Tubac Festival Of The Arts

Tuesday night 2/10 (Day37) I stayed in Tucson.

Wednesday morning I woke up and did my routine of Unsweetened Iced Tea and downloads but I went to the McDonalds that is south of Tucson and on my way to the opening day of the Tubac Festival of The Arts.  This is the McDonalds that I went to the day before because the Internet speed was so good.

This is my third year coming to Tubac for this festival.  I so enjoy the town and event.

See link for details:

http://tubacaz.com/tubac-festivals/57th-annual-tubac-festival-of-the-arts/

Tubac is a very small town that attracts people for the shops, dining and slow easy pace.  There is a retirement community directly adjacent that helps with the economy.

The streets on the map above are lined for this festival with vendors from all over many are the artists selling their own creations.

Of course all the fixed stores and galleries are open too and you can enjoy the variety of architecture that the town offers.

Special architectural appointments are always interesting to see in this day and age where such items are often seen to costly due to labor costs and removed from designs.

There is a lot of color to see too.

There are also a few yard art places that add to the variety of stores here.

I have come to look for uniqueness and quality and this vendor takes silver forks and makes the nicest bracelets.  They are one of a kind and so well done that there is no comparison with what I have seen elsewhere.  I have bought from them last year and did so again this year.

Another artist that I was compelled to patronize was this woman who does a wonderful job with glass jewelery.  Unique but simple and at the same time complex  in the amount of work she has to put in to make these one of a kind creations.

There are all sorts of vendors/artists from many unique jewelers to sculptures like this above to leatherwork, to painters, photographers, stone work, and so on.

My eye is always out for the unique, but I respect the artist's originality not to take and share photos of their work.  

No festival would be without a food area.  The food here also ran the gamut of type and variety. There is a center courtyard behind buildings that makes a convenient place to keep the food together.

I spent 2 hours touring, but I could have spent all day.  I would have liked to have had lunch at one of the few restaurants, but it was time for me to move on to my next adventure.

If you are ever in the area this time of year and want to check out the event, the local community folks charge $8.00 to park but if you can't afford this you can walk a bit.

Of course Tubac is great all by itself and does have a state park in the town that I have reviewed in my previous years travels.

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com

Road to Tucson, AZ & Disc Golf

On Monday, February 8th (Day 36) I left Slab City, CA to make my way to Tucson, AZ as I changed my schedule around to try to meet up with a childhood friend next weekend from MA who lives in AZ.

I left the slabs just after 7:00 and headed to Brawley, CA for downloads and unsweetened iced tea before getting in I8 east heading for a quick stop in Algodones, Mexico to buy a gift for someone before heading into Arazona.

It is so easy to go to Mexico at this crossing as the downtown is at the border entrance.  I went in and came back in less than an hour.  I knew kind of what I wanted and I went back to the 20 something woman that sold me something the last time I was there.

She remembered me from my visit a few weeks ago, so she gave me a discount off her regular price.  I don't argue prices down unless I know it's too high.  In this case it was good business for the few dollar discount.

She thanked me and told the 30 something guy with her that I was a return customer and he was grateful.  He doesn't speak as much English as the young girl, but he said thank you and I knew he appreciated my visit.  

There is so much competition for the dollars that I kind of seek out those that are less aggressive for my business.

In the picture above where the 6 hr 2 min flag is pointing on the map is where I stayed for the night.  It was a long drive to Ticson and I could have continued to Tucson but I haven't been on this segment of road for many years and I wanted to take it as a diversion to the highway.

This picture of the Prius is on BLM land just south of Ajo, AZ.  It is off the side of a well maintained dirt road.  I found this flat spot that my Prius could get in and out of.

I didn't take a picture of this 200 ft circle I was in, as when I got there there was someone on the far right side as I came down the embankment.  I backed into a small spot across from a guy in his pick up truck with cap on it and before I could get of my car he was right over to me.

He asks me this rhetorical question "Are you here to see me?"

Of course he knew I wasn't here to see him but I have learned not to rise to the occasion and told him I saw this BLM land on the map and needed a place to stay for the night and would be gone before 8:00.  I was the only other vehicle where more could fit and I was 200 ft away from him.

After my opening comment to hope to remind him that BLM land is open to all and this little spot wasn't owned by him. Iintroduced  myself by name and we ended up having a good conversation.

In his own way he was trying to intimidate me to have me leave and I just played nice and all was good.  This was similar to the guy in Slab City that talked about me taking pictures when I wasn't, as a way to intimidate me. See my post on revisiting the Slabs on an update with this guy and other unique people there.

