The Desert Road Trips Issue

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The Sun Runner

The Sun Runner The Magazine of the Real California Desert

The Magazine of the Real California Desert

December 2012/January 2013—Vol. 18, No. 6 The Sun Runner Magazine PO Box 2171, Joshua Tree, CA 92252 (760)820-1222 • www.thesunrunner.com Publisher/Executive Editor:Steve Brown publisher@thesunrunner.com Founding Editor Emeritus: Vickie Waite Asst. Publisher, in memoriam: Barbara Buckland Theatre/Film Editors: Jack & Jeannette Lyons Literary Editor: Delphine Lucas Music Editor: Judy Wishart Calendar Editor: Lynelle White

December 2012/January 2013 – Desert Travel Issue

Inside this Issue:

Dry Heat, by Steve Brown ... 11 The Tortoise Telegraph, News gathered from around the desert – at our own pace ... 12 The Good—and Bad— of Desert Life: Cactus Flower/Cholla Prick,

by Steve Brown ... 14 Restoring the Lost Memory of a People, by Steve Brown ... 15 Contributing Writers A Day in the Eyes of Entoptic Petrogplypher, by The Entoptic Petroglypher ... 16 Lorraine Blair Desert Road Trips: the Southern Loop, by Steve Brown ... 18 Philip Bonafede • Steve Brown Carlos Gallinger • Jack Lyons • Seth Shteir Charles Debrille Poston: The Father (and first “New Age Seer”) of Arizona, Steven “Sunny” Sun-Downer • Judy Wishart by Steven “Sunny” Sun-Downer ... 27 Contributing Photographers & Artists: Real Desert Gift Ideas ... 29 Lorraine Blair • Mathew Brady Desert Gold Prospecting: The Fall & Winter Months, by Philip Bonafede ... 30 Steve Brown Delphine Lucas • Karin Mayer The Ways of Things—The Humble Creosote Bush and the principle of the Entoptic Petroglypher • Linda Sibio one and the many, by Carlos Gallinger ... 31 Judy Wishart • Yuma Visitors Bureau Ramblings From Randsburg, On the Trail of...

Advertising Sales: Where they parked their toothbrushes... preserving everyday life in the John Cucchiara, Senior Sales Manager Sandra Nightingale, Account Representative historic desert, by Lorraine Blair ... 32 A Death Valley Makeover, by Seth Shteir ... 33 Sun Runner Team Support: Randy Green • Isha Jones • Lynelle White Desert Theatre Beat, by Jack Lyons ... 34 The Sun Runner Magazine features desert Film Talk, by Jack Lyons ... 35 news, desert issues and commentary, arts & Hi-Desert Music News, by Judy Wishart ... 36 entertainment, natural and cultural history, The Best Places to Stay in the Real Desert ... 48 columns, poetry, stories by desert writers, and more, for the enormous California desert region. Published bimonthly.

MAGAZINE DEADLINE: January 25 for the February/March issue, for advertising & editorial. You can list desert events free of charge in The Sun Runner’s online desert events calendar at www.thesunrunner.com, or send your complete press release and event information (preferably with photos) to calendar@thesunrunner.com, or mail to: Calendar, c/o: The Sun Runner Magazine, PO Box 2171, Joshua Tree, CA 92252. Please include all relevant information in text format. Notices submitted without complete information or in an annoying format may not be posted. Event information absolutely will not be taken over the telephone or telepathically (it hurts!).

SUBMISSIONS: By mail to the address above; by email: publisher@thesunrunner. com, or stop us when we’re at the Kelso Depot like everybody else does.

SUBSCRIPTIONS: $22/year U.S.A. ($38/ year International, $38 trillion Intergalactic) Copyright © 2012 The Sun Runner. Permission for reproduction of any part of this publication must be obtained from the publisher. The opinions of our contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of the magazine. Honest. We have made some effort to be accurate, but we are a desert publication after all, and we are not responsible for errors or omissions in material submitted to us, nor claims by advertisers.

Advertising, press releases, and public service announcements are accepted at the mysterious discretion of the all-seeing publisher.

For more stories, reviews, travel ideas, and a comprehensive desert-wide events calendar, please visit www.thesunrunner.com. Stay up to date with what’s going on around the desert by signing up for our weekly Sun Blast e-mail newsletter (sign up for free at our website).

Don’t forget you can list your own events for free in our online calendar at www. thesunrunner.com. We use the calendar for our weekly Sun Blast and our weekly radio show on KX96.3/92.1 FM across the hi-desert and Coachella Valley.

Cover Art — Leonard Knight’s truck at Salvation Mountain, Niland, near the Salton Sea. By Steve Brown.

Want up-to-date advertising information about The Sun Runner Magazine, the new Sun Runner website, and our specialty publications? Call Senior Sales Manager John Cucchiara at (760)992-0838 or (760)808-3297, or Sandra Nightingale at (323)314-5919 for our media kit and current advertising specials. Or call us at (7600820-1222 for the latest advertising opportunities, including our Desert Treasures Issue.

“The other Desert—the real Desert—is not for the eyes of the superficial observer, or the fearful soul or the cynic. It is a land, the character of which is hidden except to those who come with friendliness and understanding. To these the Desert offers rare gifts: health-giving sunshine—a sky that is studded with diamonds—a breeze that bears no poison—a landscape of pastel colors such as no artist can duplicate—thorn-covered plants which during countless ages have clung tenaciously to life through heat and drought and wind and the depredations of thirsty animals, and yet each season send forth blossoms of exquisite coloring as a symbol of courage that has triumped over terrifying obstacles.”

– Randall Henderson and J. Wilson McKenney There Are Two Deserts, Desert magazine, Volume 1, Number 1, November, 1937

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T

he winds of change are blowing across the desert this winter, and they’re howling around the door here at Sun Runner World Headquarters. This new year, our 19th year of publishing, promises to bring with it some significant changes to this magazine. Hang on to your hats!

Running The Sun Runner for 8.5 years now (I’ve almost caught up with Sun Runner founder Vickie Waite—maybe someday I won’t be “the new guy” any more), I’ve grown rather accustomed to change and I look forward to it. With the implementation of our new television show (our producer is promoting it at a national TV trade show this January), our new website that is capable of functioning as a hub for desert community, a new international digital distribution system we’re investigating, and other factors, 2013 promises to be a watermark year for this independent little desert magazine.

Some changes to look for this coming year include the beginnings of a move to a more subscriber-based perspective.

Not long ago, we recently sent out subscription renewals and it was truly humbling to see nearly every subscriber renew (most renewing for two years), and to see fully half the renewals arrive with handwritten notes commending us for our work.

We’ll also be expanding our online content with bloggers from around the desert sharing their knowledge on culture, nature, travel, community, and more. It’s a great opportunity for desert folks who blog or post on Facebook to hundreds of readers to reach out to tens of thousands. We’ll feature that content in our Sun Blast newsletter and in the print editions of the magazine as well. If you’d be interested in joining our online desert community (that can be easily shared on Facebook and other social media), please contact me at publisher@ thesunrunner.com.

We’re also offering our extensive online events calendar where you can input your events for free and share them on social media, as well as free business/organization listings in our

website’s directory. It’s all part of our effort to build community across the desert, as well as a source of information useful to those outside the desert who have an interest in exploring the desert, and it ties in well with the digital distribution system we’re considering adopting. Wouldn’t it be great for international travelers to be able to not only read The Sun Runner on any and all devices worldwide, but to then find an invigorating desert community online to continue their explorations?

If you want your event to be listed in our online calendar, as well as considered for inclusion in our Sun Blast newsletter, our weekly radio show on KX 96.3/92.1 FM (that reaches the hi-desert and the Coachella Valley), then please advertise, or input your event for free at www.thesunrunner.com.

In this issue, we’re launching our Desert Road Trips features. We do so much running around the desert that we thought we’d share our favorite itineraries with all of you. You can add and subtract from them, modify them, or ignore them all completely and do your own thing. The best thing is to just make sure you get out there and enjoy our desert!

I’m sad to say our beloved music columnist for the hidesert, and my good friend, Judy Wishart, will be taking a hiatus for a while. Judy’s day job is demanding too much of her time and energy for her to continue. I’ll miss her very much.

With the publication of our new The Real Route 62 Guide to the Joshua Tree Gateway Communities which we’ll be distributing at the LA Travel & Adventure Show in January (our sixth consecutive year of promoting the desert region at the largest travel show in the nation), we’re moving into more of a role of sharing and promoting responsible desert travel.

