A Mojave Moment

As we drove through the Mojave Desert, it became glaringly obvious that one of the few things that has the tenacity to take a stand and remain standing in this type of heat and desolation is the Joshua Tree.

Honestly, without these yucca trees, a Mojave landscape photograph would just be flat and flat out dull. They really do add to this desert's charm.

Look sharp alright. Thank goodness I could zoom-in with the camera, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to get this close to the tree top's clusters of spikes.

Well, I guess a person is bound to encounter all kinds of stuff at a roadside rest area when they pull over to take a break from the endless driving, or need to confirm that the car radiator is still full for the rest of the day's high temperatures.

Gee, I hope it wasn't a rattle snake that this cowboy stumbled upon when he stopped to stretch his legs...

Linger too long in one spot and you could age to the point where your nickname becomes Rusty too.

So, here's the problem with having an artist's eye. Even when you come across some letter you can still seem to find a way past seeing the obviousness of it being junk and move your mind into appreciating the objects visual offerings. How can one not appreciate the depth or richness of the browns and oranges and silvers? Or not marvel over the grittiness of the multi-layers of textures juxtapositioned against the true grit of desert sand?

Or is it: time to go before our time is up? Either way, you know it's time to get back on the road when you come across things like this. If it could talk, it might have said, "Take heed, before the sun does you in too." Anyhow, if you want to know more details, I'm afraid you're going to have to ask the vultures yourself about whether they were involved because we didn't stick around long enough for them to started circling over our heads too...

That's all for now.