An old friend called this morning and wanted to go investigate a place about 8 miles NE of here. It is called Ranger Lake, and is an alkaline (very small) lake bed of sorts, but has never had water in my life-time. When my Step-father and his family moved here in 1907, there were two old buffalo hunters living in dug-outs on one edge of the basin, and after that there was a small community and post office there for a while. I know this because a local newspaper had a story in 1920 or 21 about a man who was found murdered in his dug-out not long after being seen at the Ranger Lake post office. There was probably even water in the basin in the early 1900's because my Aunt mentioned that when they crossed the plains in wagons (from West Texas), a lot of the playas that were strung along the ancient river courses had water in them. The water table at that time had enough volume that it would often purch through the surface in some of the deeper depressions. Anyway, for most of the 50's and 60's the SW edge of the basin was a dump site for the town where I live. Even when I was a kid I wondered why anyone would choose the nicest looking piece of land for hundreds of miles as the best place to dump their trash and garbage. The dump was closed in the early 70's but it looks like someone is kind of cleaning it up now. At least they are moving the piles around. I've been on a thousand hikes out here, and during my late teens, to a thousand parties on this very spot (during the psychedelic years some of them lasted for weeks). At this very moment I sense, and can selectively review, decades of memories with a similar sky. Interesting adventure.