Tuesday morning (Day 37) I had left this spot before 8:00, and he wasn't up yet.

I headed south to Wye, AZ where I turned east to Tucson.  In this road I pass Kitt Mountain where there is the National Observatory.  Picture above.  I wrote abut this in my 2015 travels when I visited it.

After a stop at the first McDonalds I came to in Tucson for iced tea and I got crappy Internet, I left with very little downloads to go to the Post Office to mail the gift I got in Mexico back to MA.

The line at this Tucson Post Office was at least 30 minutes long line so I drove to another town 12 miles south where there was no line and there was another Mcdonalds and it has very fast internet so I got downloads and app updates on both my IPhone and iPad. 

Then it was off to Santa Cruz River Park in Tucson to play Disc Golf.

Above is the app I use called UDisc that finds the Disc Golf courses as I wander around on my travels.

I played the shorter tee on this course as the longer ones have some obstructions and wasn't up for the challenge.

Well on hole 9 at 204 feet my best toss of the day overshot the basket by at least 6 feet.  As you can imagine I was pleased as I normally throw 150 to 175.

But I used my oblong disc that I had given to my east coast son and he didn't like it.  He tosses backhand and I throw my drives forward hand, and the disc is better suited for my throw he says.

A view of the top of the disc all you can see is that it's symmetrical, but underside it is oblong.  I have been getting used to it as my driver and I'm liking it.

My fingers are holding it on the smaller rim.

I made the putt on hole 9 for a par 2 on this par 3 hole.

While I was playing hole 3 a coyote walked by me about 100 feet away.  My presence didn't phase him as he marched along down the multipurpose path that passes the park/course.

The bandaid is there on the disc to cover my phone number that's there in case I loose the disc.

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com

The Slabs Revisited - 2/6&7/16 - (Day 34 & 35)

Before we all left the RTR gathering in Quartzsite, AZ there were subgroups that were forming to disburse to other places.  One was "The Slabs" for the month of February.  I knew I was going to Monterey, CA to visit the west coast son and family the beginning of February so I didn't know if I would link up with the group at the slabs.

That is why I spent 3 nights at the slabs before heading to Monterey.  The problem was that I didn't get to partake in the weekend social aspects of the slabs.

To recall, I was delayed Friday 5th (Day 33) leaving Monterey due to needing a new tire, so by the time I arrived at the slabs Friday evening it was well after dark.

The organizer CB had given GPS coordinates and they were very close to where I stayed before Monterey.  There is no electricity or streetlights at the slabs, so after a bit I found a trailer that I recognized of someone I met at the  RTR and parked right there.

Then I went looking to find people from the group.  At the second campfire I arrived at I found the group.  Some I knew and others I didn't.

It was nice to see Hollywood Bob (HB) at the fire as we spent some time talking at the RTR in Quartzsite, and he remembered me.  He is a semi-retired videographer and has been to the slabs 4 years running now, so he knows the ropes. 

Luckily HB, who had just upgraded to a Class A from a Class C, in the last two weeks, offered to take me around Saturday morning to a few places that I had not been when I was there the first time.

First, was the local LOWs group that we were parked near.  Loaners On Wheels.

When we stopped by the LOWs, where HB is a member, they were having morning coffee around a campfire surrounded by solid panels to help block visibility until you got close enough.  HB introduced me to the group and I got a worm welcome.

Then it was on the PALs group, where HB is also a member. Folks were out of their rigs for morning coffee too and I got introduced to a few there also.

Both The LOWs and PALs have club trailers with TV, books, games and they often have group meals.  

The folks were all nice and are about my age.  They are not the young more colorful personalities that live there too.

After our visit to the LOWs & PALs we stopped by the Oasis Club where HB gets his 2nd morning coffee and I try to figure out and absorb everything.  There is no coin bucket to pay but there is a monthly fee as most are not transients.

Then it was time to go to the Niland Tomato Festival Parade.  HB gave me a ride. (See separate blog post on the small but colorful parade)

When I got back to the slabs from the Parade I took a hike in the desert to these old concrete water tanks that now have been colorfully painted and tagged. The reason for the the road heading that way as Tank Road.

The tanks are on a bluff where you can see the town of Niland, CA, 3 miles away and the Salton Sea further in the distance.

Above are some of the various paintings on the tanks.

When I got back to my car the guy that had approached me a couple weeks before walked by at some distance and he went out of his way to look and wave and I returned the gesture.  I guess he's better with me now that he must figure I'm not a cop or something taking pictures.

I had dinner and it was dusk and time to head to The Range club for the Saturday night festivities.

