My Dad always seemed like a pretty bright guy to me but he had some interesting personality quirks. Back in the 60’s, there was a tremendous amount of interest in the SST or Super Sonic Transport jet aircraft. Many pundits believed that supersonic passenger and cargo aircraft were the way to the future. These types of aircraft have a some serious but apparently ignored flaws one being that when decelerating from or accelerating to supersonic speeds, there would be impressive sonic booms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tAn entire metropolitan area with many\nisolated neighborhoods was laid out, some utilities were installed\nand many roads were anticipated in the area now filled with the\ncities of Lancaster and Palmdale. Giant aircraft manufacturers and\ncontractors flocked to the area because there was to be an airport\nlong enough to land SSTs and plenty of room to have sonic booms over\nmostly uninhabited desert. Building contractors were busy with\nabundant construction. Paradise was looming. There were plans to\ncreate lakes although the soil looks a bit porous to me. Land sales\nboomed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tMy Dad, despite being an aerospace\nengineer, reckoned he could get a real estate license and make a\nlittle money selling acreage to the looming population.\nUnfortunately, right about that time reality set in when even the\nmost ardent SST supporters finally admitted that the SST concept had\nadditional previously glossed-over but fatal flaws. The things sucked\nfuel. Their cargo carrying capacities were unimpressive. They were\nshaped like rockets with very skinny fuselages making passenger\ncapacity was so low that passengers would be required to pay a bunch\nmore for all the fuel needed to make them go fast. There were few\nairports with surrounding populations that were deaf so destinations\nwere limited. My Dad really wanted to sell some of the unremarkable\ndesert to someone before the land boom went bust so he sold 5 acres\nto himself. My sister thinks he paid about $12K.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tThe flawed airport and aircraft\nconcepts were abandoned. The aircraft manufacturers vanished. Despite\nthe setbacks, Palmdale and Lancaster collectively have a population\nof over 300,000. Perhaps those buying in early preferred to live here\nand commute to the Los Angeles Basin than to move again back into a\nsmaller house in the city. They were trapped. Many years of static\nland values ensued. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tWhen my Dad passed away a few years\nago, my siblings and I inherited the 5 acres he sold himself back in\nthe Nixon Administration. A probate guy went out to Palmdale and\nfound the property way beyond the last paved road east of Lancaster\nin what was supposed to be the proposed, nearly imaginary\nneighborhood of Hi Vista. His best estimate of the land’s value was\n$10.00. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tSkipping ahead to today; my sister\nJulie and her crony, Steve, drove from their comfy digs over in\nPasadena out to our RV camp at Soledad Canyon where we all piled into\nour spacious truck and went out to see our legacy. Steve was our\nnavigator once we traveled through Lancaster and was the only one in\nthe truck that knew anything about the area. Julie, Peggy and I were\ncompletely ignorant of anything local. I guided us down the wrong\nroad for a bit but soon we accessed a state highway and then a\nfreeway up to Lancaster. There we turned off and headed east on what\nmay be the longest straight city street in the world. Miles in the\ndistance, the same road could be seen until cresting a ridgetop. We\ndrove for quite a while before we drove over the ridge where the same\narrow-straight road could be seen crossing the next distant ridge. We\nwere looking looking for a road intersection called H.8 and 255th<\/sup>\nand we started out in Lancaster at 1st<\/sup> Street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \tWith Steve’s steadfast map perusal and\naccurate dead reckoning, we found the family lands. The estate is\npartway up a gradual slope so there is an expansive view of the\nabundant surrounding nothingness. All the roads are dirt. Water seems\nto be available from a leaky water station at H.8 and 250th<\/sup>\nwhere we spotted a guy filling a plastic water tank in the back of a\npickup truck. Perhaps he was the local water delivery guy but while\nhe was filling his tank, water seemed to be spouting out of many\nlocations on the infrastructure. Across the street from the family\nmanse, there is a resourceful group with about 10,000 square feet of\ntarped-in reefer farm. There are no nearby proper houses although a\nvery few old RVs can be spotted in the bleak, austere surroundings.\nWe spotted some telephone poles but, strangely, no wires. I think the\nyearly property taxes are about $150 so we may not be knocking them\ndead with this asset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \tLeaving our valuable holdings and\nafter only another mile or two of dirt road driving, we found a paved\nroad and started on the long, dead-straight road back west toward\nLancaster, invisible in the distance. Our wayfinding computer kicked\nin and soon we were back in our trailer in Soledad Canyon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My Dad always seemed like a pretty bright guy to me but he had some interesting personality quirks. Back in the 60’s, there was a tremendous amount of interest in the SST or Super Sonic Transport jet aircraft. Many pundits … Continue reading