Week 20: I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

Previously on Aaron's Vanlife Adventure...

I spent most of the week in Santa Cruz, CA visiting old high school friends and enjoying the California coast.

I photographed fire spinning, crazy clouds over the ocean at sunset, the Santa Cruz boardwalk, and a Buddhist retreat.

Visited with my friends, got some work done on Kismet (my van), and took an unexpected detour to Pinnacles National Park. On the way out I went to a rodeo and then into Sequoia National Park.

This week I get to explore Kings Canyon and Sequioa National Parks, Bombay Beach art community, and Joshua Tree NP, finishing up in Tucson, AZ.

Sunday September 14. Day 133

To Moro 

Sequoia National Park 

Last night at midnight I trekked up Moro Rock in Kings Canyon National Park, with the plan to do it again this morning for sunrise. But getting up for sunrise is not my strong suit. I ignored the alarm and woke up a half hour after sunrise. But to my credit I did get going quickly and trekked back up to the top! Coffee and 35mm camera in hand. 

I’m pretty happy about the climb feeling easy. There were plenty of people bemoaning the trek. 

Afterwards I went over to the visitors center restaurant and got the ‘hiker’s breakfast’, a full plate including pancakes. It was pricey for my budget. But it was big enough that I only ate half and finished the rest for dinner. So averaged out it wasn’t so bad. 

At a ranger’s suggestion I visited the General Sherman tree - the largest tree on earth (by volume). And hiked part of the congress trail. 

The Sequoias are something else. They’re big in a way that defies description. A tree as big as the Statue of Liberty and older than civilization. There are trees in this forest that could have been a seed when the pyramids were being built. 

I got to see sequoias in Yosemite, but there are more and bigger ones in Sequoia NP. To walk among them is like looking up at the night sky, you struggle to comprehend, and feel insignificant in comparison. 

After visiting the forest I drove north into Kings Canyon NP. I didn’t realize they’re adjacent, and the two parks operate with a lot of overlap. 

In Kings Canyon I found the final event for the Night Skies weekend; a night hike out to an overlook and an interesting talk by the rangers. A lot about the constellations and the stories behind the pictures drawn in the stars. Greek myth mixed with astronomy science. Mostly though it was just cool to do a short nighttime walk and get to look at the stars. I also saw a slow, almost lazy, meteor meander across the sky to its fiery end. 

Then after everyone left I hung around to do some astrophotography. I took a few shots with my regular astro lens and then had an internal debate between being a a lazy photographer or a good photographer. 

Decided tonight I’ll be a good photographer. 

That meant digging out the right lens for the task. A 14mm ultrawide lens I bought for the auroras in Norway last year. I thought this lens would get more of the trees for a more dramatic perspective. What do you think, did it work? 

Then I stuck around and parked there for the night. Part practical - it’s a treacherous drive back down a narrow winding road from the overlook. And part vagabond - it seemed tremendously unlikely anyone would come all the way up here and find me.

Daily Listen: Louie Vega song 'Last Night a DJ Saved My Life'

I love this song, and it always reminds me of my friend David who is a part time DJ.

Good: Walking among giants. 

Bad: Last night I woke up with stomach aches and it took way too long to find the tums. I didn’t want to be searching the entire van at 2:30am, but that’s what I did. (I found them, and they helped.)

Unexpected: Found wifi at the visitors center and took some time to finally post the blog from week 16! That entry has been an albatross around my neck. 

Monday September 15. Day 134

On a Dark Desert Highway

In transit

Having spent the night at the lookout, woke up and took the short walk again out to the overlook spot, this time in the daylight. It was a pleasantly warm morning, from the lookout there was mist on the mountains.

There was a woman at the lookout that I’ve crossed paths with 3 times in two days. We finally stopped and chatted. Turns out she’s going to Philly for the marathon in November! I wished her good luck, and headed back to the van. 

I took my time getting going, lollygagged at the visitor center trying to figure out where exactly I wanted to go. I knew it was broadly in the direction of Joshua tree national Park. I got on the road for the 5 1/2 hour drive there.

Sometimes a day spent driving is just a day spent driving. Against my preferences, I took the highway route. That doesn’t normally lend itself to side quests or fun distractions. 

All along the highway fields of wind turbines dotted the landscape.

At night their monolithic black silhouettes spun lazily, barely visible against a featureless black sky. 

Two friends back home gave me a slew of places to visit in and around Joshua Tree. I settled on a sculpture garden south of the park, Hoping to get interesting and unique night skies photos.

I turn off the highway 60 miles from the sculpture garden, onto a rural highway.

Every turn from there is more and more remote. This is how episodes of the twilight zone begin. 

Further off the main road I drove another 20 miles down a dark, remote, desolate road. The dark and isolation evokes mixed feelings; The eerie unknown is unsettling. Where am I going? Am I on the right path? What will I find out here? What will find me?

