On The Way to Death Valley

I made my way to Death Valley via Ridgecrest and the Panamint Valley. On the way out of Ridgecrest, I saw a flock of migrating snow geese. Shortly after that, I passed the most unique roadside memorial that I have seen. Just down the road from there was a humorous rock painting of a whale pod. The route then offered a cutover to Ballarat, a ghost town. That area hosted Charles Manson's family back in the day. I stopped at the Ballarat hub, which was run by Rocco who offered cold drinks repeatedly. He mentioned that the truck outside was reputedly owned by Manson. I looked for the wild burros, but they are elusive.