Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)'s photos

Quite a bit north from Muley Point, up past Natural Bridges National Monument, is Hite and the north end of the Glen Canyon Recreational Area. The bridge in the photo is just outside Hite and is one of the very few bridges over the Colorado river -- the next nearest bridge over the river is 300 miles away.

From the west at sunset, looking towards Bluff, Utah. The various buildings in Bluff are the lighter spots in the bluff's shadow, towards the left side of the photo. Bluff, though a very small town, had three good restaurants for dinner and a good coffeehouse for breakfast.

Adjacent pictures are from an exploration of the Farmington, NM area. The Farmington area was much more interesting that I had expected. My focus had been on using the Farmington area as a base for exploring the Chaco Culture National Monument (later photos in this set), but the demographics and economics of the area turned out to be worth exploring. Farmington is the main city in a cluster of nearby cities (including Bloomfield and Aztec) where the total population for the metropolitan statistical area was 114,000 in 2000 per Census data -- fairly large for an area that I'd never heard of. The reason for the relatively large population quickly became evident -- the area seemed to be hyper-active with gas and oil extraction activities. When I talked with a local about the extraction industry in the area, he said that the activity wasn't new, that the area had been an active exploration area since the 1940's -- mainly for natural gas. It was difficult, however, to not believe that there was a very recent peak in activity related to recent spikes in energy costs. No matter where I traveled in the region, there would be convoys of 3 or 4 pickup trucks (all only 1 - 2 years old) headed into the fields outside of town, often accompanying a much larger truck with a drilling rig or storage tank. Also, there were 'help wanted' signs all over town for everything from clerks for fast food chains, to service industry managers, to construction and rig workers for the extraction industry. Per the local source, the key to the natural gas exploration in the Farmington region is a strong cooperative agreement with the Navajo Nation, which is documented on the website for a major employer in the area -- El Paso Natural Gas. Also very active in the extraction industry in the area was Halliburton, the company that VP Cheney was associated with for many years and which has had questionable contracts in Iraq. What might have been a side-benefit of the booming economy was the relations between various ethnic groups. Far more than I have noticed in other similar areas, Native Americans, Whites, Hispanics, and Blacks (order is by apparent relative size in the population) interacting as equals, both as customers and employees, in restaurants, stores, as field workers, and in various other public activities in the area. The natural gas industry seems to be more dispersed than the oil industry, thus there are no pictures that convey the development in the same way as my pictures of the Taft, CA area -- though some are included later in this set. Aztec, one of the three main cities in the region, has a nicely restored downtown area. The neon sign here is from a larger marquee; when I was in the area the building was for sale as a theater space.

The primary reason for visiting the Farmington area was to explore the Native American ruins at Chaco Culture National Historical Monument, which is south of Farmington. Getting to the monument requires traveling over a long stretch of graded road (about 16 miles) that has some of the very worst washboard effects that I've ever encountered, but the monument was worth the jarring. Luckily the monument wasn't very heavily visited, so it was easy to spend time pondering the level of development and culture that had resulted in such elaborate and sophisticated structures being built in the area 1000 years ago. Since the daytime temperatures were hovering close to 100 and there is no shade, I didn't get to explore as much of the monument as I would have liked. Best viewed as part of New Mexico set.

East of the Farmington area is Navajo Dam and Navajo Lake State Park -- the campground at the park are very nice, the other campers were friendly, and the hosts were very helpful. Best viewed as part of New Mexico set.

Bisti Wilderness. To give some perspective on how vast and barren the space is -- if you look close, you can see that there are high-tension power lines on the horizon on the right side of the picture. There's also a cluster of buildings on the horizon on the right.

One goal on my second visit to Mogollon was to visit its cemetery. On the climb to the cemetery is this abandoned mine settlement -- the same settlement seen from the earlier picture of mine tailings. The structures in the settlement looked well-preserved, but the settlement was fenced off with multiple warnings against trespassing -- so this is as close as I could get.

The cemetery looks to be largely untended, though clearly there are some newer plots that are tended (e.g., the one on the right in the adjacent picture with the main gate). Very many graves had no markers other than a ring of stones, and very many of the markers seemed to have been handcrafted locally with available materials.

East of Silver City there was a small train yard where locomotives were apparently being dismantled and recycled. Best viewed as part of New Mexico set.

Locomotives apparently being dismantled and recycled, near Silver City.

Between Bisbee and Douglas is Bisbee-Douglas International Airport! This somewhat preposterous sounding name is not really quite as odd as it might seem. The airport was built early in WW II as a training base for American military bomber pilots, and at one time there was actually commercial service by Apache Airlines from the airport to Tucson and Phoenix. The airport now is very quiet, apparently used infrequently by general aviation. The WW II area hangers remain in relatively good shape and the ones that we could see into appeared to be still used in some way.

Since driving the Interstate is very frustrating for me, particularly when on vacations, I'm always looking for at least some diversion that may be of interest. The Pinal Pioneer Parkway (AZ 79) between Phoenix and Tucson is one such diversion. It's a two lane road that was, in the 1960's, the main route between the two cities. When the state created it, they bought 1000 feet of right-of-way on each side to keep it scenic, thus the area feels unspoiled. The route is known for its desert wild flower display in the Spring, though by mid-June that was no longer in bloom. But, the cacti were interesting, the mountain backdrop dramatic, and the lack of heavy traffic a relief. Getting to the road on the Phoenix end was not a hassle, but the Tucson end requires many miles of driving through heavy suburban traffic -- though still worth doing. One thing that may not be obvious from this and adjacent pictures is how high the cacti are. The very tall cactus in this picture (saguaro) is probably about 15' tall.

The Covington Flat area of Joshua Tree National Park is on the northwestern edge of the park. The graded dirt road is difficult to find, and the area has very few visitors (none when I was there). The area is much greener than other areas of the park. These pictures were taken in an area where trees on one side of the road had been in a fire a couple of years ago.

The Covington Flat area of Joshua Tree National Park is on the northwestern edge of the park. The graded dirt road is difficult to find, and the area has very few visitors (none when I was there). The area is much greener than other areas of the park. These pictures were taken in an area where trees on one side of the road had been in a fire a couple of years ago.

The Aztec Bowling alley on 30th street in San Diego was recently torn down to make way for these apartments/condominiums. Luckily the sign was preserved, though it doesn't look particularly appropriate as a name for a housing complex. I don't know if the Aztec Bowl was named that because San Diego State Univ is the Aztecs, but there is a long history of concern about the use of the Aztec imagery at SDSU.

While this may look like just a block of old buildings in a decaying old industrial city, it's actually an important site. One of these buildings (I believe the green one) was the home of the Cadillac Bar. In the early 70's days of Gay Liberation, the Cadillac was the bar/social center for much of the Binghamton Gay Liberation Group, a group consisting mostly of students from SUNY Binghamton (now Binghamton University). It was what was then a fairly traditional gay bar with many customers being closeted. In fact, most people didn't actually use the front door of the bar, but went in and out the back door where there was almost no risk of being seen by anyone. It was mostly us college students who were becoming activists, who used the front door...

The Red Robin diner was a common gathering place for many SUNY Binghamton students in the 70's, and still exists. It was the place to go and have a greasy breakfast at 3AM after a night of hanging out at the bars.

Progressive politics had a long history in the Binghamton area. The 'EJ Workers' on the column refers to the workers of Endicott-Johnson Shoe company. One of the Binghamton area's major industries for the first half of the 20th century was making shoes. The Endicott-Johnson Shoe company was unusual by modern standards, generally providing for the welfare of employees and helping them buy homes -- thus the 'square deal' slogan.