ZZYZX: The scorpion expedition

Well, last night's scorpion shoot at Zzyzx was a hoot. It turns out that the new UV LED flashlights are a huge improvement over those nasty, fragile fluorescent tubes plus bulky batteries we used to have to haul around. Rob Fulton, the Zzyzx research station manager, had two and Frank brought two as well. We shot a few intro scenes on the bajada overlooking the Soda Lake playa, then took off to Baker for dinner at the Mad Greek's.

Baker is a curious place, boasting "The World's Tallest Thermometer", which the locals refer to as the rectal thermometer because they claim it's in the asshole of the Mojave Desert. However the Mad Greek's is a fine Big Fat Greek restaurant, blue and white (natch), its Grecian themes swaggering about on anabolic steroids. They serve the Onassis Burger, which is quite simply the best hamburger on the planet, with a lamb-and-beef patty topped with pastrami. On the way back to Zzyzx a desert storm bucketed down on us so hard that steering was mostly guesswork lit by blinding lightning. Fortunately the worst was on the long dirt road leading from the Zyzzx turnoff, part of which became a broad river, where there was no other traffic to worry about.

After the storm cell moved on, with lightning dancing on the nearby hills and thunder troubling the air, amid the intoxicating scent of moist creosote bushes, we soon found a couple of small scorpions, then Robbin found a monstrous Hadrurus (the Giant Hairy Scorpion). Jeni, the narrator, was terrified as she knelt next to the beast and pointed out its wonders while it was in the "you-just-try-that" stance. Later at Rob's house we watched the scorpion film a BBC crew had filmed last time we were at Zzyzx with Phil Brownell. Lots of dramatic special effects. Michael Attenborough sounding - well, as usual. Then we watched our footage and were amazed at the clarity and gorgeousness of the luminous scorpions.