We’ll also be leading our third Little Petroglyph Canyon tour this April, and we’ll be expanding our tour offerings this year to share our love of the desert with folks from around southern California who want to dive deeper into the beauty, history, and culture of our home. It’s going to be one crazy year! December 2012/January 2013 – The Sun Runner 11

Here kitty, kitty...

It’s not widely known among desert wildlife lovers that they themselves may sometimes be one of the biggest threats to the wildlife they love. That’s certainly true in the case of the desert folks who love to post photos of the bobcats coming to visit their homes or drink from the birdbath in their yard.

How does sharing a photo of that charismatic bobcat lapping up water in your backyard put the wildcat in danger? It’s a question we recently discussed with a wildlife advocate in the desert who desires to remain anonymous.

It’s really this simple: California allows the hunting and trapping of bobcats. An estimated 1,195 bobcats were killed during the 2010-2011 license year. Trappers, according to state data, took 893, sport hunters killed another 238, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services killed another 64.

It was a 57 percent increase from the previous license year statewide, and in southern California, the increase over the previous season was measured at 416 percent more bobcats killed this past season in commercial “harvesting” than the season prior.

There were 45 sucessful bobcat trappers in California reported, with the last reported average price of a bobcat pelt at $78 during the 2008-2009 season. The statewide harvest limit for bobcats annually is 14,400.

So, how do you place your favorite bobcat in danger by sharing how much you look forward to its visits to your home on social media sites like Facebook? You’re essentially advertising where to find nice healthy bobcats, and technology allows trappers (there is reportedly at least one team operating out of the Barstow area) to find promising areas for trapping or hunting.

This particular wildlife advocate knows how much attention trappers pay to leads on the whereabouts of bobcats.

He was enthused about a family of bobcats that began to visit and told a number of people about it. Not long after, he began finding traps set around his property. The trappers were careful to not place traps on his property, but worked around it to try and catch the bobcats on their way to and from the water source on his land.

Companies like Hunting Trips R Us offer to help hunters be matched to local guides, noting that “the bobcat hunts conducted within California can be in some of the most beautiful surroundings, which only adds to the trip.”

According to information from the 2010-2011 Bobcat Harvest Assessment (we’re not making the name up, you can 12 The Sun Runner – December 2012/January 2013

download it online), there were 132 bobcats taken by trappers in San Bernardino County in that season, with 150 in Kern County, nine each in San Diego County and Imperial County and 63 in Inyo County. Kern County led the state with total bobcats killed for the season with 175, with San Bernardino County following at 142. Imperial County had a dozen killed, and San Diego County nearly doubled that with 23. Riverside County had only eight bobcats killed total for the season, while Inyo County had a total of 67 kills.

Trapping has been allowed from November 24 through January 31, and hunting from October 15 through February 28.

Hunters can kill up to five bobcats per season each, and under a trapping license there is no limit. Dogs may be permitted to pursue bobcats, but only until New Years Day when a new law banning the use of dogs to hunt bobcats and bears takes effect.

Organizations such as the California State Varmint Callers Association (with their motto: Conservation of Wildlife through the taking of Predators by sportsmen), advocate the hunting of bobcats, coyotes, and other natural predators as a way of maintaining the ecological balance of the wild. There are licensed big game guides in and around the desert, including Morongo Valley, Lancaster, Beaumont, Yucca Valley, and Julian.

We certainly are not anti-hunting, we merely want to point out that if you post photos of your favorite bobcat family visiting your home on social media, you may wake up one morning to find that the family has been trapped for their pelts, or stuffed and displayed at that Mexican restaurant in Barstow that looks like a taxidermy museum (but has pretty good food).

We don’t have any bobcats dropping by Sun Runner World Headquarters at the moment, but we do love our wildlife that call our grounds their own, and we know our readers who do enjoy visits from wildlife would hate to see them trapped or shot for their pelts or as a trophy.

At least bobcats receive some protection for most of the year. Coyotes are legal to kill all year with no limits. And don’t even think about the poor rattlesnake that is right up there with the coyote and, surprisingly, the jackrabbit, on the list of desert animals you can legally blow away all year long.

We enjoy our desert wildlife alive, so the only shooting we’ll be doing of any of them—from bighorn sheep to crows and doves—will be with cameras. We’ve heard of horrible practices, including shooting desert tortoises for fun. What do you think about hunting and trapping in the desert?

Brave New Art & the Economics of Suffering Artist Linda Carmella Sibio is mentally ill. She makes no bones about the fact she’s schizophrenic, and has suffered through it for most of her life.

Linda’s been out of the public eye a lot lately due to debilitating and costly illness, barely hanging on in her small Joshua Tree home that doubles as her studio. But now she’s coming back and needs our help with her latest project—Economics of Suffering.

This accomplished outsider artist (both visual and performance artist), founder of Bezerk Productions, leader of the Cracked Eggs, a lively arts group that helped bring mentally ill folks out of their isolation to develop and share their creativity and artistic expression, bringing them into the community as fully participating members—one of my all-time favorite desert arts groups, once had her art exhibited at venues ranging from the Smithsonian to the United Nations. She’s performed her work nationally from Los Angeles to New York, and is one of my personal heroes.

Being out of the arts community for so long has left Linda out of the grants loop during economic hard times for the nation. Her Economics of Suffering is an interdisciplinary project exploring the psychological effects of a world economy that is collapsing and “creating a fertile bed for individual pain and suffering.”

Economics of Suffering includes 36 epic paintings, sound, video, performance, and installation works which have all been fully conceptualized. Linda’s paintings are on the subjects of genocide, blue collar workers, starvation, and the role of economics throughout all of this. A full-length performance piece is also included, her first since 2006.

Sibio has launched a fundraising campaign (her goal is $3,000 to purchase paint, archival paper, gold leaf, framing, and video production services) at www.indiegogo.com/economicsofsuffering. Her campaign runs through February 3.

To me, Linda Sibio embodies what brave artists do. Linda doesn’t have to reach out of her comfort zone—she has no comfort zone. She works with the mentallly ill, the homeless, the marginalized. She copes with internal challenges that would drive most of us into despair and isolation. And from it all, she creates incredible art. A true desert treasure. – Steve Brown

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Tell our advertisers that you saw them in The Sun Runner!

A Cactus Flower blooms somewhere for each and every desert citizen who volunteers their time, talents, and energy to make our desert a better place for all of us to live or visit. Whether you’re volunteering with environmental, social, medical, educational, or other efforts, we just want you to know you’re appreciated.

Thank you for making our desert a better place in so many ways, on so many levels.

A Cholla Prick goes, on the other hand, to those who would like to steal our desert’s water. That goes out to the Cadiz water mining project in particular, that would ensure green lawns in Orange County at the expense of desert wildlife.

But it isn’t only Cadiz.

Out near California City, Cantil, and Mojave, AquaHelio Resources, LLC, is pushing the Fremont Valley Preservation Project (we’re assuming they plan on pickling the valley to preserve it). The project has four sites including one near Randsburg, where AquaHelio wants to build a 1,008 megawatt photovoltaic facility with nearly 3.6 million PV modules and transmission lines on nearly 5,000 acres of desert lands.

So, what does this have to do with water? Well, there is a proposed water “banking” facility to recharge up to 200,000 acre feet per year of water from the LADWP aquaduct system at the project site. Surface water would be “banked” in the aquifers below the project sites for recovery at some unspecified point in the future, with two phases of up to 100,000 acre feet of that water in the safe deposit box being removed at a time.

This is absurd. Of course, who will monitor the water deposited vs. water withdrawn? They will, and we can rest assured that our water will be safe.

Or not...

Meanwhile, another Cholla Prick to

14 The Sun Runner – December 2012/January 2013

stick the vandals who have been destroying the artwork on the Gamma Gulch site near Pioneertown as part of High Desert Test Sites’ installations.

It takes a pretty low form of life to go steal and destroy the work of these artists.

Cactus Flowers go out to the folks who’ve launched Radio Free Joshua Tree bringing back a bit of the old Beatnik Cafe vibe. Want to hear a bit of the Joshua Tree sound? Check it out at www. radiofreejoshuatree.com.