Then I think: the unknown is what I’m here for. National parks and tourist spots are fun, and easy. Driving 60 miles on a dark desert highway towards nothingness is an adventure!

A little after 10pm I pull up to a 1500 acre sculpture garden field.

What’s my plan,... stumble around in the dark hoping I find something?

Apparently, yes. 

I stumble around in the dark and manage to find giant turtles, elephants and llamas easily. But the dragon and scorpion sculptures are what I’d come to see. For that I pulled up google maps, satellite image, and zoomed in. There they were. 

I hung out for a few hours taking night skies pics with the sculptures.

Good: Elysia, the overly friendly and bubbly employee at the McD’s in a truck stop. Her enthusiasm was delightful.

Bad: Driving on the highway - I’m south past the mountains, and the sky is a lovely, featureless, cloudless blue. There is nothing to look at besides the endless expanse of road and the languid dance of traffic.

Unexpected: Regarding pulling up to the sculpture garden with no plan - Look, I’m just as surprised as you that I keep half-assing my way into success. I figure my luck will hit a wall at some point, but it hasn’t happened yet. Sometimes I’m too clever by half. 

Tuesday, September 16. Day 135

You are here ❤️ 

Bombay Beach, Salton Sea, California 

I considered parking overnight at the sculpture garden but decided instead to backtrack towards civilization. I spent the night at another Reservation Casino. If I’m being pedantic, it was the truck stop part of the casino complex. 

Turns out, I’m right next to Salton Sea - the largest lake in California.

Info on the Salton Sea in the post-script*.

Along the northeast shore of the lake is a small community called Bombay Beach. My friend Gina recommended it for the art on the beach. I wandered around the shore for a bit and then ventured into the community. That’s where it got weird! 

This place is amazing. There is art everywhere. Integrated into the fabric of the community. Plots of land used just for art installations, houses made into art, yards, everything. I drove up and down the streets in a grid, stopping every few feet to marvel at something beautiful and creative. If Burning Man was a mobile home community on a toxic lake, this is what it would look like. I spent 3 hours wandering around, wide eyed and giddy with photographic excitement. I shot mostly film and am excited to see how it turns out. 

On the way out I stopped at The Ski Inn “the lowest bar in the western hemisphere.” (Also how my ex described dating me.)

I had the patty melt, which is what Anthony Bourdain ordered when his show visited the bar in season 4. 

Lunch was leisurely, which was fine with me because it was a reprieve from the heat outside. But eventually I had to go. Despite appearances, I am trying to get to Joshua Tree National Park. Which I did, just in time for beautiful evening light! 

Plus, I saw a coyote! First one of the trip. 

Just after I see the coyote, a guy rolls up and gets out of his car with a small dog, off leash. I go over to warn him about the predator nearby “hey, just letting you know there’s coyote prowling around here!”

He replies “So?”

“uh... so be mindful of your dog?” 

He shrugs. 

Oh, and now I have to reevaluate doing night skies photography because of the coyote(s).

In the meantime for dinner I made one of the backpacking meals stocked in my pantry (thank you generous friends!) The last few days I’ve missed or skipped dinner, and don’t need that to become a regular thing. 

I’m debating if I want to stay in the park or head out and find somewhere else to camp.

Right now I’m at the official campground and all the sites are all “reserved,” but only 1/4 are occupied. 

It’s dark and quiet out. I sit on a rock and look up at the stars. The Milky Way arcs faintly across the sky. A bat flits by overhead. Laughter drifts over from a distant campsite. 

I decide to stay. 

Good: The drive from Salton Sea to JTNP was beautiful. The landscape changed and got more rugged as I climbed up out of the valley. Becoming high walled canyons, painted rock, and dramatic mesas. 

Bad: Maybe I shouldn’t have waited until the hottest part of the day to go visit the desert. 

Unexpected: Bombay Beach. Even if someone had told me all about it, I still couldn’t have been prepared for how beautifully eccentric it was. 

* The lake has a very interesting and sordid history; It’s man made, by accident in 1905. For a brief shining moment in the 50’s & 60’s it was a premier vacation destination. Then environmental decline soured the lake and the tourism dried up. From the 80’s through the 2000’s the environmental crisis worsened. Recently the largest Lithium deposit in N. America was discovered under the lake and that will change the fate of the area. TBD if it's in a positive way or further decline into environmental decay.

I have a vague recollection of reading about the Salton Sea, probably from the early 2010s when there was a fish and bird die-off there. I remember being intrigued by the hubris of it: create a lake, commoditize the lake, take the water for granted, then be surprised when it becomes an ecological disaster. 

It is high salinity, saltier than the Pacific Ocean. Saltier than a fox news pundit denying climate change. 

