Things on Poles

More desert oddities. You might recognize two of them from a previous post.

VW Tank (Yuma AZ)

Arizona Death Start (aka the golf ball house) Yucca AZ

Martini glass (Yuma AZ)

Go kart (Yuma AZ)

Truck-on-a-stick (Yucca AZ) 

 Cocktail Bar sign (Yuma AZ)

Motorcycle (Yuma AZ)

The Drive Home - Photo Mix

These are random drive-by photos taken on our last trip. Not from the jeep this time, but from our RV (mostly on our drive home). I'm very happy that my wife loves to drive and splits the time with me. I took some of these while I was the passenger and some while I was driving. It's pretty easy to tell the difference. Anyway, no real theme today. I have a ton of posts in draft form; mines, ghost towns, rock art sites, trails, scenery, stories, etc., but I really like to do posts like this once in a while.

This is Newman. As you can see, he really hates it in our RV and just can't seem to relax. I know what you're thinking, "Gee Pat, that is one fat cat!"  He could stand to lose a couple of pounds (who among us is any different?), but even the vet says he is really healthy. Healthy, hungry and humongous! Newman carries his weight well. He is just a HUGE cat! That is a large dinette he has taken over. Four people can sit there comfortably. He is so big that when he is standing up, he can see on our dining room table (at home). He is the size of a medium dog. In fact, he acts like a dog. He wags his tail like a dog and it thwacks against things. He growls like a dog. He's a gentle giant and we love traveling with him. Okay, let's get on with the drive-by photos.

What is wrong with this scene? I assume you've noticed the semi-truck and trailer driving right at us. It's not like he's supposed to be in the other lane, this highway is two lanes in each direction! The desert is starting to bloom like crazy and that was intended subject of the photo.  I don't remember a head-on collision, but I have had a headache for a few days...

The last time we drove by this 40-foot trailer, it was sitting right side up, with advertisements on the side. It gets a bit windy in the Mojave.

 It's for sale, if anybody is interested...

Not now, not back in the day, not ever...  

With all that room, I never understood why people settle so close to the highway.

 To me, this scenery is just as beautiful as the mountains or coast. 

Why does there always seem to be a train visible in the desert? I'll tell you! The train routes were here long before any roads were. When the federal government started building highways, they took advantage of the route planning that the railroads had already done. They always take the easiest and flattest route possible.

 Sometimes they play chicken! 

Now, I'll shut my face and let you enjoy the Mojave

 No train here, but I loved the sky. The wind blowing in two different directions.

My favorite

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Boriana Mine (abandoned) - Hualapai Mountains - Yucca, Arizona

First off, I apologize in advance for my TERRIBLE proof reading. I just now corrected a ton of errors in this post. 
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Last week we were once again in the (Ghost) town of Yucca, Arizona (more on that in a later post).

A very nice young lady working at the little market on the Golf Ball House property told us about an old abandoned mine up in the mountains. Not too many minutes later, we were headed there. I have to admit that it was pretty hairy in parts and we weren't sure if we were going to make it without breaking something. The only way to make it up that road is to have high clearance and four-wheel drive. If we had broken down, we had everything we needed for the long hike out of there. You should always have a second vehicle on a trek like this. Of course we didn't, but as mom and dad always said, "do as I say, not as I do...

The primary production years of the mine were from 1915 to 1943. The mine produced Tungsten, Copper and Gold (in that order). It seems to have been quite an operation in it's day and there were at least a dozen out-buildings in the area. 

Then

 (photo courtesy of: Library of Congress and Wikipedia)

NOW

Our little trek originated pretty close to the base of that far mountain range. As you can see, the mine is in ruins. When I took this photo, I was standing on a HUGE mound of mine tailings.  

We are just a couple of miles off the I-40 here and were pretty happy to see what a great dirt road this was. 

 As usual, that nice road didn't last long.

 The road was deteriorating rapidly.

 This was not a very reassuring sight.

Yep, there are people actually living out there. "There" is in the middle of nowhere. I think this stuff belongs to some miners. That little blue trailer is an old classic. 

 Not much of a road anymore

You can tell by the wildly swinging "no headache" charm hanging from the rear view mirror, that this is not a smooth ride.