We’d also like to dedicate a Cactus Flower to Joshua Tree National Park’s retiring chief of interpretation, Joe Zarki, as he ends his 39-year career at the beginning of 2013. Dave Carney has been named the acting chief and interim public information officer in a park where a fulltime PIO is needed.

With 1.4+ million annual visitors, Joshua Tree National Park’s rangers deal with an enormous variety of challenges on a daily basis. Recent examples included a tragic park suicide and a couple lost for days in the hinterlands (outside the park, evidently) with three flat tires, as well as wildfires, campers, tourists from every nation across the globe—you get the idea.

Finally, we need to stick the U.S. Postal Service with a huge Cholla Prick this year. We didn’t want to do it, but considering the extra effort they went to to twice sabotage our subscription mailings (we should note that they did it purposefully), we have to include them.

We have lots of local folks in the Post Office we really like, but overall, it seems that not only does the Post Office no longer seem to understand its job is to deliver things we pay them to deliver, but that their morale has suffered incredibly, as well as their bottom line, as a direct result. Here’s hoping for a better 2013!

ART CLASSES & MORE 6847 Adobe Road 760.361.1805 Located across from Barr Lumber

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Restoring the Lost Memory of a People Liberia’s more than two decades of brutal civil wars destroyed not only the lives and families of many Liberians, as well as their schools, homes and towns, but much of their history as well.

In the old Supreme Court Building in downtown Monrovia, the National Museum was looted of virtually everything during the civil war. The museum itself even came under fire by rebels during attacks in 2003.

Jeff and Andrew Topham visited Liberia last year seeking to recreate photographs their father had taken in the late 1970s. The Tophams had lived in Liberia for several years until 1979. Shortly after they left, Liberia plunged into civil war.

One of the dangers of the civil wars that followed was the innocent possession of photographs. If the rebels found photos among your possessions you could be killed or maimed. As a result, most of the African nation’s photographic record was lost.

“To save their lives, people actually burned their own photos, even threw their cameras away,” the Topham’s noted.

“We also realized that the envelope of our dad’s photos we carried was more than just a collection of family snapshots of our idyllic ex-pat childhood. For many Liberians we showed them to, they were rare proof of a once peaceful country—and hope for a brighter future for a country working hard to heal.”

The Topham’s had a chance meeting with President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (and Nobel Peace Prize winner). Sirleaf asked for their help in getting those with photos of pre-civil war Liberia to return them so “that the children of Liberia can know its own history.”

Enter Sun Runner Literary Editor Delphine Lucas who had gone to Liberia with the Peace Corps in 1976 and spent several years there as a photographer.

The Tophams created a website for those with photos of Liberia to upload them to share them with the people of that country. They then raised funds, filmed a documentary, Liberia ‘77, and worked with the Liberian Ministry of Culture and the National Museum to create an exhibition that would return these pre-war images to the people of Liberia.

Their task wasn’t easy, they even had to raise funds to help renovate the museum in order to hold the exhibit this fall.

The exhibit—Photo is Life—that included Delphine’s work (see her shot of Liberian school children, above), alongside photos from at least one of her friends from her time in Liberia, opened at the National Museum on November 23.

Dignitaries including the Minister of Information Lewis Brown, Deputy Minister for Culture and Tourism Elizabeth Hoff, and Monrovia’s Mayor Mary T. Broh, were all in attendance at the opening reception. Delphine couldn’t attend, but was pleased to be part of the exhibit, and the healing process for Liberia.

You can explore the Liberia ‘77 collection at www.liberia77.com.

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INVITATION Input your own free business listing in our online directory and list your events for free in our online calendar at www.thesunrunner.com December 2012/January 2013 – The Sun Runner 15

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W

e’ll begin our eclectic desert road trip at an iconic point that no visitor to Palm Springs should miss— standing under the much-larger-than-life crotch of Marilyn Monroe at midnight.

OK, normally, we’re not quite so crass, but since we’ve watched as tourists from around the world repeatedly stood directly under Seward Johnson’s three-story work, Forever Marilyn, shooting upskirt photos for the folks back home, it seemed like a logical starting point. Marilyn has ties to the desert, and while this statue is a bit along the lines of Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, it really feels as if this homage to Marilyn belongs in Palm Springs (Marilyn has ties not only with Palm Springs, but also Borrego Springs, which we’ll get to soon...).

While you’re in Palm Springs, we recommend catching the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway to get a global perspective on the Coachella Valley, Palm Springs, and the mountains. Check the Travel section of our website (www.thesunrunner.com) for dining recommendations, and our calendar for events going on around the desert.

There’s plenty to do in the Coachella Valley (www.visitpalmsprings.com is filled with ideas and inspiration), but we’re hitting the road for parts east and south. We’ll head southeast on Highway 111 and the Salton Sea. Make sure to stop at Shields Date Garden in Indio for some tasty Medjool dates, a date shake, and the classic film on the sex life of the date.

We’re going to join Highway 86 South out near Thermal 20 The Sun Runner – December 2012/January 2013

and then head east on Highway 195 (66th Ave.) to Lincoln where we’ll head south to the Salton Sea History Museum.

Here, we’ll learn about the history of this fascinating body of water, and put on our walking shoes so we can go explore the Desert Cahuilla Wetlands, a birdwatcher’s delight.

Afterward, we’ll head back to 86 South and soon, the Salton Sea will appear to our left. Feel free to explore Desert Shores, Salton Sea Beach, and Salton City and the surreal shoreline of the sea. We guarantee it will leave an impression.

If you’re hungry, load up on some of the best tacos in the desert at the Alamo Restaurant on South Marina Drive in Salton City, and then head west on Highway S22 through the badlands to Borrego Springs and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. There are more great restaurants and lodging choices in Borrego Springs per capita than most any other desert town, so check www.borregospringschamber.com and our website for suggestions. We’ll spend two nights here, exploring and relaxing in one of the most beautiful desert locations in California.

Marilyn Monroe gracefully holds her pose all through the night, even when tourists aren’t busy shooting underskirt photos of her crotch, opposite page, top. The Alamo Restaurant serves up some of the best tacos in the desert in Salton City, opposite. A blue heron rookery near the Salton Sea History Musuem, top; and a Salton Sea still life—one of millions that line the shore, above. Art covers the ruins of forgotten seaside dreams near Salton City, below.

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Open: 12 to 3 PM Wednesday–Sunday Summer Hours: 12 to 3 Friday-Saturday-Sunday

December 2012/January 2013 – The Sun Runner 21

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O

ne of our favorite places to stay in Borrego Springs is The Palms at Indian Head. A classic desert resort, Marilyn and other Hollywood stars once lounged poolside here in sun-drenched (some insert “alcohol” in the place of sun) bliss. With the Red Ocotillo and Krazy Coyote restaurants here, there is just about everything you can need in a relaxing getaway on site. The poolside casitas are great for a romantic getaway!

But don’t let the charms of The Palms keep you from exploring. There’s too much to experience around here. Stop by the Borrego Springs Chamber of Commerce for helpful visitor information, and then head out to the park’s visitor center, and on to the Borrego Palm Canyon Trail that takes you on a three mile round trip to an isolated palm oasis. Keep an eye on the mountains on either side for a glimpse of elusive bighorn sheep, and look to your right to see one of the biggest beehives we’ve ever seen.

Other favorite walks include the short Morteros Trail, the Pictograph/Smuggler’s Canyon Trail (go all the way to the end for an incredible vista), and the hike to the top of Ghost Mountain where Marshal South and his family lived out their uniquely alternative desert lifestyle on top of the mountain in their home, Yaquitepec. The South family’s existence from the 1930s was well documented in the pages of the original Desert magazine and remains part of desert culture and lore today.

Other favorite spots to visit are the remains of the Kumeyaay Indian village in Yaqui Pass off Highway 78, and the hike to the elephant tree. You can drive to the village site, but if you park just off the highway and walk, you’ll enjoy it more.

It’s a beautiful site and one that requires your respect for those who lived here before. Always approach Native American sites with respect and you’ll often be rewarded with a memorable and uplifting experience.

If you noticed large and strange animals lurking all around Borrego Springs, you weren’t halucinating, you’re just seeing the magnificent “sky art” of Ricardo Breceda on the prowl.

Nearly 130 metal sculptures created by Breceda have come to life over three square miles around this community, making it one of the country’s largest and most intriguing art installations.

