LittleCar's BlackRock Adventure:
Scotty's BlackRock (September
1992)
In 1992 I took a year off from Brown University
in order to find myself. In the end I failed pretty readily at that
venture but I was able to participate in Scotty's BlackRock trip for the
first time. (I am still in the process of finding myself even at
this time. Maybe this is adult life.) Dad and I had always
wanted to go on this holly grail of LandRover excursions but my attendance
in school had been a terrific excuse to avoid the trips. Throwing
all caution to the wind, Dad and I began packing. This would be the
year and it was high time that we started doing it and not just talking
about it, whatever the it was.
LittleCar Gearing Up
To understand the bravery of this venture, you must understand that though we own a few LandRovers none of them ever seems to run that well. They run, just not that well. It's not that we're bad mechanics as much as we haven't seen fit to dump too much money into any one car in particular. We're not frame-up people, we're just cheap. LittleCar was in '92 and still is our best Rover. No one seems to have any knowledge of its former history and Dad, the man we bought it from, and I are still not sure if the mileage was 76,000 or 176,000. It gets driven frequently, but just not that far in our small rural town. The longest venture that it had ever made in our ownership was the hour and a half drive to Scotty's. Who knows what can happen when things really heat up inside the guts of a Rover. San Francisco to Nevada is a long drive-- and an even longer one in a LandRover.
LittleCar takes about 1/3 again more time
to go long distances than a regular vehicle. It doesn't like to go
more than 50 mph; it can, it just complains bitterly and is much happier
going slower. (The gearing of a LandRover does not make sense until
your consider pre-M Britain.) All and all, the drive was surprising
uneventful and the earplugs worked quite well. Once at Bruno's we
discovered the group had already departed and we were forced to locate
the campsite alone at dusk. This is a frightful and disorientating
trip when an original generator and Hela aircraft landing lights are factored
in.
First Camp
Only after waking up the next morning,
LittleCar, Dad, and I were able to survey the rough group. Scotty
had come with Roger in his 109 2 Door since a monetary pothole had removed
his beautiful military 109. Scotty's son Andrew and his wife
had come in their Series III '88 V8 conversion, one of the quietist and
most powerful rovers I have ever driven. Scotty's friend, the
Seattle Anesthesiologist, had also arrived in a beautiful restored '67
109 5 Door with a Scotty 6 conversion. A small but loyal group.
Up the hill LittleCar goes...
The first day we waited for the arrival
of a woman in a RangeRover. To kill time the group started exploring
an old track near the campsite that led into the mountain range behind
us.
The group breaking for lunch...
After lunch and a brief hike we headed
back to the campsite. Now apparently part of Nevada LandRovering
includes guns so after returning from our excursion the ammo and firearms
were busted out. Dad is a '60's drop out and pacifist so guns were
never part of my upbringing. I am curious but nervous about them
and dad is uninterested. There was a new and exciting world of weapons
to learn about and I did my best to study calibers, shoot up as many stationary
cans as I could, and listen to explanations about Zen techniques in relation
to pulling the trigger . We then concluded the day with a calming
firelight vigil to set our nerves to rest.
Roger & Scotty heading out for Bruno's
Morning on the desert is cold but we tried
to warm up with some shared 1/2 cooked bread. Some of the group had
been out in the desert longer than the rest of us and looked it so we headed
back into town to stock up on supplies. It was at Bruno's that I
discover that my set of Landrover keys could open at least one door of
all four of the cars and start two.
The Gang stocking up on supplies at Bruno's
After losing about $1.85 at the nickel
slots I called it a day and we filed up our jerry cans and headed out onto
the Playa.
or