Bands and singers go on stage and do their thing playing music and singing while a couple hundred or more people dressed in all sorts of ways or themes dance, drink, eat, sit, and talk. Or whatever.

On the front of the stage is a donation bucket, then a dance floor in front, on one of the old concrete slabs left over from when it was a Marine Post/Base.

There is a large number of ratty old sofas and stuffed chairs that sit outside. Also here are some wooden benches and people bring their own chairs, possibly passing the sofa's that had long lost their luster for household usage.

There is a bar stage left that sells soft drinks and cooks hamburgers.

Many if not most have brought their own libations.

Some of the group drove over to the Range, but I walked and hooked up with two 20 something brothers that are tenting as they walked to the Range too. 

They are walking from LA to the Carolina's and hitched a ride to the slabs by a guy that was coming here.

As I was talking to one brother, while attendees gathered, a 40 something woman came up to us and was very talkative and appeared to be "enjoying herself".  She starts telling us how rich she and her husband are and how privileged a childhood she had and now lives near Palm Springs.  She was repeating herself with the same theme but eventually got to the point that she had been talking to people here tonight that have no money and possessions, that live here in happiness.  Here epiphany that she was trying to get ou and having a hard time doing it was that she found that happiness isn't wealth that she had, but it's the way you live life.  Yes she got religion that night of some sort.  

The three of us were standing there and she pulls a guy standing to my left over believing we were together.  I'll call him Louis (not his real name) from Ottawa, Canada.  She pulled him in the conversation, but he was mostly quiet, as her talking consumed most of the air around us, while the bands played on.

Her husband came by to collect his excited wife and he didnt seem to be having what she was having.

I now was left with Louis from Ottawa as the hiking brother seemed to be done with the intense conversation with the enlightened woman. 

Louis is 50 something and left Ottawa for a road trip to the southwest US without a plan.  He started out living out of motels until his money was getting used up too fast ($1.40 CA to $1.00 US exchange rate)

He then started sleeping in his car and becoming what we call a vandweller.  He met a guy in Yuma, AZ that plays at the Range in a band, but he was in Mexico tonight and told Louis to come to the Range and there he was without a plan. 

We talked for some time about our respective travels before both deciding we were good on seeing and hearing what the Range had to offer.  I asked him where he was parking for the night and gave him suggestions.  One was to park next to me.  He took me up on the offer and have me a ride back to my car for the night.

The next morning I'm up and Louis gets up and we hit off talking some more.  The RTR folks had planned to head over to the Oasis for Sunday morning breakfast so I invite Louis to tag along. I eat fruit and sometimes cereal for breakfast so I decided to go for the comradery at the Oasis Club and Louis wanted to come along.  Louis wasn't interested in anything other than coffee.  

We sat with folks from the RTR and some PALs that I had met the day before, and some new folks.  There was a long line for the breakfast burrito served with rice on the side. 

We were entertained by 4 different guitarists, one was very colorful animated 20 something.

After breakfast Louis drove and I took him to the Hot Springs where we met more Canadians.  On the way we went by the old guard shack of concrete with the same 20 something guitarist now on top playing and dancing.  We give the peace sign as we drove by.

Then it was off to East Jesus where he left 2 mini TV's that were just consuming space in his car that didn't have enough room trying to live in his car.  

We drove around a bit more to see where the Hostel, Internet cafe and library are located. 

We then came back to where I was parked.  He had been complaining that the back seat seat belts were jabbing him in the side as he tried to sleep all crunched up on the back seat.

I convinced him to redesign his car to make a bed where he could sleep straight.  He did it by folding down the rear passenger side and pushing the passenger front seat forward and filling in the void left wet wren the front and back.

It worked, but he has too much stuff.  He brings an oil pan to change his own oil.  He has a full spare and not the donut tire that goes underneath the car so it had to go inside.  His suitcase is a fixed size so as he uses clothing he consumes extra space, and so on.

He told me that it must have been meant for us to meet to help him with dwelling in his vehicle since I have have experience.

Sunday before dark and while the super bowl was on, Louis came with me for another walk in the desert past the other water tanks to this other one tucked in by the embankment that had a large mural.

It presents itself with a sense of precision artistry.  The mural with such beauty stands in significant contrast to the trash and oddity that exists at the slabs.

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com

Niland Tomato Festival Parade - (2/6/16) - Day 34

The Vandweller sub-group that was assembled at Slab City decided to attend the neighboring Niland, CA Tomato festival parade.

Niland is a down on your luck town that once had high hopes so long ago.  They still hold onto their hopes with this festival even though tomatoes are no longer anything grown commercially here.

When I say small town its main drag CA111 doesn't have a crossroad.  It only has a "T" intersection.

