Shake, rattle, and roll…

Back to back earthquakes in the last two days…that’s what’s been happening here in So Cal.   A 6.4 and a 7.1, to be precise, and they occurred in an area I know will.  Both were centered near Ridgecrest, which most folks have never heard of, but the adjoining Navy base is China Lake Naval Weapons Station, which most folks have heard of.  And that area is near Death Valley, which every knows about.  It’s about 150 miles from where we live.

About 8 years ago good buddies TK and Arlene, and I, rode in a one day scooter endurance rally, in which we racked up 400 miles on the California Scooter CSC-150s.   One of the towns we passed through was Trona, the epicenter of yesterday’s 7.1 quake.

Trona is a town in the middle of a stark landscape just outside the western edge of Death Valley.  It’s a place I’ve thought of visiting again just to grab a few photos.  There’s not much out there, and the desolation and jagged edges would make for interesting pictures, I think.   But this is not the time to go.

I was reloading .22 Hornet ammo for an upcoming blog on a cool and very vintage Winchester Model 43 when the first quake hit two days ago.  I felt dizzy and nauseated for an instant, and than I realized the world really was swaying around me.  That quake, the 6.1 centered near Ridgecrest, went on for perhaps 15 seconds.  I could see things moving around and that’s a weird feeling.  It’s like being out in the ocean on a small boat.  Dry land is not supposed to behave like this.  Usually earthquakes don’t last that long, and many times, our So Cal shakers are sharp cracks (almost like a detonation) that last for but an instant.   But not these recent shakers.  The second one hit yesterday evening while we were watching television, and it went on for even longer.  It was 7.1, which is pretty significant in the earthquake business.  Again, there was no sharp crack, and again, the rocking and rolling lasted for perhaps 20 seconds.

We came through both quakes just fine, so mark us safe here in So Cal.