Joshua Trees at Dawn

Joshua Trees, Joshua Trees, Joshua Trees, Joshua Trees. It's not a cactus, it's a tree.

We keep driving in this beautiful region that inspires so many people; in the sixties this was the hangout place of many many musicians; Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones and Gram Parsons of the Byrds used to smoke joints here and drink, while they were searching the sky- and starlight for UFO's. I decided to camp here for the night and do exactly the same thing. Sleeping in the open sky is not new to me, we did it the night before at the banks of the Colorado River in Needles, but this time we were in the desert, no water, no electricity, only sand, grass, rocks and.. Joshua Trees. It scared me at first, as deserts make you think of creepy creepers as Scorpions, Snakes and other crawly sneekers.
But it was actually a wonderful night; didn't get much sleep though, because of the lack of electric light in the area, the stars where amazing. I could imagine the earth as one little dustparticle in this giant universe with milkyways, supernova's, stars and suns, planets and.. UFO'S. It's just so hard to close your eyes, when you are impressed every time you open them.

Waking up with the sun is in a way reassuring, it comforts you. The warmth embraces you like a campfire on a hot summer night, you wake up with the odd sight of the arm of a Joshua Tree right in front of your face. Strange, but funny. Then you realize where you are, suddenly. I'm in the desert. I'm in this beautiful piece of art, where I happened to stumble in, this wonderful scope of nature that inspires you in every way. California here we come.

Arresting Framework in Arizona

In Arizona the arresting framework, the very skeleton of the earth, is exposed. That's what makes the scenery so compelling and so meaningful, according to Josef Muench, a Southwestern photographer. I would have to agree with him. As a tourist, you can gorge yourself in many attractions; Grand Canyon, Painted Desert, Petrified Forest, Meteor Crater.

It brings nature back to it's base; raw and pure.

Arizona has it all: some beautiful forests like those near Flagstaff, mountains, canyon lands, and high desert. Everything you see is honest and genuine, from the wrecked cars, old horse barns, stone ruins and giant cactusses to the beautiful rockformations, wide landscapes and Arizona sunsets. It's like time has stood still here.

I almost feel as if my writings about the southwestern nature must be pretty boring, as everythings sounds awesome and beautiful, but it simply is. Each state we visit has its own aspects, and it's great to see the landscape change and develop, while you're driving down Route 66.

As we drive up from Kingman to Oatman, we get a wonderful drive in the mountains of Arizona. Oatman is a small town, has a very goldrush/cowboy/saloon-kind of feeling to it (they still dig for gold), and is packed with mules. Everywhere you look, a mule is coming your way, and when they stop, they don't want to move anymore, because that's what mules do.. The babymules have stickers on their head, with a carrot that is lined through; "they are too young to eat carrots", we hear later on the day. We continue our trip with Mike, a young guy we picked up in our car (he was hitchhiking near Flagstaff and is an anarchist, so he tells us), after he plays a little banjo. (he has only 3 strings anymore, out of 5, because he used the other two to go fishing)

We drive up to Needles, California, and put up our tent next to the Colorado River. I slept outside, because I wanted to enjoy the stars, as the lack of light caused a major increase of visible stars, something we are not used to see in Belgium... Hmm.