There are sculptures depicting the animals that once wandered this region in the Plio-Pleistocene era, bighorn sheep, dinosaurs, Spanish explorers that passed this way, a Jeep filled with off-road enthusiasts, and an enormous mythic desert dragon that swims through the sand, diving under the roadway and rearing its fearsome head on the other side.

These fantastical creatures could never have come to life without the patronage of the late Dennis Avery who supported 24 The Sun Runner

Breceda’s work and provided the lands for their installation.

Would that the world had more Dennis Averys, but we’re grateful for this one as his partnership with Breceda has created a marvelous landscape of fantastical beasts that is worth spending hours of your time exploring and admiring. Pick up a copy of Diana Lindsay’s superb book Ricardo Breceda: Accidental Artist to take home some of the sky art experience with you (Diana also has a great book about Marshal South).

Of course Anza-Borrego is synonomous with wildflowers (other desert communities offer great wildflower viewing too, and Ridgecrest even hosts an annual Wildflower Festival celebrating the carpets of gold that roll over the northern Mojave, while east of Twentynine Palms you can hunt the elusive and beautiful Desert Lily), and spring is when folks go to see them. Blooms can vary widely year-to-year, but here’s a little tip: something is blooming almost all year long. The trick?

Get out of the car and look!

If you’re getting hungry from all your hiking and wandering and wildflower hunting, then you’re in luck. Borrego Springs has some of the best dining in the desert. If you want to drop in on the heart of Borrego Springs and take in the local life while devouring delicious locally-sourced steaks or other tasty specialties, then Carlee’s is the place. Want to relax after a hike over wine, delightful hosts, and fabulous French fare?

Then The French Corner is perfect. We also enjoy Assaggio Ristorante Italiano at the airport (it’s good enough folks fly in from San Diego just to eat here), and the Krazy Coyote or Red Ocotillo are both great choices (enjoy a drink poolside and imagine Cary Grant at the next table).

After you’ve had your taste of Anza-Borrego, it’s time to head out further south on Highway S2 (stop at the Vallecito Stage Station on your way). You’ll connect up with Interstate 8 at Ocotillo, or take Highway 98 for a more interesting desert experience. Head east past the Crucifixion Thorn Natural Area and realize you have crossed into the Yuha Desert. Imagine crossing it with Juan Bautista de Ana back in 1775. Keep an eye out for mysterious ancient geoglyphs and vanishing plank roads. Next stop—Felicity and the center of the world!

A view of beautiful cloud-shadowed mountains surrounding Borrego Springs, opposite page, top. This crouching saber-toothed tiger is one of 129 metal sculptures that comprise Ricardo Breceda’s “sky art” on the prowl all around Borrego Springs, top. You can find something in bloom nearly all year long in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, above right. Just get out of the car and look! If you want to experience the beating heart of Borrego Springs, then Carlee’s is your place. Say “hi” for us. We’ll be back soon!

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O

n your way to Yuma back on Interstate 8, marvel at the beautiful Algodones Sand Dunes, and to the south, look for the stark wall that marks the border of Mexico.

Don’t drive by the “town” of Felicity, however. For not only can you find the official center of the world here (it all has to do with a good dragon, the godfather of skydiving and a pyramid—honest!), but you can also find one of the most unique and thought-provoking museums in the world—the Museum of History in Granite.

Across the desert floor, and under the watch of the chapel on the hill (a story unto itself), near a staircase from the Eiffel Tower and a sundial that replicates Michelangelo’s Arm of God in the Sistine Chapel, large granite panels radiate outward containing the history of the world, as well as histories of, and monuments to, the Foreign Legion, Quest for the Sky, the history of Arizona (and soon California and the U.S.), the USMC Korean War legacy, and more. You can spend a day here and it would be a day very well spent.

Not much farther east, just across the Colorado River, lies your destination for the night: Yuma, Arizona. Yeah, we’re a California desert magazine, but Yuma’s the place to stay when you’re down this way, and there’s so much to do here that if you’re like us, you’ll keep coming back.

We love the Yuma Territorial Prison (think 3:10 to Yuma), and we always stop at the swap meet for a little authentic desert shopping experience (www.visityuma.com is packed with great ideas and lots of special opportunities to experience Yuma at its best). There’s much more to see and do—lots of history, natural beauty (next trip we take a river cruise!), and then we’re heading north on Highway 95 where you can turn off and wander an outdoor museum of tanks just outside the U.S. Army’s Yuma Proving Ground (look for the techno-blimp!).

On your way up Highway 95, keep a lookout for a turnoff to your right for Kofa National Wildlife Refuge at mile marker 55. Drive out among the saguaros to the refuge, and on to one of our favorite desert destinations: Castle Dome ghost town.

26 The Sun Runner – December 2012/January 2013

We want our own Sherman tank! The next best thing is visiting one at the Yuma Proving Ground, top left. Castle Dome is a must-see ghost town/museum near Yuma, above. The Colorado River is ready to cool you off, top. Catch the 3:10 to the Yuma Territorial Prison, top right, or cruise the Colorado, mid-right. Felicity’s Museum of History in Granite is magnificent, bottom right. Thanks to the Yuma Visitors Bureau for their Yuma photos.

Castle Dome is a mining museum and ghost town consisting of about three dozen restored buildings that represent a period mining town. It is a superb museum filled with collections that bring to life the stories of this area’s history. You can wander for hours and enjoy every minute of it—we did.

Then it’s back to Highway 95 and north on a scenic drive to Quartzsite, Arizona where in the depth of winter a fascinating phenomena occurs—seemingly millions of RVers and snowbirds and wanderers and some very interesting characters all descend on a town that in season becomes the desert’s true hub of commerce. It’s filled with characters, kind of a retirement home for carnies in the desert. There are enormous gem and mineral shows, as well as miles of swap meet experiences to be shopped. Look for the monument to Hi Jolly the camel driver for the army (yep, we had a Camel Corps at one time), and grab a pizza at Silly Al’s.

Don’t plan on staying in Quartzsite, but if you’re tuckered out by all this fun, take the I-10 west, back to California where there are plenty of lodging choices in Blythe, or head back to Palm Springs several hours distant; worn out, but with your sense of adventure intact and ready for the next desert road trip.

I

n this, the year ending the “Mayan Calendar,” one of the northern neighbors of Mexico that hosts the Mayans, Arizona (the last state of the contiguous United States to enter the Union as number 48) celebrates its centennial after 100 years of statehood that began February 14, 1912.

Most people who travel to Arizona on Southern California’s Interstate 10 may stop to fuel up at that first exit east of Blythe, (usually saving over 30 cents a gallon off California fuel prices) called “Ehrenberg Exit” named for the town to the north on the Colorado River. The road of the exit itself, just after the proud Arizona State Flag-bedecked “Arizona Centennial – 1912 to 2012” signs, some may notice, is called Poston Road.

Poston Road is named for Charles Debrille Poston, who lived from 1825 to 1902. He was one of Arizona’s first (“gringo”) explorers, gold and silver miners, lawyers, judges, journalists, irrigation specialists... the list of talents of this man was almost endless, but notably, he was not only claimant to the land that now comprises Phoenix’s “downtown playground,” Papago Park (site of the Hohokam Tribe’s solstice ceremonies) but he was also Arizona’s first congressional representative as well as Native American Bureau superintendent, and more—all for which he has received the title “The Father of Arizona.”

Herman Ehrenberg, was a mining engineer whom Poston met about 1853 in San Francisco. Poston had come from Kentucky to seek his fortune in the California gold rush (ending up as a Customs House clerk) and Ehrenberg became his partner in a gold and silver prospecting venture to explore the lands of the recent Gadsden Purchase, financed by French bankers.

One of their first adventures ended up inadvertantly creating the town of Yuma, which they originally named “Colorado City.”

When the group, on the return journey to California with mineral samples and their maps, reached the Colorado River, the only way to cross back and forth was by way of a ferry.

December 2012/January 2013 – The Sun Runner 27

Since the ferry operated in hostile Native American territory, the cost of crossing was quite high. Poston refused to pay the extreme toll. Instead, he came up with the idea of creating city lots to pay for their passage. One of the explorers was a skilled surveyor, so he laid out the streets grids, town square, docks and piers. When the ferryman’s curiousity finally stirred him to ask what was going on, Poston told him, “Oh, haven’t you heard? We’re here to create a new city, a magnificent center for trading and commerce, to be called ‘Colorado City!’ If you’re smart you’ll buy in ahead of the others!” The ferry operator was impressed enough to buy the first few plots, enabling Poston and his team to pay their passage across the river. It was at this time that Poston met the commanding officer of Fort Yuma, Major Heintzelman.

