Pics of Ratto's Roadtrips?

[javabug]

Hey Jim, I bet you've passed through some of these places:

http://www.lostamerica.com/index.html

Some of your stories combined with these images...a little more than freaky.   

[Rennsurfer]

Something freaky with Ratto involved? The HECK, you say.

Bring it, Jim.

 

[John Rayburn]

When I see Jim's photo's I always expect to hear Huell Howser.

[beetletom]

those are some amazing photo's!!! 

[sheep]

When I see Jim's photo's I always expect to hear Huell Howser.

hahahaha good one . I just spit out my coffee through my nose hahahahahaha
holy shit man that is so true hahahahahaha

[Sarge]

Very cool...thanks for sharing!

[wolfswest]

ow 

very nice pictures...

Thx

Dem

[Jim Ratto]

hahahaha  too funny Mike! If I had a scanner, I could probably slow the entire world wide web down with my roadtrip pics. Sheep can attest, we've been to some odd places in the last 20 years or so. Lots of miles in my old '70 Scab Bus, stops at Jack in the Box, worn out Doors cassettes. Hey, growing up in fricking Pleasanton, with a curfew was boring! Once I got my license I was GONE.

[javabug]

They just reminded me way too much of some of your stories about nighttime trips towards Death Valley, Devil's Racecourse (or whatever that place is), etc.  I was searching through that site, and simultaneously putting some of the "town" names in on Live Maps, and in some cases there's nothing there.  Just a dot on the satellite map on a highway between two mountains in the desert.

[John Rayburn]

Just like where Jim lives.

[Jim Ratto]

They just reminded me way too much of some of your stories about nighttime trips towards Death Valley, Devil's Racecourse (or whatever that place is), etc.  I was searching through that site, and simultaneously putting some of the "town" names in on Live Maps, and in some cases there's nothing there.  Just a dot on the satellite map on a highway between two mountains in the desert.

most of those "towns" listed in CA on the list, at least on the Western Roadside, I've poked around in. Many more that are not listed, too. Cool pics, looks like alot like the inside of my brain.
my friend, Crofty, on here, he was scared to bits by Joshua Trees. There were thousands of them, these spiky, ink black sillhouettes rustilng in the midnight winter moonlight at Racetrack in Death Valley that night we took his bus out there. We'd hike across the playa aways, and turn around, and Dorman swore the trees were inching their way after us. Between the desolation, the stories of self-propelled boulders around us, and these trees, you could say it was a little eerie.

[Rune]

What a great site, cool pictures...

[javabug]

That's neat stuff, Jim.  I was looking thru that site before a late bedtime Friday night, just knowing it was going to affect my sleep.  Ok, not so much the sleep, but the dreams.   

[stealth67vw]

most of those "towns" listed in CA on the list, at least on the Western Roadside, I've poked around in. Many more that are not listed, too. Cool pics, looks like alot like the inside of my brain.
my friend, Crofty, on here, he was scared to bits by Joshua Trees. There were thousands of them, these spiky, ink black sillhouettes rustilng in the midnight winter moonlight at Racetrack in Death Valley that night we took his bus out there. We'd hike across the playa aways, and turn around, and Dorman swore the trees were inching their way after us. Between the desolation, the stories of self-propelled boulders around us, and these trees, you could say it was a little eerie.

Sounds like a fun "trip" 

[Jim Ratto]

shhhh the salad croutons are trying to get organized.

[stealth67vw]

Do they belong to the lettuce-less salad gang? 

[Jim Ratto]

best way to get to know where you're going is to get lost.
All my runs up and down Interstate 5, thru Central CA, thru the late 80's to the mid 90's.... running to South Calif to get a crank pulley or a shifter or a muffler... I was always in a hurry, and rarely did I have time to get off the freeway in some of those freaky little spots. But every once in a while, I'd get free time, and just start driving. My old friend Billy use to call it "drive mode" as he'd get stuck going on some of these "trips." I can remember one particular time, in my Scab bus, just going down I-5, and wondering "what are these exits for? There is NOTHING out here..." So I just picked one at random and headed east into the heart of the valley. I made some left turns, some right turns, some forks in the road, and the tule fog crept in and pretty soon, even though it was like noon, it was incredibly dark and I had no idea where I was, where I had been, which way was north...etc. Oh yeah and I was about out of fuel. And there was nothing but dirt and fog as far as my eyes could see (about 61 feet).
Eventually, I found my way back to I-5.
The best was taking sheep on trips. He'd drink in the back of my Bus, pass out and when he came to, we'd always be in the middle of absolutley nowhere. He'd blink his bloodshot eyes and look around, obviously disoriented and say "dude this is the wierdest place I've ever been."
Maybe Derek remembers our backroad trip from Hollister in the GTI and we found that part cow, part dog creature?