Page 2 February 10, 2022 EL SEGUNDO HERALD
Travel
Correction
In last week’s City Council article, we stated:
Mayor Drew Boyles wished all a Happy Lunar
New Year 2022. He noted that 22 billion people
worldwide celebrate the Lunar New Year and
that 2022 is the Year of the Tiger. This was
an error. 2 billion people worldwide celebrate
the Lunar New Year. We regret the error.
WISHING YOU LOVE & HAPPINESS.
From all of us at Herald Publications.
– H.M. •
Life and Death Valley
Article and photos
by Ben & Glinda Shipley
Hard as it is to imagine, some of the most
scenic and spectacular lakes on the planet
Earth have never been seen by human eyes.
No, we’re not talking about the hidden reaches
of Antarctica, the Andes, or the Himalayas—
thanks to satellites and high-resolution camera
work, those extremes have been thoroughly
mapped, photographed, and in many frigid
cases, traversed by human feet. But there’s an
Zabriskie Point at dawn.
entire class of lakes (and rivers too) that have
never been seen, only because they dried up
and disappeared thousands and even millions
of years ago. So sorry, fellow tourists, you
can cross these geographical wonders right off
your bucket list. The puzzling question, in fact
(for the eccentric scientists among us), might
be: Why did we bother to name them at all?
One of the more impressive bodies of
non-existent water in America, sandwiched
between the enormous deserts of California and
Nevada, is called Lake Manly. William Lewis
Manly was a generous soul with a profuse,
tangled beard who earned his memorial by
rescuing stranded pioneers in the Gold Rush
of 1849. Yet if you search for Bill’s favorite
anti-lake on a map, all you’ll find is a long,
swollen finger of very low-lying, dry-as-dust
badlands called Death Valley.
A desert is typically defined as any land
mass that receives less than 10 inches of
rain per year. Death Valley, at 2.2 inches,
comes in well below that. It is (allegedly)
the hottest place on Earth—or at least it was
on the afternoon of July 10, 1913, when 134
degrees Fahrenheit was (allegedly) recorded
See Travel, page 11
Stovepipe Wells: Sensei and acolyte under the infinite evening sky.
John Morton Still Feels
the Need for Speed
By Duane Plank
The first part of the John Morton story
concluded last week with a riveting cliffhanger,
with Peter Brock re-emerging in
Morton’s life.
Morton was working a “poor paying job”
in 1969, and Brock tossed him a lifeline.
Brock ran his Brock Racing Enterprises
(BRE) business from a shop in town on
Oregon Street. Brock offered Morton a job
to help build a second race car for his team.
Looking at a significant bump in pay, Morton
said that he would accept Brock’s offer,
but only if he would be considered to drive
the vehicle. Brock agreed to the stipulation,
although Morton said his job-hiring demand
was a little tongue-in-cheek.
“The bluff worked,” Morton said.
Morton drove the Datsun #2 car and racked
up numerous championships as the leaddriver
for BRE. But Brock decided to pivot
in 1972 and follow his dream of becoming a
hang-gliding entrepreneur. Morton was disappointed
that Brock did not continue with his
racing team, saying that Brock could have
become incredibly successful in the sport
like racing icon Roger Penske, who owns
the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
“I always resented hang-gliding a little
bit,” Morton said. Morton and Brock are
still friends to this day, with Morton relating
that Brock will soon be inducted into the
Motorsports Hall of Fame and that Morton
See John Morton, page 10
Actor Sung Kang and Morton. Photos Courtesy of Sylvia Wilkinson.
HAPPY
SUPER BOWL SUNDAY