After returning to San Francisco, Poston left for the East Coast in search of capital to fund a mining operation in the newly acquired territory. After several unsuccessful attempts, he was introduced to several Cincinnati, Ohio investors by Heintzelman. On March 24, 1856, $2 million (approximately $400 million today) was secured to found the Sonora Exploring and Mining Company with Heintzelman as company president and “Colonel” (as he came to be called) Poston as managing supervisor. The Texas and Pacific Railroad Company contributed a grant of $100,000. The expedition of around 350 men left Texas in May of that year, arriving in Tuscon in August.

They then headed about 38 miles south to the Presidio of Tubac, located on the Santa Cruz River. Tubac was the oldest European settlement in the territory, originally settled by the Spanish in 1752. It was more recently abandoned but left intact minus doors and windows that had been carted away by the Mexican troops. After they set up the the mining operation, word reached Sonora in the south of the employment opportunity, and before long the community had swelled to over a thousand miners including some families. They harvested pine wood from the local Santa Rita Mountains to be milled with whip-saws for the doors, windows, tables, bedsteads, other furniture and animal corrals. Soon, the operation was realizing about $3,000 a day in silver ore, and surely the investors would be quite happy.

As “alcalde,” Col. Poston was the law under the rules and regulations that governed the Territory of New Mexico at the time. He had many duties, including mayor, judge, town treasurer and justice of the peace. He was legally authorized to execute criminals and declare war, but spent most of his time keeping official records, performing marriages, baptizing children, etc.

This continued until Father Macheboeuf, the vicar of Bishop Jean-Baptiste Lamy, was sent from Santa Fe to investigate the goings-on in Tubac. The validity of the marriages Poston performed was questioned by the vicar, and to prevent a revolt amongst those who had been married by Poston, a $700 donation was made before Macheboeuf sanctified the unions.

Speaking of money, Poston printed some of the territory’s first paper money, so residents wouldn’t be burdened with the weight of the silver.

He wrote of the Mexican women who made their way up to his community, “Sonora has always been famous for the beauty and gracefulness of its senoritas... They really had a refining influence on the frontier population. Many of them had been educated at convents, and all of them were good Catholics.”

Poston was certainly ahead of his time, (especially considering what may be occurring ‘behind the scenes’ today) when he stated, “In countries requiring irrigation, the communal system of distributing water has been found to produce the greatest good for the greatest number. The plan of a government granting water to corporations, to be sold as a monopoly, is an atrocity 28 The Sun Runner – December 2012/January 2013

against nature; and no deserving people will for long submit to it. The question will soon come up whether the government has any more right to sell the water than the air.”* Poston may have over-simplified things when he wrote in his diary of the utopia he had created.

“We had no Law but Love, and no occupation but labor.

No government, no taxes, no public debt and no politics. It was a community in a perfect state of nature...”* Unfortunately, his “utopia” had to come to an end, when, in 1861 with the advent of the Civil War, Union troops were withdrawn from the region, and Poston and his workers barely escaped with their lives with the threat of marauding Apache warriors and Mexican bandits approaching. Leaving behind about $1 million in mining equipment, it took them six months on the overland route to reach San Diego.

Poston then went to Washington, D.C. where he worked for the new General Heintzelman as a civilian aide. Poston was introduced by the general to President Lincoln (who’s family was friends with Poston’s in Kentucky. In fact, Poston’s father, Temple had bought Abe and his brother their first pair of boots one winter, upon seeing them running around barefoot**).

Poston used this time to lead the fight to have Arizona established as a territory separate from New Mexico. While this had been attempted several times before, it was believed that because Poston was a “Union man” and possessed considerable powers of persuasion, he might succeed. He took to the task with his characteristic thoroughness and conviction. The president was looking for ways to finance the Union Army in the Civil War, so Poston endeavored to convince him of the value of Arizona’s untapped silver, gold and copper mines.

The president was so impressed he sent Poston to Congress to immediately call for a bill to create the Arizona Territory. The bill passed quickly and Arizona became a territory officially on February 24, 1863. Poston had brought silver from the Arizona mines with him and had a $1,500- inkwell fashioned at Tiffany’s in New York, which he presented to Lincoln at the signing.

Poston had worked for over 12 years to achieve territory status for Arizona, and while he was vindicated by the signing, he was given the rather thankless position of Superintendent of Indian Affairs. While this did seem like a snub to his skills, it did get him back to his beloved new territory.

During his tenure, Poston proposed creating irrigation systems. He then became Arizona’s first delegate to Congress in July of 1864, where he was able to persuade Congress to create Arizona’s first Native American reservation on the Colorado River and the start of an irrigation program. He also had a dream to create a shipping canal from Yuma to the Gulf of California, for silver and other commodities.

His congressional term only lasted a few months, and because he was slandered by his competition in the then capitol of Prescott, and was not in the territory to defend his good name, he was defeated. After losing yet a second time, perhaps he felt dejected and that it was time to move on, as he then traveled to Europe, and wrote his book, Europe in the Summer-Time. He was then commissioned by Secretary of State Seward in 1868 to deliver the Burlingame Treaty to the Emporer of China, and to study irrigation systems there .

In that modern-day Arizona has a thriving tourism industry in the “New age vortex Mecca” of Sedona, Poston was again ahead of his time, because he traveled further to India where he became inspired by the sun worship of Zoroasterianism, before heading farther west to the pyramids and waterways of Egypt. After more travel in Europe, he returned to the U.S. for the Centennial Exposition of 1876 and then returned to Arizona to take the post of registrar of the Federal Land Office in Flor-

ence, a humble position for a man of such great vision. There he discovered the ruins of an ancient tower atop a hill, and thought that it had been created by ancestors of the Native American Hohokam or Aztecs, tribes in whose spiritual practices the sun played a central role. His grand vision was to build a great pyramid Temple of the Sun on that spot. (Nowadays, the Florence Museum, near Poston’s highway historical marker, has an exhibit that claims the local people “...considered Poston to be strange, yet visionary.”)

In his later life he headed toward Tuscon, where he held many different positions including lecturer, writer, mining, irrigation, and railroad promoter. He seemed to take on the demeanor of a somewhat eccentric elder statesman, even taking shots at a local editor who impugned his integrity. He also championed several worthwhile enterprises, such as the formation of the Pioneer’s Historical Society, his conservation efforts and his efforts to resolve the Native American situation.

He gave one of his last lectures in 1899 in Phoenix, at the age of 74. The lecture was titled “How I Spent Christmas.”

He recounted his personal celebrations of Christmas with people like Mark Twain, Joaquin Miller, Garibaldi, and other European royalty. However, he said his best Christmas was in Tubac in 1856.

For the rest of his life, he held various positions, none with the degree of previous importance, and eventually ended up living in poverty in Phoenix. Thankfully, the legislature became aware of his circumstances. In an effort to alleviate his situation and in recognition of his valuable service, the legislature of Arizona in 1899 voted him a pension of $25 per month. This act described some of his accomplishments: “...Whereas Charles D. Poston in January 1854, prospected the Ajo mines in what is now Pima County, Arizona, and in the same year, organized on said mines the first mining company to invest capital and to do development work on mines in what is now Arizona... and in 1863 gave Arizona her name... (mention of Territory signing and his many other accomplishments) Whereas, from the above and many other well-known facts, Charles D. Poston, among all other pioneers, was pre-eminently the moving spirit, and in fact, may be truly said to be the ‘Father of Arizona.’ “ – U.S. Congress, 1899 Poston died in June 1902 at age 75. His body very nearly remained unclaimed until the editor of the Phoenix newspaper ran a story about him. Then hundreds of citizens offered to help with funeral costs. Twentythree years after his death, and on the centennial of his birth, the citizens of Arizona decided to honor Poston. They built a small pyramid atop his beloved hill in Florence (now called “Poston Butte”) and his remains were transported there—a fitting end to the life-story of the Father of Arizona.

Happy 100th birthday Arizona! Please check out the Arizona Centennial site, www.az100years.org. ** Personally told to the author, by his Grandmother, Mary Lee Pope (born 1892, Ft. Whipple, Prescott AZ), Daughter of Sara Lee Poston, and Grand-daughter of Charles Debrille Poston.

