After the balloon festival at Albuquerque I traveled West on I-40--pulled in here to watch a football game-(in 2 minutes flat I can aim my satellite dish for reception)-decided to spend the night. It is a delicious feeling to have one's whole lifestyle immediately at hand. That old highway there is a small segment of old route 66.
Wigwam village--Holbrook, Az--I spent the night in an adjacent vacant lot. (free)
Near Meteor Crater, Az --got intrigued by this abandoned geodesic dome and stopped to investigate.
You may know that this type of building was invented by the great genius Buckminster Fuller. It is one of the most efficient ways to enclose space ever devised. Read about it here
A vast collection of showcases--abandoned.
Moved on to Twin Arrows casino--gambled with their free money--won $20--AND QUIT.
Too noisy to sleep here so I moved on into the night.
Found at nice quiet place south of Flagstaff at Schnebly road exit.
Next day settled in at Thousand trails road near Cottonwood. Was soon visited by old friend Laurie Theodorou who showed me a clip of her most recent performance. Stayed a few days then moved on to Yuma--had dental work to complete.
Parked at the Paradise Casino. This guy was my neighbor. Yeah, I thought the same thing you're thinking.
Turns out it was the real Santa Clause--the one who won the national Santa contest and was paid $40,000 to star in the Macy Parade.
Tooth fixed--I moved on to one of my favorite places: Peg Leg Smith wayside near Borrego Springs, Ca. Joined a host of my friends in the WIN (Wandering Individuals Network) organization for their usual Thanksgiving gathering.
Everyone chips in and buys a great meal. (actually it took 3 days to eat all the food we bought)
This intrigued me at The Anza Borrego museum: Its the model resulting from pouring molton
aluminum into an ant hill. If you've ever wondered what's down there.....
Back near Salton City I decided to get an update on the human troll that lives in this abandoned motel. Here's the story from some years ago.
Turns out he's not here any more. I went to the liquor store and learned that he has died. This answers the question I was curious about: About how long can a person stay drunk every day before dying.
The answer seems to be about 5 years.
Then I went down to the Salton Sea and spent the night. Woke at dawn to get this shot.
RANDY PHILOSOPHIZES: Thoreau reminds me that time is the stream I go fishing in. Laurie reminds me time is the currency of life--mine and yours. I hope to remind you that it is possible to simplify your life so that your truest fascinations become clear to you and you will get the hang of responding to them creatively and have something to share with the world----like this..
Then I drove down to the Salton Sea and spent the night--waking at dawn to get this shot.
Je comprends totalement :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the photos and the look into a day in your life. The geodesic dome was a cool idea and sure looked neat. Actually living in one was a real hell, apparently. Rain leaks and the magnified acoustics drove the owners crazy. Liquid aluminum into an anthill? Is there a better a way to ruin an ant's day? Oh, that rhymes! Or is it just an alliteration?
ReplyDeleteMan Randy! Thinking about Troll gave me pause and sadness.I guess not for him but the way he went I guess? Was it alone in that dank dark room in the filth and nasty couch wrenching in the throws of a painful death? Or outside in the breeze where he could feel the coolness on his cheek as he passed into his dark slumber looking at the stars for a last time?
ReplyDeleteI'm a firm believer in that a person has a choice to destroy his life as much as he chooses as long as it doesn't impose on the happiness of others. But he must have imposed on the loved ones that will miss him and know he died there. I guess you can never really not impose worry on people that love you.
Randy, those geodesic domes really are efficient in terms of surface area to contained space, but a bear to heat or cool. I used to attend a UU church that was a dome and it was always stuffy. Here in Florida they tend to pick up lots of solar heat and in winter the heated air rose to the top and left people at floor level too cool. We had a balcony that we converted to storage space because it was always too hot for people to sit in.
ReplyDelete