Roy, was trying to defeat a school bond that was being voted on. He went to all his friends to convince them to vote against it. The bond passed by one vote. Roy was livid. He came home and said to my great-grandmother, Bernice, "How could that be! Pete voted against it, Joe voted against it, I voted against it, you voted against it." My great-grandmother looked at Roy and said, "What makes you think I voted against it?"

When I knew her, she had an Austrian boyfriend. My mom asked her why she wouldn't marry him. She replied that she would never be another man's slave.

Our family has never been demonstrative with affection, but one of the last visits to our house, Bernice was about to go home, and I went over and gave her a kiss on her cheek, something I've never done, nor has anyone else in my family. It was the only time I've seen my great-grandmother fighting back tears.

I really miss her!

[jane-e]

What a beautiful story about your Great-grandmother Bernice, Chuck! It leaves me wishing I could meet her and get to know her!

[Kat Gilbert]

Chuck, you need to write a book! With all the wonderful and very unique pictures you have of your family, all the adventures that you have traveled to follow their paths and the stories you have in memories- it would be a wonderful, wonderful read!

[jane-e]

I agree with Kat, Chuck — plus this year at the ACP day at MAX, please consider volunteering for a five-minute presentation to tell Bernice’s story.

[Chuck Uebele]

I sort of have written a book. You can see what I've written at: Uebele Photo - Links & Genealogy. Bernice and Roy are in the McCain link. I'm in the process of rewriting them, converting the files from Framemaker to ID, so the write ups with double columns are the old Framemaker files.

[jane-e]

Chuck, I just read a good part of Bernice’s story — but “lethal cook”? So funny! Your story is an awesome tribute to a great lady.

[Chuck Uebele]

Yea, her cooking left a lot to be desired. Will have to see about the 5 min. I'm not sure I can attend this year.

[jane-e]

jane-e  wrote

Chuck, I just read a good part of Bernice’s story — but “lethal cook”? So funny!

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Chuck+Uebele  wrote

Yea, her cooking left a lot to be desired.

Chuck, this wasn‘t about her cooking! Here‘s the part that was so funny:

“One story was about how she had killed a rattlesnake with a frying pan—we always knew Grandma was a lethal cook.”

http://uebelephoto.com/download%20center/McCain.PDF

Page 4-15

[Chuck Uebele]

Jane, I forgot that that comment was tied to the rattlesnake incident, but she wasn't a good cook either.

[Trevor.Dennis]

gener7  wrote

I once landed at Edwards on a cargo plane for a short stopover. No passenger terminal, we had to hang around the plane. I wanted to grab a snapshot of the High Desert terrain, but due to a chance of classified experimental aircraft using the runways, I was politely warned not to.

Gene, so were you in the CIA at the time?  I don't really want to know if it means you have to kill me anyone else reading this thread,  but I think (from the books I read) that Edwards is an Air Force base.  Perhaps you were Secret Service, and resigned when you realised that you couldn't take a bullet for the current POTUS?

I was sure I'd driven through the Mojave on one of my trips, but looking at its location, it doesn't quite match any of my routes.  I would have driven I93 going from Flagstaff to Las Vegas — would the desert west of I93 be signposted Mohave?  I totally loved all the deserts we visited and drove through, but there was something magical about the name.  

I also remember being fascinated by the Painted Desert, but that looks a touch off my router as well because we'd come from Phoenix to Flagstaff, but I think we drove north of Flagstaff on the way to the Grand Canyon, so I am hoping there would have been Painted Desert on that road, or it means I am losing my marbles.     America is an amazing country for sure.  Not as green and wet as NZ, but still very beautiful, and incredibly diverse. 

Some great stories in this thread, and I am looking forward to reading Chucks genealogy book.