(An organization is being established, postonsuntemple. org, to create sun temples throughout the Southwest, as well as endeavor to help Native Americans with grants for solar electric and heating systems, to honor Poston. A DVD of Arizona actor Parker Anderson’s portrayal of Poston, “Building a State in Apache Land,” performed for the Arizona Centennial Celebration at Prescott, Arizona’s Sharlot Hall Museum, is available by contacting the author).

– Steven “Sunny” Sun-Downer is a hi-desert journalist. He can be reached at conchustimes@yahoo.com.

December 2012/January 2013 – The Sun Runner 29

W

elcome to the amazing changes that transform summer into fall and then winter in the Mojave Desert!

A welcome event for all of us well seasoned desert dwellers! Amen.

This is the time where the temperatures bring out many of us to prospect for gold at lower elevations during the entire day without the threat of the major heat and elements that are so dangerous during the summer months.

Just because the summer is gone there are still a list of concerns to be addressed. Despite cooler temperatures, the desert sun is still an issue and covering up remains a concern in the open desert. Skin still needs to be protected from harmful ultraviolet rays. It is still necessary to wear sun block no matter how cool it seems to be outside, or just cover up with light clothes during the warmer days, and black clothes during the cooler days to absorb the solar rays and retain more warmth.

Safety issues during the winter Always pack back-up clothing during winter months including a serious pair of long johns. Mine work well when combined with a series of layered clothing. Especially if you are planning to camp out in the desert while you are digging up gold nuggets, meteorites and other unique treasures (or even if you are just rock hounding!) you need to keep warm because after the sun sets the illusion of a warm winter day vanishes with the light of day—and fast! I ride a Harley and pack additional gear in my saddle bags based on my read of the temperatures and the weather forecast. The weather forecast should be your best guide to a safe adventure in the desert. Some of the things 30 The Sun Runner – December 2012/January 2013

I carry can keep you warm in Antarctica! A nice cotton layer underneath all, serious long underwear...(buy the best!), next more layers like polo shirts, neoprene masks, thermal gloves, serious boots for rocky terrain, thick socks, a head and ear covering. My favorite jacket is the McMurdo Parka made by North Face. If you get cold wearing this I would be very surprised!

Camping out Staying warm during a campout might be as easy as just keeping dry. About two years back a group of us headed to one of our mining claims. We knew there was a winter rain storm headed for the Eagle Mountains. I have a camper shell I sleep in on my Ford F-150 4X4 but that was not enough. There always exists the risk of a “leak” so I brought a 20X20 plastic tarp and a lot of bungee cords. Earplugs and a night shade helped, but for the most part even though it rained all night I was among the few that remained dry during this little escapade of inclimate weather. Plus, I slept like a baby.

Besides advice like this, the obvious always prevails... do not park in a low lying area or a wash.

Just like the summer, the winters in the desert can be very unforgiving if you do not pack the correct gear in your vehicle.

Be smart...pack extra clothing, food, phones, batteries, gear, spare tires, tell people where you are going, check the weather forecast...be smart!

Philip Bonafede is a prospector and owner of Prospectors Depot, in Joshua Tree. You can reach Phil with your questions and comments at: info@prospectorsdepot.com, or (760)366-3333. Are you interested in desert prospecting? Let us know at publisher@thesunrunner.com.

T

he creosote bush is truly the unnoticed elephant in the room. If someone were to weigh the biomass of the desert Southwest, this species would certainly possess the highest percentage of life and we would find a high percentage of all other life in the desert is dependent upon it, yet its importance in the desert environment often goes unappreciated.

You’ll find streets and cities named after the palo verde, the yucca, and the Joshua tree as well as many other plants and animals. I cannot think of any city or street or park named after the creosote bush. No doubt this is because the creosote bush often looks like little more than a spindly, olive colored pile of sticks. But if we take a closer look we will find the creosote bush is neither dead or sterile, but rather it is awesome; it has ability to thrive in the desert and provides for others. If one wants to understand the environment of the desert Southwest, it is important to know the ways of the creosote bush.

There’s no better place to start with than the creosote bush’s inner reaction with the wind because it can be said that if you don’t know the way the wind works in the desert you really don’t know anything. When you look at a stand of creosote bushes you will see they dramatically change the movement of the wind across the landscape as each bush slows down the wind and collects a pile of debris amongst its branches that consists of sand, dust, and leaves. This has a profound effect on the desert environment, allowing grasses and annual plants to grow in this soil that is simply better than the soil beyond the influence of the creosote bush. This raised mound makes it easier for lizards, insects, and other animals to dig into the ground. And this is due in part because of the attributes of the soil, the slight angle the mound provides, and the biomechanics of various animals. And because these various animals are digging in ground at the base of the creosote bush, it gives the soil a certain amount of churn that has benefits much like the plowing of a field. This allows for more grasses and other small annual plants to grow at the base of the creosote bush and thus we have one of many feedback loops that is part its environment.

So we have the two basic design elements of the creosote bush which is the design and structure of the creosote bush and the mound it collects. These two elements are crucial to understanding how the creosote bush works in the rain.

We’ll start with an individual raindrop hitting one of the small creosote leaves. The leaves are covered with an oily substance and they shed water fast and efficiently to the branches.

The branches are smooth and hard so they do not absorb much water and they generally have a steep angle to the ground. All

this means the creosote bush will collect rain water from a relatively large area and deliver it to a small area.

Some interesting things begin to happen as this water trickles from leaf to branch and on to the ground where it often find its way into one of the many holes the animals have dug. This moisture goes deeper into the soil than it would have otherwise where it will be protected from the sun and the dry winds. This helps the creosote bush to survive and even thrive where other plants cannot, and it helps the grasses and small annual plants that grow amongst its branches which increases its effect on the wind and again, we have another feedback loop.

The shadow and reflectivity of the creosote bush has a major influence on its environment. The shadow slows down the evaporation rate of the soil allowing plants to sprout and grow while the ground beyond dries out faster. When the shadow holds the moisture long enough for plants to grow, they too shade the ground and filter out more of the sun’s energy protecting moisture in the ground and creating another feedback loop.

We must understand this plant’s ability to reflect the sun’s radiant energy onto the ground near it and the environmental effects of this phenomena. While this is often overlooked, to really understand the creosote environment, this reflectivity is important. When you look at the south side of the bush you’ll find there is less plant life there and that’s because the creosote bush is reflecting some of the energy of the sun onto the ground, elevating its temperature 5 or 10 degrees. Most of the time it means the soil dries out faster so there’s less plant life there.

However it doesn’t mean the south side is less important.

There is an advantage to the south side of the creosote bush that can be seen easily when there is a light snow as the snow will melt on the south side faster and provide the warmth and moisture some of the plants need during winter. This provides a food source for a wide range of animals when there is little else.

To really understand the creosote bush we have to understand its collective power because it often exists in groups that number in the millions. While a microenvironment may sustain a small lizard or a tarantula, it will not do for other animals, however, a large population of creosotes will make up a dot matrix environment that can sustain a large number of animals.

While the microenvironment of the creosote bush is a wonder to behold, its collective power is what truly defines the environment of the desert Southwest. This is important in understanding the natural world. Whether it’s the creosote bush or the ponderosa pine; they both embody the principle of the one and the many.

December 2012/January 2013 – The Sun Runner 31

Y

ou didn’t care much for high school history classes, right? But they were required, so you got on with it and tried to memorize more than you ever wanted to know about things that you didn’t want to know anything about in the first place. I can really relate!

But something happened to change my thinking. I discovered that history was more—much more, than military history or political history or even women’s history. It was also about toothbrushes and laundry receipts showing missing pillowcases...and the everyday people who dealt with those things in their largely everyday lives Call it social history or think of it as bringing to life the stories of those who lived here before us. From soap dishes made from old sardine cans to community toothbrushes at some hotels, this is our desert history and desert heritage.

Imagine that the place where you live today was preserved for 100 years in the same condition it was when you walked out the door this morning.

What would someone in 2112 be able to know about you? Would they find family pictures on your laptop? Books and DVD’s…and back copies of The Sun Runner…on your shelves? Hard copies of bills and business letters? Dishes?

Tablecloths? Reading glasses? Whiskey or whisky bottles?

With enough artifacts remaining in the same place a portrait of you would

emerge. That portrait would honor you and the place you occupied on this earth.

And it would flesh out the dry historical accounts we all love to hate.