Like most small town parades they invite their neighbors, Calipatria or locals call "Calipat"for short, to the south and Slab City to the east.  There is no corresponding town close enough to the north and west is the Salton Sea.

Without the fun loving, free spirited, folks at "The Slabs". 3/4 of the parade would not have been.

Above is the band in tow that plays at the Range, the slabs' prominent Saturday night venue for people willing to give their musical art a try and others gather in various social merriment.

I'm going to show a couple of Niland entries but clearly the colorful entries were from the east.

Some of what is at Slab City is fixed and doesn't move other things still get where they want to go.

Music off the back of the bus.

This woman was from near where I camped and made her costume with the tomato theme.

Yes he is from the slabs.

The veterans came out.

This man from the slabs put his homemade truck camper in.

This is the East Jesus float.  See my separate post on East Jesus at the Slabs.

Another entry from East Jesus.

I believe this may also be from East Jesus.

And one more from East Jesus.

With a religious statue on the back,

This elaborate homemade camper is fro the slabs too.

This old man & his old tractor I think represented the VFW.  His poor POW/MIA flag had lost its top connection  so it wasn't proudly displayed as I expected this man had desired.

As in many small town parades the fire department takes up the rear of the parade.

What caught my interest as a Retired Fire Chief was it was playing a Jesus song on its PA got a religious group marching in front of it.  That wouldn't have happened where I come from.

Well we waited for the parade longer than it took to watch but we all enjoyed the show and helped fill the ranks on the sparse parade route.

Mark your calendars for next year.

Some were also going to attend the other events at the chamber of commerce/ fairgrounds for food later but I only attended the parade opting to use my afternoon to cook my meal of the day.

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com

2/4/16 - (Day 33) - One Of The Most Diverse Drives

After I got my Prius tire replaced I started my 8+ hour drive to get to the Post RTR subgroup at Slab City for the weekend.

Yes I'm headed back to "the slabs" for the weekend to experience the culture up front and personal with a subgroup of folks that I was with at the RTR.

I have made this drive through California a few times and I find it so diverse for scenery.

All the pictures are from Google Maps.

Heading east from Monterey I climb over a mountain into the Salinas Valley along US101.  There are a patchwork of fields that Ernest Hemingway wrote about the life of people here.  Salinas is where there is a very nice museum in his name.

I head south on US101 passing so many farm fields.

I eventually come to many wineries on either side of the highway.

I eventually turn east on CA 46 where I now pass fruit and or nut trees.

South of Coalinga, CA I pass through oil and or gas well fields on both sides of the highway prior to arriving at I5 to head south. (All those dark spots are oil or gas well pumps.

I arrive at Grapevine, CA on I5 south where I climb to over 4000 feet elevation through the mountains and decide to detour off of I5 and take a bypass to Palmdale,CA staying in the mountains, bypassing the congestion on Friday evening rush hour commute north of Los Angeles.

I take CA 138 towards Palmdale, CA and then eventually pick up I15 South to San Bernardino.  This section of I15 I headed south is a very long gradual decline from the mountains to where I pick up I10 east.  The mountains peaks are covered with snow this year thanks to El Niño.

It turned dark as I approached Indio, CA where I got off and headed south on CA 86 south to CA 111 south to Niland, CA.

The diversity of California's central coast to the lush Salinas Valley with farms that grow much of the produce that the country eats, to wine then fruit and nuts.

Then on past oil and gas fields, then to mountains and more fruit trees and to the San Bernardino Valkey.  Then over a mountain pass passing hundreds of windmills then going north of the vacation area of Palm Springs, and finally down to below sea level at the Salton Sea.

The diversity in this drive is just amazing and stands out as one of the most interesting drives I make during my travels. 

Simply a great drive.

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com

Plastic Fields

Driving south on Delmonte Avenue from Castroville, CA towards Monterey I came across these rolling hills with planted perfectly spaced mounds with plastic on top.  Miles of plastic!

A bit further down the road are workers planting the crops and poking them through holes in the plastic.  I guess this is a method to keep weeds out.  Could it also keep the soil warm at night to stimulate growth? Could it also help keep moisture in the soil too to conserve water?

I see that this is how strawberries are planted and plastic is to prevent weeds.  I guess the same practice can be used for other vegetables.

Just north in the Moss Landing area there are a couple produce roadside stands that offer local produce at lower prices.  Right now they have just picked the fields clean of brussel sprouts.  New harvests and fresh vegetables to come.

Here is a link with more information:

http://homeguides.sfgate.com/plant-strawberries-black-plastic-53553.html

(Wikipedia photo from Google search)

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com