Off the I-15

Pictures not good enough? Check out this video of Fort Irwin’s new Lakota helicopter.

After reading this story about gigantic hay bales spread across the I-40, sports and news writer David Heldreth asked this question:

David: How do you get that (a 2,000 pound hay bale) off the road?
Aaron: A really big pitchfork.

We all had a good chuckle.

April Beth Pitzer

April Beth Pitzer, who had been living in Newberry Springs, has been missing for three years. Pitzer, who was about to board a bus to visit family, disappeared in late June 2004 at the age of 30.

Arkansas native Pitzer, who also went by the name April Coggins, is a white woman with dark brown hair. She is 5 feet, 9 inches tall and weighed about 120 to 130 pounds at the time of her disappearance. She has no upper teeth, and there is a scar on the left side of her stomach.

Anyone with information about Pitzer’s whereabouts can call the Barstow sheriff’s station at (760)256-4838. To remain anonymous, call WeTip at 1(800)78-CRIME.

Let’s Bring Them Home is sponsoring a $50,000 reward for Pitzer’s recovery and the arrest and conviction of anyone responsible for her disappearance, the Desert Dispatch reported in May. For more information, go to www.letsbringthemhome.org. The organization’s tip line is 1(866)479-LBTH.

I think space is really cool, and the landing of the space shuttle at Edwards Air Force Base is even cooler.

Check out this video and these photos from the shuttle’s landing provided by NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center. And check out desertdispatch.com and Friday’s Desert Dispatch for a closer look at Fort Irwin’s new helicopter, the UH-72A Lakota, and Barstow’s connection the space shuttle landing.

Download:

Day 3: Dawn in Barstow, California, 28 January 2007

My father, David Aupperlee, an avid amateur photographer in Ada, Mich., recently sent me a link to some photos Ken Rockwell took while passing through Barstow at the end of January. The shots present some classic Barstow-scapes in a new light — or at least at a new angle — thanks to his super-wide 14mm lens.

Rockwell lives in La Jolla, but one of his hobbies is traveling around finding new and interesting things to photograph.

He writes on his Web site, “I love traveling California and the world and creating beautiful images. I love feeling nature and beauty. I love all the arts and the outdoors.”

Rockwell has exhibited his work in museums and has been published in newspapers, magazines and hardcover books.

Check out the photos at kenrockwell.com.