Gateway to Death · The Skoolyard 🧃

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Gateway to Death

Story time!

I grew up in a fairly small desert town in central California called Ridgecrest, CA. About 20,000 people. And if you were a kid growing up there your main goal in life was to escape it! 115°F in the summer. High winds. And nothing to do in town except go to the bowling alley and hangout at Denny’s.

As you approach the town on the main highway there is a giant billboard welcoming you to the town. One of the big draws to the town is that it’s on the way to Death Valley, a beautiful national park.

So the capitalize on this, the giant billboard read:

RIDGECREST

“Gateway to Death Valley”

So of course some clever kid drove out to the sign. Climbed it and crossed out “Valley”, so it had more accurate slogan:

I’ll never forget driving home being welcome by:

“Gateway to Death” 😆

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