REDROCK AND DEATH VALLEY, CA

[plumtreeblossom]

From my estimate, there is approximately 1 church for every 5 residents
of Trona, CA. This desert town is a last-chance stop of sorts before
the highway narrows and leads into the open country of Death Valley.
They have a gas station and a Denny's, where we got breakfast. Now
that I think about it, we probably could have caught a good
hell-n-brimstone sermon on the way out, even though it was Saturday.





This was the only cactus I saw on the whole trip. I was captivated by the sweet little lonely thing. Spectacular Joshua Trees were everywhere along the road, but I never got a chance to get up close to one. I should have pestered John harder to stop the car, like I did for...





...this place. I have no idea whether this was a private residence,
a makeshift nightclub, or a rest stop for extraterrestrial
tourists. That black mark you see just below the letter "U" was
a dead crow, however. 'kaay...off we go.






Here is Ballarat, CA, a ghost town with an eerie history. It was
abandoned nearly 100 years ago as a mining town, but later became
a frequent hideout for Charles Manson and his cronies. A hermit
lives there now -- he sold us warm cans of lemonade and gave John
the history of his town-for-one while I wandered gingerly about
taking photos. He was very nice, which made me too shy to ask
if I could photograph him.





In Ballarat's "town square" you'll find this; the getaway car driven
onto the trecherous salt flats by one of Manson's henchmen. According
to account, he drove a mile or so into the flat and got hopelessly
stuck in the salt. He abandoned the truck and escaped on foot, and there
it sat on the salt flat for over 20 years, until someone got sick
of looking at it out there spoiling the view and hauled it back to Ballarat.
Bottle and all.





This was the view from our campsite. Waking up at dawn, looking out the tent door....is there anything else to say but .....mmmmmmmmmmmm?


(More desert and Venice Beach photos to come once I shoot off the rest of the roll.)