Stampede Tour - On the Road posted by Dakota Livesay

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We’re presently at Santa Clarita, CA, attending the Santa Clarita Cowboy Music Festival.  Santa Clarita is about 40 miles from the ocean.  Sunny, Jake and I took a trip to the beach.  It was the first time in a couple of years that I’ve watched the water climb up the sand.

I love the ocean.  As I walk along the beach I remember how, during my mid 20’s, I would spend every summer weekend at the beach body surfing.  Those guys using boards don’t really know what it’s like actually being a part of the wave.

For our weekly radio show, Jim MacGregor took us on a trip to see some of the sites of the Southern California rancheros.  Of course, their location is now businesses, homes and golf courses.

As Jim says, in the past the cash crop in Southern California was cattle, then it was oranges, and now it’s people.

One of the segments we did was at the John Rains House, what at one time was the headquarters for Rancho Cucamonga.  The picture is of Dakota, Jim and the site manager, Pam Strunk getting ready to record the segment.

We had a bit of a unique experience yesterday.  We went to the Santa Ana, CA library to do some research, as we have across the country for the last six plus years.  When we asked to see microfilm of 1800’s newspapers, we were told that since we didn’t have a library card, and you had to be a resident of Santa Ana to get a card, it would cost each of us $30 to be able to look at the microfilm…and this was for a 24-hour period.  If we wanted to make copies, it would be $45 each.  Then we would have to pay for the copies.

Needless to say, we didn’t access ourselves of the recourses from this “public” library.  Oh yes, even if we had anteed up the money, we wouldn’t have been able to get validation on the parking…$1 for each 30 minutes, because we didn’t have a library card.

Sunday we went to the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, CA.  As we travel about and are unable to find a church to attend, we watch The Hour Of Power on TV.  So, we were anxious to experience a service at the church.

It was enjoyable, even though it was a little disappointing.  In the past, I’ve been in the audience for the filming of network television shows.  I found that my experience at the Crystal Cathedral was similar to being at the filming of a show at NBC Studios…The experience of the live audience was incidental to that of the TV audience.

It is a magnificent structure that could only be created by the determination of Robert Schuller and help of God.

While we were at Desert Hot Springs, CA, we visited “Cabot’s Old Indian Pueblo.”  This is a complex built by Cabot Yerxa beginning in 1913.

Cabot was quite an adventurer.  He went to Alaska and opened a cigar store during the gold rush.  But his greatest adventure began when he homesteaded some land in the middle of the desert.

The Old Indian Pueblo is located in the middle of a residential area.  It’s well worth visiting if you’re in the area.

The last few days we’ve been out of contact with the world…as far as the Web and phone is concerned.

I use Verizon Broadband for my Internet connection.  For it to work, I have to have cell phone service.  We’ve been staying at a very nice RV park in Desert Hot Springs, CA.  Unfortunately, it is situated with a mountain between it and cell towers.  Therefore, we’ve had no cell service.  This not only eliminated Internet access, with our phones being the cell type, while in the park we couldn’t make or receive phone calls.

We worked around this by leaving the park to make calls and check messages.  In addition, there was a place where I could check my email via wireless on my notebook computer.

Here is a picture of the RV Park taken from the mountain.  It sure is tough being a pioneer in the West.

While in Prescott, we’ve stayed at Point of Rocks Campground.  It’s a neat campground, as the name indicates, nestled among the rocks.

There’s also a great trail that leads to Watson Lake and large rocks that are fun to climb.  Jake really loved the rocks.  He was a regular mountain goat as he scampered about.

The first picture is of Watson Lake.  The second, some of the rocks.  And, the third, mountain goat Jake.

We’ve just spent a few days in Prescott, AZ.  This is the first time we’ve been in Prescott for about five years.  Has it ever grown.  Prescott, twice the capital of the Arizona Territory, is becoming a big city.

We visited a great Old West venue, Sharlot Hall Museum and had a great talk with Ryan Flahive.  That conversation will be aired in our April 23-29 weekly show.

The pictures are of some building on the grounds.

We’ve met some great people while on our Stampede Tour, such as Lou and Barbara Dryden, who we met while in Benson.  Incidentally, they’re from Missoula, MT.  They came up to spend some time with us at Festival of the West in Phoenix, and took some pictures that they just sent to us.

The first picture is of Lou and Barbara...Obviously they didn't take that one.  It's a bit fuzzy because it came from a 1/2" X 1/4" picture on their return address label.  

The second is of Dakota and Pioneer Pepper…Of course, Pioneer is clowning around.  Incidentally, I’ve known Pioneer for several years, and I don’t know his real name.  I have a special prize for anyone who gives me his real name.

The third picture is of Dakota’s best girl.

Thanks, Lou and Barbara.

John Shearer is one of our subscribers from Cambridge, England.  John is a “died in the wool” Old West and American history enthusiast.

We get a phone call from him about once a month to update us on his activities.  Here are pictures of four of John’s costumes.

It’s truly exciting to know there are people around the world who are interested in our history.  We would only wish that all our citizens were as interested.

A couple of nights ago the water hose from the hydrant to Monte…our Montana fifth wheel…froze.  So, we’ve started unhooking it at night.

When I got up yesterday morning at 5:30 one of our propane tanks went empty.  As I’ve done several times before, I switched over to the other tank.  But, nothing happened.

Like taking an aspirin when you’re ill, I have a universal cure for problems like this.  I took a wrench and hit the regulator several times.  The only response I got was from Sunny saying I shouldn’t be making all that noise in the campground at 6:00 in the morning.

You know, it’s tough being a pioneer on the frontier.  Oh yes, we are able to heat our place with our electric fireplace.