Wednesday, September 17. Day 136

I still haven’t found what I’m looking for

Joshua Tree National Park 

I woke up early this morning excited to attack the day!

Just kidding, a trash truck at the campground woke me up.

I retraced my steps out of the park and revisited a few spots from last night. 

The Joshua trees are tall, skinny, contorted forms. A cross between a tree and cactus. But I think the hidden gem of JTNP is the Cholla Cactus Garden at golden hour. The light on the cactus is magical. 

I'm heading from Joshua Tree NP to Tucson, AZ.

Interstate 10 is just outside the east entrance, no services or even a gas station. Just get right on I-10 and head east towards Arizona. The drive was long and flat through huge desert plains ringed by mountains all around. 

I’ll be spending several days in and around Tucson and Saguaro National Park there. Then making short jaunts up to Phoenix and Sedona. 

Two long driving days, so close to each other isn’t my favorite. Partly because it feels like an unproductive day and partly because I don’t like spending $100 a day on gas.

Daily Listen: U2, ‘Joshua Tree’. Obviously. 

This album was a staple of my high school years and I have a distinct memory of it from summer camp in ‘87. I couldn’t say the last time I listened to this album all the way through, if ever. 

It still holds up!

Good: The dawn sky on the way out of Joshua Tree NP was amazing, I was stopping every 1/2 mile to take pictures. 

Bad: I had trouble sleeping last night, one of those nights where I kept waking up every hour and struggling to fall back asleep. At 3:30a, rather than lay awake in bed, I got up and walked around outside looking at the stars. Way off in the distance I heard the rumbling of a loud engine and thought it might be a Cessna airplane. As it got closer and then passed by I realized it was an obnoxious motorcycle. Cheers to the dude riding that loud bike around at three in the morning.

Just before heading back to bed I heard a pack of coyotes howling and barking. It was both cool and chilling. (Double temperature adjectives not intended.)

Unexpected: The weather! It goes up over 100 a few times along my drive, which is not unexpected in southern Arizona. But I also drove through a dust storm followed by a thunderstorm! 

Thursday, September 18. Day 137

Thunderbolts and Lightning!

Tucson, AZ

Happy national cheeseburger day. 

Last night I parked next to another Ford Transit van at a Pep Boys, hoping the other van is camouflage. It’s a big parking lot with a bunch of stores. I know I’m not welcome here, but figuring the parking lot cop doesn’t look twice at a vehicle parked at Pep Boys. However, I also figure the actual boys of pep don’t want me there either, so I set an alarm to leave before the shop opens.

I find a coffee shop and get the day started. Working on my computer for a bit, writing and going through pics. I want to get going to photograph the airplane graveyard at an air force base before the day gets too warm. 

A woman walks by and I compliment her cool solar system shirt. She stops to chat, I invite her to sit down and we end up talking for an hour! I asked her to dinner, but she already had plans.

The airplane graveyard is at an active air force base and is immense. There are almost 4400 old decommissioned bombers, fighters, and more. The amount of money just sitting there derelict in the desert is disheartening.

I drive around a bit looking for a good place to shoot from but there are no good spots. I pull up alongside the fence and look around. For the first time ever I climb up on the roof of my van. There’s a reason I haven’t done this before, it’s not easy and it’s not safe. I nearly burn my hand on the hot roof. I snap a few pics, but it’s a poor vantage point.

For another 90 minutes I bounce around, stopping here and there to take pics through the fence or hold the camera up over the top. The day is getting too warm to continue so I head over to the Pima Air & Space Museum. Or as I like to call it; the Aaron Space Museum.

The museum is tremendously interesting. There’s a real SR-71 Blackbird in there! It was somehow bigger and smaller than I expected. Longer, but skinnier. When I was a kid I built a model kit of the Blackbird. I also built an A-10 Thunderbolt, and there was one of those on display too! 

Elsewhere a whole hanger was set up as its own museum to the 390th B-17 WWII Bomber Group, with a fully restored B-17 ‘Flying Fortress.’

I’d never seen one in person and always imagined they were huge. It was not huge. It wasn’t small, but smaller than most commercial planes. Nonetheless it was very cool to see one in person, get to poke my head inside and look around.

One of the veterans from the 390th happened to be there giving a talk. He’d written a book and was also doing a signing. He’s 102 years old!

I sat and listened to him tell some stories for a bit. I thought it might be a reflection on war, or the necessary sacrifices of stopping fascists, or some insight of "good vs evil."

But it was nothing deep, just practical descriptions of bombing runs on ball-bearing factories.

It was interesting thinking about this guy, 102 years old and still telling stories about the 3 or 4 worst years of his life way back when he was 20. He’s lived 4 more lifetimes since then!

The other side is that as one of the few remaining witnesses of that time I can understand wanting to keep the story alive and remind people of the sacrifice. Though that's not anything he spoke about.