This is where we considered getting out of the jeep and hiking the rest of the way. We didn't, but only because we thought we were pretty close by then.

At last! After about 14 miles of that road we spotted our destination. All of that orange/yellow and grayish material is mine tailings.

 The obligatory abandoned vehicles

 A lot of old equipment was just left here to deteriorate.

 One of the few, still standing (sort of) structures around the mine.

 This was on the drive in. Some folks really want to get away from it all. 

A stove and oven, now in it's second career as a target.

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While I was looking for info on this mine, I saw an article from the Kingman newspaper advising people to stay off the Boriana Road. Apparently, rescuing people off this road (especially in winter) is a normal occurrence. If we had known about this first, I'm sure we'd have done it anyway.


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Golf Ball House or Arizona Death Star - Desert Oddity

Not too long ago I posted some photos and information about the ghost town of Yucca, Arizona. There is one other very unique thing about Yucca. We spotted it on the opposite side of the highway from the ghost town. After doing some research (I love the Internet) I found out that this desert oddity is called the Yucca Golf Ball House (among other things).  It was built in the mid-1970's and it doesn't really look that much like a golf ball to me.  I was told that it was originally known as The Dinesphere, Space Station Restaurant. 

Apparently, The Dinesphere was yet another rip-off scheme enticing people to buy worthless land in the middle of the desert. Remember my post about Santa Claus, Arizona?

After the unsuccessful real estate ripoff, the the Dinesphere sat unused for several years.. In the early 1980's somebody bought the structure as a present for his wife and remodeled it into "The Golf Ball House," containing over 3000 square feet of living space. He also built a few other "space age" structures to the property. Although some people called it the Golf Ball House, many others referred to it as The Arizona Death Star.

Currently, there is a new owner who calls it Area 66 and sells UFO related items. Judging by the banners, we could have stopped there for a cold beer. However, we had many miles of desert driving to do before dark. Maybe we'll stop next time, but only if the owner doesn't try to gouge us.

Dinesphere Space Station Restaurant, Golf Ball House, Arizona Death Star, or Area 66? I think I prefer the Arizona Death Star, but no matter which name you prefer, it is a desert oddity of the first order. 

 Maybe if it wasn't surrounded by all the other stuff, it would look like a golf ball.

Even if was an awesome house on the inside, I'd still be wondering, "why did they build it here?" There isn't anything else here...

One of several spacey looking things around the property.  As the crow flies, this place is really close the Semi-on-a-Stick from the Yucca Arizona post.


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Yucca Arizona - Route 66 Ghost Towns

A short time ago I did a blog post relating to Cool Springs Arizona. I told you that the demise of Cool Springs was caused when a new alignment of Route 66 bypassed it.  Although the "new" alignment was a death sentence for Cool Springs, the small town of Yucca greatly benefited from the increased traffic. Yucca was created to be a water stop for the Atlantic & Pacific RR. In 1952, the new alignment of Route 66 changed everything. All of a sudden there was a truck stop, a store or two, a couple of cafes, two motels and a church. I'm sure the people in Yucca were feeling pretty good about things. The good feelings ended in the  early 1970's, when the new Interstate Highway (I-40) bypassed them by several miles.

As a result, every retail business in town, eventually had to close their doors. Most of the old places are gone, but there are a few still standing, mixed in with newer houses (I said "newer" not new!) and a few other places unrelated to the highway.

I have no idea what it once was, but it's very old.

This is my favorite thing about Yucca. This semi-on-a-stick stood in front of a truck stop/repair place. It went out of business and all that now remains is the truck! Only in the desert my friends, only in the desert...

One of the original residences.

The sign says Yucca Mission, but I couldn't find out anything at all about the place.

Yet another great desert find!  I'm pretty sure it was a jeep at one time. I have no idea about that rear end though. Of course like most things left sitting around in the desert for any amount of time, it has been used for target practice.

This is an odd town because in the midst of all these things, there are still people living here.  I'm not sure how though, because it is brutally hot there. The average daily temperature in Yucca from May through September is over 100 degrees. 
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We are hitting the road again in the morning. This time we're going to the mountains as it's getting darn hot in the desert. The good news is, I should have a phone signal (unlike our last trip). 

Happy Mother's Day! 


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