Our group traveled to a far away land where there be dragons
and giant insects
and eagles
and horses attacked by saber tooth tigers.
A land with much sun--warm enough that we meet in the shade.
Where our ladies sun themselves on rocks like lizards. They are sirens that lure land sailors to their doom
Another siren lady who lures us all to her dance in the desert at night. Has lots of tech sounds and every song ever recorded. The guy in that truck is also a tech expert who earns his living from his truck and powers it all with solar.
Here's a nice guy we met and stayed two days with us.
I invited him because I wanted to see if he was living comfortably in that small vehicle. He was quite happy and getting 27 mpg.
But I mentioned having breakfast this morning with Gen Patton. Sure enough, I woke to find myself accidentally parked where Gen Patton had a mess tent.
You can see where stones mark the edge of the tent. There are hundreds of these in this area.
Their doorway clearly visible.
Of course I went looking for the general's tent site and I think I found it---right there on a slight rise with a commanding view. It was the only one with a double wall as though protected with an inner wall of sand bags. Nearby was an obvious latrine, so I went to pee where he peed.
Then I went looking for tank tracks----and found them---quite a few. Isn't it remarkable that tracks are visible 77 years later?
Nearby is an historical marker telling the story of this huge training camp--the largest in history.
Here are the details: from June to December 1943 Patton trained the army for the desert invasion of North Africa.
RANDY PHILOSOPHIZES: OFFICIALLY, OUR GROUP, THE MUSIC AND MIND CAMP, HAS SCATTERED FOR THE SUMMER BUT MANY OF US DO NOT WANT TO SEPARATE SO WE JUST KEEP FINDING THINGS TO DO TOGETHER. It reflects how fond of each other we have grown. We seem to be proving that Knowing and Being known really does generate bonds between people. We will continue tomorrow on the West of Phoenix..
4 comments:
You'd need a lot of chocolate for that grasshopper!
Randy,
I am very glad to see that you and your nomadic band are continuing on the road of discovery and exploration! Learned something today about Gen Patton's training encampment. You would expect that they would have needed a huge area or desert to practice tracking down Rommel in North Africa. Kind of cool to step in the historical footsteps, tank tracks.
Hope your new knee is preforming well!
Doc B
Hello, I must say, you have a charming and poetic type of speach. Looking forward to getting out there. Maybe we will cross your path. Peace be with you.
Back in the early 90s I lived out in that area. My boss and some of his friends found where they were dumping their coke bottles. In the nearby Cargo Muchacho ghost towns, we'd find all sorts of things. You always knew where the houses of ill repute had been, because of all of the blue glass from the Vaseline jars!
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