Pictures from 4/6 to 4/25

all packed up–little sleeping pad and mobile kitchen in the trunk!

you can see the pillow where my head would poke out from the trunk

ready for takeoff

you know you’re in rural America when… (saw these at the bathroom stop in PA, the edition on the right was from a few years ago, the “700 days” was the last half of Obama’s term)

view over Virginian Appalachia

ah yes, the traitor

important

Hotel Walmart, a pretty sight to look at before bed

you can see some of the weirder finds up on the walls, like swords and bikes

ruined old Alabama state capitol

seen at a gas station

House of the Rising Sun

view of the gardens

all that jazz

some cajun crawfish

you can see James and Sara working inside (unfortunately didn’t get better pics of anyone here)

the garage wall in progress

garage wall frame done! (still needs to be finished on the outside of course)

one of Nawlin’s majestic cemeteries

bridge over bayou (the Atchafalaya Swamp)

oil refineries outside of Houston. where the black liquid that powers modern life flows through

industrial hellscapes never looked better

The Cathedral of Junk

main entrance

roof walkway

steeple made from crutches

sitting on the Junk Throne

come on Barbie let’s go party

put that thing back from where it came from, or so help me

Fredericksburg, old German town in central

I didn’t get a full picture of the gas station I stopped at to help the stranded older folks, but I did get one of this cat there

sunrise over Big Bend (somehow my phone got this one)

view from top of Chisos Peak

looking from a hill toward the ridge of the Mexican border, with yucca bushes in front of me

shallow part of the Rio Grand beneath the cliffs

dried up ground by the river

the river running through the Santa Elena Canyon! Mexico is on the other side

furthest the path takes you into the gorge

looking back north from the ridge

Terlingua ghost town

some abandoned farming machinery

one of the only decent pictures I could get of the Marfa Lights online (my phone camera couldn’t pick up any of it)

some of the outdoor minimalist art in Marfa

heading west toward El Paso

the Prada in the desert

view from a hill I stopped at en route to El Paso

alright obviously I didn’t take this one, but it’s helpful for getting an idea of what the El Paso-Juarez border looks like. the giant X (Juarez side) is a memorial for all victims of the drug wars over the years

the border crossing from the US side

you know you’re in Latin America when you start seeing Che (of interest too are the words above his head, “deporte si, droga no”–sports yes, drugs no)

Old Spanish church

railroad station in the old city center of Juarez

going back north from Mexican side

mural in Segundo Barrio, an endangered historic area in El Paso. many of the people in it were prominent Jesuit figures

White Sands (really a bunch of dunes of gypsum)

storm coming in

examples of the adobe-style architecture in ABQ

Josephine at the car doctor getting fan belt replaced

monument to Pueblo Indian veterans of US army

first sight of ancient Puebloan pottery

Cultural Crossroads sculpture

The Heisenberg House, with fences to keep out would-be pizza throwers

old missiles from Cold War era

driving west into the Navajo Nation

example of the many neglected roads in Navajo country

sunset while arriving at Chaco Canyon

first sight of ruins

petroglyphs on the rocks of the canyon!

view of Pueblo Bonito, the main building complex in Chaco

I finally remembered that I should have myself in at least some of the photos

window in the pueblo–you can still see the original wood beams up top!

one of the great kivas, used for ceremonies or just any meeting. It would have had a wooden roof hundreds of years ago

Kin Kletso, separate from Pueblo Bonito

first view of the main Cliff Palace

fields of trees destroyed by wildfires in recent years

another cliff dwelling in the distance

excavation of even older sites on the mesa, from over 2,000 years ago

another town further away, on top of the mesa

sipapu carved into brick

evidence of terraces used for farming

view of the valley from top of mesa

old Mormon trading post

entering Valley of the Gods

campsite for the night

I’m turning into one of those guys who always takes pictures of his pickup truck, except for my Subaru

some of the only trees in the valley

I think you can see Monument Valley in the very distance here

the iconic postcard shot (also where Forrest Gump suddenly stopped his running)

Monument Valley, Tsé Biiʼ Ndzisgaii in Navajo (literally just Valley of the Rocks)

shot from further down in the valley, without my hairy face in the way

solidarity from the Navajo to the Standing Rock Sioux

Tuba City/Tó Naneesdizí

Navajo turqoise jewelry

“Save the Peaks” sign, part of the protest again expansion of a ski resort on the nearby San Francisco Peaks, sacred to a dozen other tribes besides the Navajo