I mentioned in passing yesterday that we will be getting a new air conditioner and furnace. Right now ours is working, but last summer we had a problem with the compressor and were told that if it goes again - after Jan 1 2020 there will be no fixing it as the refrigerant will not be available. It is somewhere around 30 years old. Our Home Warranty company offered us a deal we couldn't turn down. So sometime within the next month it will be installed. Maybe there was a reason we came home from our short trip early. Weather her now is perfect. Low 80's, but today windy and more cool weather coming in during the week. Then it should return to normal. Hot. But back to our trip to see the murals. Bill took his drone up see it here in this picture. But the sun was directly above him so he couldn't really see what it was filming. Anyway the video is at the end of this post.
There he is. The camera on the drone projects on a tablet or cell phone screen. Problem is can't see either when in the sun.
Just more pictures of the paintings. These were done with paint in a can and brushes - not spray graffiti. The artist, Roy Purcell, was at one time the curator of the Southern Nevada Museum in Henderson. And his paintings are sold in many places.
The rocks and brush made it hard to get good shots of some of them.
Just kind of a broad view. Those boulders are huge. See the red snake coiling around.
Closer look at the detail in the snake.
One of these I think is the fertility goddess. Not sure which one.
Her maybe? There are foot prints on many of the rocks.
I like the views of the buildings with the bushes and blue sky. He did similar paintings in a couple of places.
Hum...???
Can see the lady standing up in this one.
See how small the car looks.
The road continuing on past the murals. Don't think we'll go that way.
I can't remember if I posted this or not. I really don't remember seeing it. But I must have to take its picture.
A squiggle and more foot prints.
OH! The snakes head.
A closer look at the buildings and brush.
Time to say good bye. We both think we want to go back there again. Here is a great article about Roy Purcell. Worth the read. He has done so much more than the murals.
Scenery heading back towards the little town of Chloride. A very interesting town, for sure worth another visit. Will post some pictures from there next time.
This is the drone video. Again click here to see it full screen.
We drove around and had lunch at a restaurant there. Very interesting. On this trip I also took some pictures related to Bill's new (old) hobby. So more on that later too. Please continue to comment, I will publish them within a day. Just too much spam being posted here now.
Guess I should finish up this post and get it online. Mainly it is pictures of some of the murals out in the middle of no where just outside of Chloride, AZ. Here click here for some interesting information about the painter I'm glad I thought to change from sandals into tennis shoes for this adventure. To get some of the pictures had to go through some rough ground. And all the time I was wondering about snakes. Especially snakes that like to sun on rocks. Didn't see or hear any though. These murals are really big. You can kind of get an idea by checking out the size of them compared to the Jeep.
It was a perfect day to go there and the sun was in just the right place to help me get good pictures. Very interesting subject matters. A mining sight.
The big red snakes was coiling around several different rocks/boulders.
A closer look at the big red snake
Yin Yang
I never did get a really good picture of her. Would have to climb a big rock to get to her.
Remember these were originally painted in 1966 and redone in 2006.
A bird's claw
Buildings and sage brush under the claw.
This whole rock is painted pink.
This one was way up on top of the hill. His signature I guess.
I'm still sorting out pictures, probably will post some more of them later. Some idiot is posting in the comment section so I'm going to see if I can keep him from posting by monitoring the comments. Please don't let that stop you from comments - I really really enjoy some one besides me reads this! And enjoys seeing where we've been. UGH - we are getting a new AC and furnace...
Friday was going to be a nice day - not too hot and no winds so we decided to go to Chloride to see the murals. About a 30 mile drive from the campground.
Off of the 93 on to the road to Chloride. Chloride was a mining town in the late 1800's. More than 50 mines operated around the small town of Chloride producing gold, silver, copper, lead and zinc. this dusty town was once bustling and 2,000 people once called this tiny town home. Today around 250 residents call Chloride home. The town is considered Arizona's oldest continuously inhabited mining town.
Just before entering the town. A fence made of rusted junk. It was interesting to see.
More of the fence, kind of set the tone of what the town was about.
Old building and sign.
We were here to go see the Murals of Chloride. Done in 1966 by Roy Purcell who was a local prospector with time on his hands. Called "The Journey" they cover over 2,000 square feet of cliffside granite. They are dense in symbolism, featuring a yin yang, a fertility goddess and a big red snake that spans multiple rocks. The Chloride Murals were restored from their 1960's condition in 2006 by the same artist, now widely known for his western etchings and other art which he refined while working as a curator for the Southern Nevada Museum in Henderson, Nevada To get there we had to drive about 3 1/2 miles of dirt road. Glad the Jeep is a high clearance vehicle. And luckily there were signs pointing the direction to follow.
Another branch of the road and another arrow pointing the way.
One of the better parts of the road.
More directions.
At one point there was a fork in the road with no arrows pointing the way. The yellow square is where the murals are. The town is on the far left of the picture. The green line follows, kind of, the dirt road. The fork that wasn't marked started at the red line. We took the red line for a ways before realizing we shouldn't be on that road even in the Jeep. Luckily There was a wide spot where Bill could turn around. I really have to thank him for all the driving he did on this trip. Just so I could take pictures to share.
So here are a couple of dash cam videos. Each part is about five minutes long. Part 1 is up to the fork. To watch it full screen click here. So many flowers were blooming in the desert.
In the previous picture see the thing on the rock on the horizon. This is what it is. Natural or??
Just more plants
And here we are going up the WRONG road until we could turn around. Then back to the right road and finding the murals. Again to see it full screen click here.
And we were there!
Just a teaser. These rock are huge. Can't imagine how he got them painted.
Next blog will be about the murals. Today the high here in Vegas will only be 66 so I am going to bake some bread. Last night I made corned beef, potatoes, carrots and cabbage. Delicious - and was great to have a "real" meal.
