I come back to old film (or pixels), road trips taken long ago, and i have two reactions:
1 - I am soo, soooo glad i did these trips, all the bad motels, lousy breakfasts, gas station coffee.
2 - In retrospect, i think much differently of a few places than i did when i first took them in.
Bonk's Jaw-Bone Canyon Store
When i first came upon the place was in... uh.... 1996...'97.... i think.
It was an oasis of sorts, had everything you could possibly need in a place like this.
The proprietor was a master marketeer - it was all here - sunglasses, hats, drinks, sandwiches, maps,.........
He sat behind the cash register, said nothing, not a talkative soul I guess.
If you didn't see it here, you probably wouldn't need it.
Why was it called '....jawbone canyon store'?
Not too far away was 'jawbone canyon', so named for some well known dirt-biking hills, enough to rattle your jawbones, and maybe a few more bones.
Moby's - Somewhere along Rt 247, headed south towards Joshua Tree -
Moby made art from rubbish.
A number of the frames I took there found their way into my darkroom.
I call this one 'Desert dervish'
It was marvelous art, in the style of Robert Rauschenberg circa 1970 or so, i remember walking into the MOMA in NYC and seeing a goat with a tire around it - i laughed out loud.
Moby was a quintessential desert rat if there ever was one. His place was sprawling and impossible to miss as you drove by. He was ready to come out to meet visitors, press the flesh, and tell you as many stories as you could listen to. He also invited one to meet his 8th wife - yes *8th*, that's not a typo. Any guy who's had 8 wives definitely has some stories to tell.
Lord knows where he collected the stuff he used. For one thing, he knew that people would show up to check out his amazing collection of BMW motorcycle wheels, especially tourists from Germany. How the news spread, i have no idea, this was "pre-internet babble" times.
The thing that gets me about both places now is that when I went by sometime after my first visit, both places were gone, what was, was demolished, just a big 'for sale' sign.
Progress can sometimes suck, big time, but you knew that already.
I guess what I'm trying to get around to saying is that whatever happens to both pieces of real estate, it couldn't possible have but a bit of the personality of what once was. Bonk's was a few miles northeast of Mojave, Ca - a town that has seen a spurt of growth in recent years thanks to the growth of the aerospace industry. It had a museum of sorts for all kinds of planes, and a huge graveyard for old planes.
When i first drove thru, it was like many desert towns, the road just turned into the main street of town for a while, then turned back into just a 2 lane road thru emptiness.
Last time round, a beltway had been built which routed one around the town, bypassing the town itself.
To back up - or maybe 'move forward' with this train of thought - there is much discussion (and much discension) recently about western lands, and how to manage them.
The BLM? they have their own ideas.
So does Clive Bundy. But he is extreme, and obnoxious.
Westerners don't like Washington telling them what to do.... On the other hand:
Obama did some good things ..... but Trump is doing his damndest to undo it all.
We didn't miss that, we are reacting, and won't let too may people past us.
"Don’t trim Grand Staircase. If anything, expand it.
The Utah monument is sustaining small town tourism, a good substitute for extractive industry."
'It had been a decade since our last visit, so I relished every moment in the monument’s otherworldly landscapes. What amazed me most, however, was the increased number — and diversity — of visitors. There were more than 10 times as many people on the trails than I’d ever seen before.'
'So how did all these people from across America, Europe and Asia, find out about this place where I used to hike for days without seeing a soul? Everyone I asked said they “saw photos on the internet.”
The internet is a blessing and a curse simultaneously.
Try and have a Merry 'Christmoose' in spite of it all.
Ready or not, here comes 2018!