Suppose, however, that your letters had been taken and sold on some futuristic EBay. The old bottles found themselves on display in someone’s futuristic version of a “man cave.” Your tablecloth was interpreted as “retro” and removed because “it was in some abandoned property.” Use your imagination about the fate of computers and copper wiring. Even windows and woodwork may have vanished.

Have you ever tried to put together a jigsaw puzzle with pieces missing from the box? Distorted results emerge.

Unless we all work together to encourage respect for our desert heritage, missing pieces will distort the picture of our western past as much as some films and novels have done. Does anyone ever find those missing pieces to the jigsaw puzzle and get them back to their source?

Rarely. Once they are gone they are gone.

Just like reminders of those who lived on our desert.

Private property and no trespassing signs are installed on historic properties by frustrated property owners. Respect the word “owner.” Respect the signs.

And it doesn’t hurt to ask where interesting old artifacts came from when they turn up at stores or on EBay. I was once told, when asking about

32 The Sun Runner – December 2012/January 2013

the provenance of an item, “It doesn’t matter.” But it should. And it does.

Those toothbrushes and medicine bottles, pots and pans, old letters and all the other items connected with historic daily life are part of our remembering.

Let’s work together to keep them safe.

It’s our desert heritage.

Editor’s note: I have personally witnessed the devastation of the looting of an entire Cahuilla village site, and vandalism to, and destruction of, other sites across the desert. Incidents like the recent removal of petroglyphs from rock walls near Bishop are heartbreaking in both their destruction and the ignorance of their execution. The Sun Runner is actively working to encourage and support preservation of our desert heritage, from Native American geoglyphs and petroglyphs from Blythe to Coyote Hole, Joshua Tree; to modern cultural sites such as Salvation Mountain and the Museum of History in Granite.

We understand the fascination with relics from the past, but we do not condone the wholesale onslaught of looting and destruction of sites across the desert. We encourage the reporting of, and prosecution of, those engaged in the vandalism or theft of historical items.

Please respect our historical sites and leave them as you found them—for future generations to visit and enjoy.

Your grandchildren will thank you for it.

S

tanding at Ashford Mills in the southern section of Death Valley National Park, I appreciate this vast park’s solitude and spectacular viewsheds. The sun illuminates the mountain ranges to the west, which I frame in numerous photos to document the ruins of the old mill, a relic of Death Valley’s gold mining era. To the North, a wash wanders past a spider web of alluvial fans, intersecting canyons and then disappears into the horizon.

The purpose of my visit isn’t just to marvel at Death Valley National Park’s stunning landscapes, but to also visit the park’s newly refurbished visitor center.

Death Valley is visited by over 800,000 people per year and nearly half of them end up at the Furnace Creek visitor’s center. It’s there visitors learn about Death Valley’s natural and historic resources, get directions for a hike, plan a trip into the backcountry, or ask other questions.

Why renovate the center? “Primarily the building was outdated and not sustainable. It is over 50 years old and not only had outdated exhibits, but also outdated utilities with an infrastructure that lacked insulation,” says Terry Baldino, Death Valley National Park’s Chief of Interpretation. “We knew we needed to attract new audiences and wanted to incorporate more interactive exhibits.”

Baldino has worked at the park for over 15 years and notes the interactive new exhibits are a big hit. “Folks have said they really like the things they can touch, feel, and play with.”

Like many complex projects, the renovation was years in the making and required the support of partners including the Death Valley Natural History Association, Xanterra Resorts, the Timbisha Shoshone and the Death Valley 49ers.

Remodeling the visitor’s center was first attempted in the 1970s, but this proved too expensive. During the 1980s and 90s, the park made minor upgrades, and the

current planning process began in 1998.

Proposals were ferried back and forth between the park, Washington, DC, and the National Park Service Denver Service Center. One unexpected turn of events came when park service officials in Washington, DC communicated the original building might have historical value as it was part of the National Park Service Mission 66 period. The Mission 66 initiative began in 1956, with the goal of funding new visitor’s centers and housing by the National Park Service’s 50th anniversary in 1966. Mission 66 architecture was utilitarian and sometimes referred to as “cookie cutter.”

Many NPS Mission 66 facilities have had major renovations, but some, like Death Valley’s, did not and are now considered historical resources.

After a considerable delay in the planning, the California State Historical Preservation Office determined the original visitor’s center did have historically significant features which would have to be preserved. These features included the building’s checkerboard concrete back patio and a kidney shaped outdoor pool.

By 2009, Death Valley National Park had the green light to proceed with the renovation and the old center was cleared for demolition, minus historically significant features. Funds for the new design and construction came from recreation fee dollars accumulated through visitor entrance fees and passes.

The original exhibits were created during the 1950s and 60s and weren’t interactive by today’s standards. There were stuffed animals like bighorn sheep and golden eagles with text and labels.

In the new exhibit hall, exhibit designers made the deliberate decision to not label every animal, plant and geologic feature. “We want people to have a sense of self exploration and discovery and perhaps peak their curiosity to learn more and come and ask about that lizard

or geologic formation,” says Baldino.

Baldino reports the night sky display is one of the most popular exhibits. Visitors step inside the exhibit to experience Death Valley’s star-studded sky and hear nocturnal sounds and howling animals.

Themes of pioneer and mining history have been carried over, but exhibits have been updated. Geology exhibits concentrate on the basics of Death Valley’s geology—faultlines, alluvial fans, basin and range topography and Badwater—the lowest point in the western hemisphere. One exhibit has geologic formations visitors can pull apart to gain an understanding of how basin and range topography is created. An exhibit about animal adaptations encourages adults and children to open a set of drawers to find out about why so many desert plants and animals stink, sting or stick you.

Baldino says exhibits also deal with threats to Death Valley, but in a thoughtful and subtle way. Many of the exhibits pose questions about how organisms that live in Death Valley, already walking a fine line of survival, will respond to climate change. The center’s Vital Signs exhibit attempts to get people to think about Death Valley’s past, present and future. Four videos educate visitors about water resources, desert pupfish, invasive plants and animals and heat safety.

The new building will receive a gold LEED certification and perhaps even a platinum one. The building is more sustainable—cool in the summer and warm in the winter, which is important considering Death Valley has extreme temperatures that can range from the triple digits to below freezing. The building is so energy efficient it will likely save the park enough money annually to pay for a staff person for a season.

Most materials from the old building were recycled. Concrete was crushed and reused in the parking lot. Tile and carpet is made of recycled material and the countertop is made from recycled beer bottles!

The enthusiasm of park staff for the new space is matched by that of visitors.

Baldino recounts before the exhibits were completed, the new, large map of Death Valley was a source of endless fascination. “It was not fully set up, and yet one of our rangers was still able to use it in his talk, says Baldino. “We’ve now got office space we never had before, a chance to expand our interpretive programs and people really appreciate the fact the new center’s exhibits are interactive.”

Seth Shteir is California desert field representative at the National Parks Conservation Association in Joshua Tree.

December 2012/January 2013 – The Sun Runner 33

Desert Theatre Beat

By Jack Lyons Sun Runner Theatre Editor

F

or this issue’s Desert Theatre Beat I interview the artistic directors of two theatre companies presenting quality work in the Coachella Valley: Dezart Performs of Palm Springs and CV REPertory Theatre of Rancho Mirage.

Executive director Daniela Ryan and artistic director Michael Shaw, along with technical director Clark Duggar, are the driving forces behind the success of the Palm Springs staged readings group. We had the opportunity to chat with Ryan and Shaw over a cup of coffee about their operation. (Duggar was unavailable.)

JL: As a successful, growing theatre venture beginning its fifth year, how is the division of labor divided?

MS: As the artistic director of Dezart Performs, it falls to me to decide which plays/and or events we will include in our Season. But it’s really a three-way collaborative decision.

DR: I’m the executive director, which means, I sort of keep and eye on the budgets, the ticket sales, publicity, etc. Both Michael and me are actors and directors as well, so we bring a couple hats to the table, so to speak. And Clark is our technical director, and he makes sure that we can technically deliver a quality product to our subscribers and our audiences.

JL: Michael, where did you receive your training?

MS: I’m a Florida State University grad with a BA in Fine Arts Acting, and an Equity Graduate of Burt Reynolds Institute for Theatre training.

JL: Daniela?

DR: I have a BA in Theatre Arts from U.C. Berkeley and a MA from San Diego State in Film and TV production.

