Or “The time my laptop died, and the windows let in the rain.”
Believe it or not, these things are not related.
Don’t worry, the post about the naked guy in Quartzsite is still coming, but there’s been a slight delay…
The Sacred Laptop, holder of all photos, articles, and videos, has decided to take a vacation… just when I have a deadline for a Yahoo! News article. All 200 photos of Slab City, the town on which the article is based, are on said dead laptop, along with the aforementioned, soon-to-be-due article.
I’ve rewritten the article from (what’s left of my) memory and notes. If worse comes to worst, I do have ONE back up photo. Just one photo for the article. I certainly would have preferred choosing several from the 200 photos, but at least I’ve got a Plan B.
Meanwhile, all is not lost. As a 30-year resident of Silicon Valley, some things you just learn by osmosis… like how to rescue your hard drive. It’s been a long time since I’ve done this, and some memories are hard to retrieve. Like what I had for breakfast this morning, never mind the basic programming I learned 20+ years ago. (And how do you get to the DOS prompt in Windows Vista??? Gees, it used to be so easy.)
The Yahoo! News article is due tomorrow (Tuesday). Yeah, no pressure.
The song may say otherwise, but I assure you London Bridge is not falling down. I stood on it.
If it can hold me up, I’m sure it’s fine.
But back in the early 1960′s the bridge was falling down, unable to hold the increase in traffic over the previous 130 years.
The City of London decided to put the 130-year-old, busted-up bridge up for auction. The founder of Lake Havasu, Arizona, Robert P. McCulloch, won the bid with a cool $2,460,000 in 1968. He then spent another $7 million to bring the London Bridge to Lake Havasu – brick by brick. It took three years, and it was then reassembled over Lake Havasu.
Announcer’s voice: “We interrupt our regularly scheduled post on Lake Havasu to bring you a more pressing issue. The post on Lake Havasu will air shortly. No posts will be missed.”
Slab City, California. An oasis in the desert.
You won’t find Slab City, California on a Google map. A place in the middle of the southern California desert, it is not recognized by the government as a city or town. There are no sidewalks, no electrical power lines, and there’s no running water. From November to April approximately 3,000 snowbirding RVers arrive to camp out the winter. There are an estimated 100 year-round residents.
It’s a land with no rules where the residents rely on a code of honor. Not everyone is honorable.
For all it lacks in amenities, Slab City, aka “The Slabs”, has quite a bit to offer: two libraries, two night clubs, two churches, several kitchens providing free meals, and five social clubs. There’s an 18-hole golf course, although the back nine are a bit rough. There’s a hot springs pool and a “shower”. The shower is the drainage-ditch runoff that comes out of the hot springs.
I’ve been golfing everyday on the grassless sand and gravel course. My golf buddies and I are most appreciative to Bob and Nancy Unden, a couple from San Diego who built the wonderful 18-holed oasis in the desert.
But from now on I’ll stay far away from the hot springs.
The infamous Area 51 is in Arizona, a state where many people claim to have seen UFOs.
I’ve met some of them. The people, not the UFOs.
One told me there is a local support group for alien abductees.
Huh? (I looked, but I could not find a link to the meetings.)
To capitalize on the alien folklore by simultaneously combining themes from Area 51 and nearby Route 66, some enterprising folks came up with Area 66.
It’s in a town called Yucca. Yes, it is.
A "UFO" at Area 66. It's just landing, and in a minute the green VW Bug will be flattened.
The woman running the small convenience store at Area 66 has seen UFO-type lights. She seems completely sane. Probably because she considers they were most likely aircraft from the nearby military facility.
However, the guy who insisted on building the above flying saucer for Area 66 claims to have been abducted by aliens.
Seligman, Arizona, a small rural town, is known as the birthplace of Route 66. It’s full of Route 66 memorabilia.
Reportedly held notorious outlaws that they didn't teach us about in school. And the evening news is worthless as usual. Thanks for nothing, FOX.
Along with a few themed restaurants and shops, there is the old Territorial Jail House from 1860. At one time it housed notorious outlaws such as Seligman Slim, Four-fingered Frank, and Carl “Curly” Bane. (Don’t feel bad. I don’t know who they are, either. Sorry, Dead Guys, but it’s been 150 years.)
While researching my trip, I’d read somewhere “not to miss Pandora’s Box” in the men’s room of The Roadkill Cafe.
Of course, a place named The Roadkill Cafe sounded like a good place to eat, anyway. And I was on a mission to find this Pandora’s Box in the men’s room.
When I walked in to the restaurant, three friendly ladies greeted me. I inquired about ‘Pandora’s Box’ in the men’s room. They all gave me blank looks. No one knew about it. Well, none of the ladies. Not so sure about the men.
How can you not love a town with castles, spiritual vortices, fertility deities, and huge phallic rocks?!
Sedona has everything a traveler could want. Well, travelers who like men.
Ahem.
Shall we start with the spiritual stuff, and work our way down? Err, I mean south. Wait, scratch that. NO, NO, don’t scratch that!
Moving on…
Sedona, in case you’ve never been, is known for its spiritual and metaphysical community. The town has four vortices, places where you are likely to feel energy coming up from the earth.
Whether it was the suggestion of such or an actual spiritual experience, my friend (the one I connected with while standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona), and I both “felt” something. (Now, now. Remember we’re talking about the spiritual stuff here.)
This is a view of Sedona from the top of the Airport Rd Vortex.
Me: I felt it, did you? Him: *dirty laugh* I felt a lot of things.
I know why! The dinosaurs have all run away to Route 66.
This is how it started...
Route 66 is a long treasure-trove of the wonderful, goofy, and uniquely odd sights in America: Dinosaur statues, Wigwam Motels, 2.9 million-year-old alligator in Arizona, Longest Map of Route 66, Standing On A corner In Winslow, Roadkill Cafe, etc.
Who thinks of these things?! Oh, how I love this country and it’s quirky marketing ideas!
Here’s how the advertising pitch must have gone:
(First) Rock and Fossil Store Owner: I want help promoting my rock and fossil store. What do you have for me?
Advertising Agency: We’ll get a few of those large, fake dinosaur statues and place them out front. People will come from miles around just to see your rock and fossil store!
This post is a slight departure from my usual. The Grand Canyon’s North Rim being one of the most beautiful places I’ve yet seen on my travels, I feel it deserves reverence.
North Rim of the Grand Canyon
Words can’t express the emotions that wash over you as you stand on the edge of these expansive vistas, hearing only the occasional bird and the rustle of the wind.
Peace, tranquility, and serenity come to mind. But even those descriptions feel somehow incomplete. Magical? Humbling?
Known locally as Creed's Castle, you can barely make it out on top of the plateau.
Rising up out of the St. George, Utah suburbs looms a large plateau. There is nothing on top of it: no trees, no other homes. Except for the castle.
For the many years members of my family have lived here I’ve wondered about this castle sitting on top of the plateau. At night I could see the lights in the castle turret come on and I was transfixed.
The castle was calling to me.
I wanted to see inside the castle. I wanted to see their view at night. And I wanted to know who lived there.
So on this trip to Utah I invited myself over to the castle.
Don’t Follow Me, I’m Lost.