Ballarat

we are planning on Tecopa this Oct if it is open. we had trip planned in March but cov 19 had tecops HS shut down.

It is pretty amazing how the stories takes twists and turns. It's difficult many times to believe, Ptk, as you mention, pretty much anything your see, hear or read regarding the desert. Of course, this is nothing new. Death Valley Scotty was doing it for years, and made a darned good living off of it. And there were numerous others.

So, I guess the current stories are just keeping the old traditions alive.

David Bricker / SYR - ITO

some trivia when they did the TV doc on Ballarat Bandit they asked Rocky about the break in. he got some of it right but Donna was the caretaker at the time and one who got ripped off. Rocky and George still at the camp in surprise canyon. We spoke with them when we parked there I asked about the VW bus he had.

Test

years ago Donna the caretaker said it was owned by someone in Ridgecrest.All she told us is that they would bring a cord or so of firewood to get thru winter nights. She might have mentioned a name but that was 2 strokes ago for me.Rocky never mentioned any names just would say the owner. GBA!!SVJ

Thanks for the info.
It’s interesting that something like an abandoned truck can take a life of its own and achieve legendary status.
Many of the web sites I visited, that reference the PW, do it in absolute terms stating that it was owned/used by the so called family.
Specifically Tex Watson used it as an escape vehicle and left it where it broke down.
A few other sites claim it belonged to a mining operation and somehow found its way to Ballarat.
Supposedly someone in Barstow (I think) had genuine documentation on who owned the truck and it’s history.
Never saw that documentation posted anywhere, and in reality I stopped looking.

Also I never realized that Ballarat was owned by anyone.
Always thought it was an abandoned ghost town occasionally occupied by some true desert people.
Do you know who actually owns it?