Ok, existential moment passed. Moving on!

In the afternoon I met up with a friend in Tucson. For a few years she’s been developing some original board games and I finally got to play a couple of them in person! They were fun, and I told her that I’ll be the first to place an order when it goes up on kickstarter. I gave a small playtester feedback, and she messaged me a week later to tell me my suggestion worked great and she’s updated the rules!

Just as I was leaving A colossal thunderstorm rolled in - A monsoon!

I don’t know that I’ve ever seen this much lightning; I counted 20 strikes (that I could see!) in 5 minutes. Some startlingly huge bolts right in front of me. As I was driving around I spotted some covered parking spaces and pulled in. Since about 6 weeks ago my van has a small leak when there’s a lot of rain. This definitely qualified! I sat under the cover for a few hours, with the generator on so I could run the AC.

As I’m sitting there the forecast was revised from ‘rain stopping around 9’ to ‘rain continuing past midnight.’ 

It finally stopped around 11 and I left the covered lot for my planned overnight space. 

Hello Cracker Barrel, my old friend. 

Good: All the amazing planes in the museum, seeing so much ingenuity in the designs and getting to learn the histories. 

Bad: Drip, drip, drip inside the van. 

Unexpected: So much lightning! 

Friday, September 19. Day 138

All that Jazz

Tucson, AZ

Saguaro NP, short hike. 

Center for Creative Photography 

A moving collection from a photographer and her wife on a trip together. With several close intimate portraits mixed with vast landscapes. 

Artists market

Jazz at Hotel Congress

Got up early and headed to Saguaro National Park, trying to beat the heat. Did a short hike in the park to see the classic cactus. 

It got warm pretty quickly so I headed out. A few people suggested I visit the Center for Creative Photography, which seemed like a good idea on a hot day. The two galleries were excellent and I’m glad I went. 

I hung out using the university wifi, then did laundry nearby. 

I happened across a small artists market in the evening and checked it out. 

In downtown Tucson there’s live jazz at the historic Hotel Congress and I bought a ticket. 

At the show, a regular tells me that my seat at the bar has the best sound in the room, and the second best view. 

The venue is in the heart of Tucson night life and I stuck around to feel the vibe. Ended up at a night club and hung out for a while.

Daily Listen: Pink Floyd ‘The Wall’.

I listened to this so much in high school that I wore out the cassette!

It’s been a while since I’ve listened to it all the way through. It’s unequivocally a masterpiece, but it’s dark, and not particularly enjoyable. Although I understand the themes so much better than I did when I was 16. 

Good: Live jazz at the Century Room in the Hotel Congress. After their set I had the opportunity to hang around and chat with the band. They assumed I’m a musician! Guess I have the look. 

Bad: I missed an amazing sunset while I was doing laundry. 

Unexpected: I was deeply moved by the photography exhibit "Pictures for Charis" by photographer Kelli Connell at the Center for Creative Photography. She captured such intimacy, and her wife Betsy Odom showed such vulnerability as the subject. 

Saturday, September 20. Day 139

HBDJ

Tucson, AZ

Happy birthday to my younger bro! 

He and I have a long running joke; because he’s 6’6” I’m his "little" brother, and he's my younger brother.

I definitely feel old having a younger brother that is [redacted] years old!

Today was another visit to the airplane boneyard. Aiming for different light and locations. Got a little bit of both but was also thwarted by a double fence interfering with the best angles.

One of the reasons I’m in Tucson at all is to visit a distant cousin, we met up for lunch today. I don’t know her well at all, and was pleasantly surprised to find she’s smart, witty, thoughtful, and self effacing! She used to be in radio, and I think she still gets paid by the word! 

She also told me about a state park northwest of the city doing a dark sky party. Seemed like a good idea so I went up there for sunset and dark sky viewing. I got to see Saturn! 

Outside of dark sky parties, the park isn’t open at night. Instead they have a separate area with a different entrance and separate fee. I paid to go there for the night and went in with high hopes! But it was just a parking lot surrounded by low brush. Not terribly photogenic. If it was, I’d be excitedly telling you about this cool place I stumbled upon! But I want to be transparent that not everything pans out. This one was a dud. Still, it was a quiet place to park for the night and I’m going to count that in the win column!

Good: Lunch with my cousin! 

Bad: There’s an AZ fast food chain called Eegee I kept seeing around. I finally stopped in and got their signature eegee frozen drink. Basically a frozen lemonade. I got the pina colada flavor. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good either. I was 1/3 of the way done before asking myself why I was still drinking this. Then chucked the rest. 

Unexpected: Oracle State Park is an "International Dark Skies certified park" that closes at 4pm.

Peering into the future...

Next week I pop through Phoenix on my way to Sedona. Meet up with a friend over burgers and Margs. Then visit Jerome Ghost Town and stick around for a music festival.

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