An abandoned house full of graffiti, west of Barstow. Photo by funkandjazz on Flickr. Creative Commons

The City of Barstow is looking to fix itself up, and will be hosting a series of community meetings to gather input from the public.

Plenty of folks driving through Barstow while en route to Las Vegas don’t have a high opinion of Barstow, thinking of it merely as a hellhole they have to gas up at before reaching Sin City.  Having frequented Barstow plenty of times myself on our trips to the desert, I have a special affinity for the place.   To me, Barstow is an oasis, not a hellhole.

That said, I appreciate the City of Barstow’s desire to change its look, and I think it will be successful.  All they need is your input.  The first meeting, on Jan. 24, asks the question, “How do we see Barstow now?”   It will be at the Barstow City Council Chambers at 200 E. Mountain View.

Each meeting focuses on a specific question.  The next meeting (February 23) asks, “What do we want for the future of Barstow?”  The final meeting is on March 24, and will feature the various designs proposed for beautifying Barstow.  Please refer to the flyer below, as each meeting is at a different location.

Click here for the flyer.

As most should be aware, this blog is connected to The REAL Desert Dogs.  We use it mostly to find cool and interesting stories and tell you the reader about it.  That, and we generally want to keep up with what’s going on in the desert.

Well, The Desert Dogs have just came out with their new video, Part 2 of The Will of the Inyos.

On Friday the 13th of May 2011, The Desert Dogs hiked to Beveridge City, a ghost town located deep in the Inyo Mountains. They approach from the west side, in Saline Valley.

In the previous episode, they took a wrong turn, ran over a gopher snake, and got their vehicle stuck. After resolving their situation a few hours later, they finally find their way, but not without using up plenty of gasoline.  Since they’ve already passed the point of no return, they resolved to continue their journey.

This film is dedicated to all people who enjoy a good adventure.

The REAL Desert Dogs

A post at PanamintValley.com with the most recent video from The REAL Desert Dogs has sparked a heated debate.  In the video, the four explorers get stuck, burn a lot of gas, and finally make it into Saline Valley.   They have about a 1/4 tank of gas left, and claim to be 100 miles from the nearest town.  In reality, it’s only about 70 miles, which is still pretty far.

The controversy began when one person speculated whether the Desert Dogs are in fact advocating going into the desert unprepared.  “My concern is folks that see this, and DON’T take it for drama. We lose a couple of people per year in DV because of lack of preparation. It just makes me nervous that artistic license (we only had 1/4 tank of gas) will be taken as fact,” said the person.

“The idea of venturing to Saline without a shovel, with a 1/4 tank of gas, and without clear knowledge of the roads is something I wouldn’t want to encourage,” he continued.

The Desert Dogs respond saying the intent was to create suspense for Part 2, and to express elation at having survived.

Check out the video and you tell us.  Do you think portraying victory over dire situations is irresponsible?  Do you think exaggerations (i.e. 100 miles from nearest town with 1/4 tank of gas) is irresponsible?

The REAL Desert Dogs' logo, created by Charlene Ventanilla