Quick stop in Joshua Tree on a way back.

We left toxic shores of Salton Sea and went home the same way , through the Joshua Tree.  It was a wonderful change of scenery .  Joshua Tree is beautiful and the air is fresh  and clear.  We learned on our way in that there was a desert fox nest by Barker Dam where a few desert fox puppies were born just 7 weeks ago.  We decided to stop and take a look.  While we were waiting for desert foxes to come out we were lucky to meet other animals as well.

A trail that leads to Barker Dam 

Barker Dam in the  Summer.  In a Fall and a winter the area fills up with water but dries over the hot summer months.  This is the area where animals come to drink water in the mornings and evening.  

And here they were the rabbit 

The lizard

Oh , No, here is a real life and death struggle 

Big Horn sheep, i was happy to see him

Big Hornes seemed to be social and liked posing for pictures.  They were neither afraid or intimidated by people with cameras.  Big Horns are friendly and i was able to get fairly close to get a good close up shot.  If you happen to see them , don't be scared , they will not harm you.  just don't do something foolish such as trying to pet them, after all , they are wild animals , they are not to be petted like a family pet.   

 

Finally, we set up in a rock across desert fox nest waiting for them to come out.  we were waiting for a while till the started showing their heads.  Desert foxes have completely different personalities from big horns.  they don't want to be seen and we have to take  pictures of them from far away.  This is when zoom lenses come in handy.

Coming out from the cave nest.  

So they came outside from their cave just to lay down and nap again. So Lazy!

 we ended up waiting for another couple hours till they finally woke up and came down the rock to play and investigate the surroundings.

 Finally down the rock

Between Here and There: Exploring hwy 111

Photography and writing by Natasha Petrosova 



As we left Salb city we were on our way back home travelling down 111 hwy.  we spotted a few abandoned buildings and stopped to investigate them .  There were  few buildings still in Niland completely destroyed.  

Those buildings we saw as soon as we left Slab city

There other building was father traveling hwy 111.   It seems that is was a nice house.  There was still a sign "private property"  and I wonder who it belongs to.  

 Front Patio 

 Inside a house

Kitchen

 bedroom with a vew

 Bath tab

A desolate warehouse about four miles from Niland, California, along Highway 

111, this creepy looking structure invites only the most adventurous travelers to 

drive up and visit. I was one of them.

    Side entrance of the huge, deserted warehouse building. One could get lost exploring all of its rooms.

   Long ago forsaken, the structure still gets frequent visitors, as its graffiti-covered, cinder block walls confirm. The absence of trash, and other refuse, suggests that visitors don't stay here long; they just stop to investigate, leaving their personal marks and messages. Some of the highly decorated rooms give this forgotten warehouse new life and meaning. It now stands as a rest stop for Slab City-bound drifters, and a remote graffiti art gallery of sorts, its concrete walls a canvas for spray cans.

                  The building’s front entrance. Yes, it is near Niland. 

 An underlying theme of the many drifters passing through on their way to Slab City might be Finding myself / Losing myself. Slab City, the "trailer park utopia" that invites those who seek freedom from the American governmental/social structures, sits only eight miles away. Some migrate there to be lost, while others claim they have been found.

  Abundant with graffiti, this wall demands special attention. It looks as if the graffiti artists are engaged in a new form of competition, by drawing on top of each other's work. A representative of the Cat Cult, a Los Angeles-based graffiti art collective, created the pink creature. Cat Cult was recently featured in Juxtapoz, a magazine that celebrates urban alternative and underground contemporary art forms. Black writing by the cutout in the wall (window?) memorializes D. Armstrong. This artistic environment brings California painter, Duane Armstrong to mind. Armstrong is famous for placing a ladybug in the corner of almost all of his landscape paintings. That D. Armstrong is still alive though.   Robert Walker, the artist behind RW2 Gallery, seems to have found a new way to advertise, by way of this graffiti wall. Google him to see his intriguing oil paintings. He and his partner, Rowland "Eddie" Cook, travel the country in a Winnebago, selling at festivals and art shows, and painting along the way. In January 2012, Tobert and Eddie came to Slab City, and on their way either in or out, stopped here, to add this colorful moniker.The PBK graffiti crew may have created the blue and yellow PAIN graffiti below. 

This is another piece I believe PBK created, accompanied by a paraphrased version

 from Proverbs 12:15: The way of the fool is right in his own eyes.

 The building stands in close proximity to Slab City,   also known as The Last Free

Place in America. Consequently, writings concerning freedom are inevitable here. 

 

REPEAT AFTER ME: I AM FREE. In the United States of America, land of the free, so many still long for freedom, and travel many miles to find it here. It is not enough to be free if you do not feel free.

Under the word SIN it reads, Secret Empire Wuz Here. What secret empire?!? I suppose if I knew, the empire would no longer be a secret. I’ll just have to keep on guessing

I didn’t expect to find Russian writing in this remote wasteland, but this,without a doubt, is Russian. My guess, judging from the mistakes I noticed, someone born in Russia, but raised in the United States, wrote this.The first word says Moscow; the second word, Red, uses the English letter N, instead of the proper Russian; the third word has no meaning.This writer clearly wanted to say something, but did not have a firm enough grasp on Russian Vocabulary. The last word says USSR. Who talks of (or misses) the USSR these days?

A giant bee colony, apparently the only long-term tenants here, occupied this final room. The room was absent of any writing and graffiti, for obvious reasons. Who would risk disturbing these hardworking insects? Not me.

  

     These bees don’t waste any time. Look at all the honey they’ve 

produced! As bees have a tendency to abandon their hives, moving

 from place to place, there’s no telling how long they will stay.