JL: Sounds like you’re both well educated in all aspects of theatre and film.

In addition to presenting readings and special events, one of the major aspects of Dezart Performs, is in the presentation of your popular annual play reading series.

DR: We’re currently working our fifth annual festival, which takes place in

April of 2013. In the first festival back in 2008, we sent requests for submissions to playwrights informing them that we were holding a play reading festival and asked them for submissions.

MS: The first year we received 40 submissions. The second year, we received 60 submissions and they were beginning to come from all over the country.

DR: The third year submissions received exploded to a whopping 121 plays received for consideration.

JL: That’s quite a growth in submissions received. Where do you get such playwright information and mailing lists?

DR: The main source early on was the mailing list from the Dramatists Guild.

MS: They were so helpful. Also we’re proud to say the growth in the success of the festival is due, to a great degree in the quality work of our 10 readers who read and qualify submissions for the executive committee, who then start eliminating submissions. It’s a grueling process, but it’s also a labor of love by everyone.

JL: Once you select your play finalists, how does the audition and casting work?

DR: We have a good number of talented local actors right here in the valley. Also, we have a file on actors from previous festivals and productions. We hold auditions here in the valley, and on occasion, we import LA-based actors who have worked with us in past shows.

MS: And, don’t forget the best communication vehicle ever… word of mouth.

We’re very fortunate in that we have a loyal following from past productions.

But there is no substitute for personal communication. This rule applies to our audiences as well as to our creative community of actors, playwrights, directors, and technical people.

JL: That brings me to that upcoming, April festival. What are the dates to save for our reader’s calendars?

DR: The festival will be held from April 12 through April 20. It will be presented at our “performing home,” The Palm Springs Woman’s Club. Please come and see our best festival yet.

JL: I want to thank you both for giving us the time from your busy schedules in order to learn more about Dezart Performs. *** *** *** Ron Celona, the Philadelphia-born Artistic Director of CV REPertory Theatre of Rancho Mirage, is a long time theatre professional who has been a resident of the Coachella Valley for over 14 years.

He was the artistic director of the Joslyn Players for nine years prior to forming CV REPertory Theatre in 2010. I had the opportunity to discuss CV REP and its plans with Celona over breakfast.

34 The Sun Runner – December 2012/January 2013

JL: A new theatrical venture in a new professional theatre venue must present all sorts of challenges and opportunities, and, I’m sure, a lot of headaches as well.

Tell us about this exciting new adventure.

RC: Where do I begin? In 2010 an opportunity presented itself for me to set in motion a personal, long held dream and goal of mine—that of creating an exciting dramatic and musical theatre organization whose mission is to present innovative, professional, productions and outreach programs that enrich, enhance and impact the quality of life for the residents and visitors in the Coachella Valley.

JL: That’s a pretty formidable task to bring to fruition. You said that CV REP has been five years in the incubating stages. And we are now in your second season, and about to enter your third. Has the journey unfolded as you expected?

RC: I came to the desert looking for paradise, which I found, and an opportunity to launch my theatrical dream. What a joke on me! I’m now working harder that I ever dreamed, but I love it and wouldn’t have it any other way.

JL: But, you do have help from some pretty important people here in the valley, both creative and business-wise, correct?

RC: Absolutely. I couldn’t have accomplished what we have already done without my fantastic board of directors, close supporters, and volunteers. We produce a variety of programs that include: Children’s Outreach Productions, Luminary Luncheons, and a variety of other events in partnership with other local arts and non-profit organizations.

JL: “Collected Stories” which recently closed was a terrific production. You had two Equity actors doing fabulous work onstage. I’ve noticed that you appear to prefer two-character plays to produce. Is that format likely to continue?

RC: Yes, at least for the foreseeable future. Two-character plays are a great fit for our lovely, newly appointed, venue in the Atrium. We have 88 seats, all of which have a great view of the stage thanks to Jimmy Cuomo, our Emmy-winning theatre designer and resident set designer.

JL: What’s up next at CV REP? RC: “Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks”

by Richard Alfieri is our January production. This is a comedy about a relationship between the widow of a Southern Baptist minister and her gay dance instructor that deals with their emotional divisions, which eventually give way to compassion and understanding, as they swing-dance, tango, foxtrot, and cha-cha.

JL: What are the dates for the show?

RC: “Six Lessons” runs from January 23 thru February 10, 2013.

FADE IN: December may be the season of mistletoe, Santa Claus, Christmas trees, and Nativity scenes, but it’s also the season for movies that want to qualify for the 85th Academy Awards, that will be televised on February, 24, 2013 on ABC. In order to qualify for Oscar consideration, a movie must have been seen on a movie screen, for at least a week, during January 1 to December 31, 2012.

This year’s contenders boast a formidable list from which to choose.

Frontrunners who have a chance to nab a nomination are: Stephen Spielberg’s “Lincoln,” with Daniel Day Lewis. “The Sessions” with Helen Hunt and John Hawkes (both strong candidates for acting); “Flight” with Denzel Washington, both for Best Movie and for Best Actor; “Argo,” Ben Affleck’s CIA/FBI, Iranian hostage/drama/rescue movie, and possibly “Silver Linings Playbook” for picture, actor, and director Noms.

“SkyFall,” the Daniel Craig as James Bond special effects spectacular, always snares a nomination or two. But be prepared for the unexpected film to slide in under the door space reserved for an indie film or a foreign entry. Also, be on the lookout for animated features or partial CGI movies like “Life of Pi.” Good luck with your office Oscar pool ballot.

And as long as were talking movies and Oscar nominations, don’t forget to mark your calendars for January. The 800-pound gorilla of film festivals—The 24th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival—roars into our fair paradise for 10 film-packed days, beginning Friday, January 4 through January 14.

For the more than 130,000 film junk-

ies and movie-mad fans, that are expected to descend into the area, listen up! Rumor has it that Platinum Passes for this year’s festival have already been selling like hot cakes. That means, if you are planning to attend daily screenings over the 10-day period, perhaps, a Platinum Pass, as well as other ticket and pass options, should be your number one priority in December.

You can contact the festival office for ticket and Pass information by calling: (760)322-2930 or 800-898-7256 or visit www.psfilmfest.org.

At the time this column went to press, the stars who have already have been announced as receiving awards at the festival and who will walk the red carpet on Saturday, January 5 at the Palm Springs Convention Center at the Gala Awards and Banquet are: Helen Hunt and Naomi Watts.

Hunt, will receive the 2013 Spotlight Award, which last year was presented to Jessica Chastain. The 2013 Desert Palm Achievement Actress Award is being presented to Naomi Watts for her performance in the movie “The Impossible.”

Festival Chairman Harold Matzner, said Watts was worthy of an Oscar nomination for her portrayal. There will be additional honoree announcements throughout the month of December.

As one of the top three film festivals in North America, rest assured that the cream of Hollywood’s actors, directors, and writers, not only will be honored, but will attend and walk the festival’s red carpet. It’s the most glamorous night of the year in Palm Springs. Not only do the stars come out, many will be breaking out their diamonds to go along with their famous fashion designer gowns.

The Palm Springs International Film Festival is known worldwide for the quality and diversity of its films and its documentaries. More than 200 films from all over the world, in many languages, will be available this January for your viewing pleasure. But call the festival’s ticket office numbers and contacts as early as you can so you won’t be disappointed.

See you at the festival…

FADE OUT:

December 2012/January 2013 – The Sun Runner 35

I

n the past nine years writing this column for The Sun Runner, many musicians have invited me into their homes, their lives and their hearts. It is with much love and joy that I would like to share with you many of my personal favorite photos, many never seen before. Happy New Year!

On this page: The Spores, top; Eric Burdon with Daniel Lanois, below; Bingo and Carol Ann, right; the Thrift Store Allstars, bottom right.

Opposite page: Johann Wagner at Cap Rock, Joshua Tree National Park, top left; Rachael Indigo at Cap Rock, top right; Dean Chamberlain from the Motels, Code Blue, and Rancho de la Luna, center right; Planeview in Desert Christ Park, bottom right; Linda and Robyn, owners of Pappy & Harriet’s, with Robert Plant, bottom left; and Victoria Williams, center left.

36 The Sun Runner – December 2012/January 2013

December 2012/January 2013 – The Sun Runner 37

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40 The Sun Runner – December 2012/January 2013

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42 The Sun Runner – December 2012/January 2013