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After leaving Boulder while the stars were still shinning I reached the Premium Oil sign in Green Giver, Utah just after our local star surfaced from behind the Earth.

 

I chose to take an alternate route. I turned off I-70 onto Highway 24 and headed South. I’d been down that road before but never noticed a state park sign that read, "Goblin Valley." It was apply named. Walking through this surreal landscape inspired awe and it also made me laugh.

This is were I met Willy and Rosanna from Italy. They too thought it was "fantastic" and wondered why none of the guide books featured this most unusual place. For the next fifty miles we kept passing each other on the road as we stopped to take pictures of different things. We eventually ended up at the same place and shared a few minutes over lunch on a picnic table near some tee-pees at the Luna Mesa Oasis in Caineville.      

 

A couple of miles down the road from Goblin Valley there was a small stretch of sand. The animal footprints caught my eye as I drove by. Perhaps it was because of the hour I spent wondering through that fantastic space that I found myself face down in the sand with a wide-angle lens wondering through the foot tall grass.

 

Picking up speed I headed down the open road. I passed something that looked like a stick laying across the road. There were no trees as far as I could see. I turned around to see if it was a snake. It laid so still that it actually took a while to find out if it was still alive. After I determined that it had no rattlers I got closer and closer until I saw its tongue tasting the air to determine if I was dangerous. With my camera held out in front of me, I inched it off of the flat long rocky surface where it had been sunning itself. Once it was in the grass we took a final look at each other and said goodbye.

 

Driving through Utah I often wonder what criteria is used to determine what makes a scenic view worthy of a sign. Sometimes is simply seems that it is because there is a wide spot on the road.

 

I also wondered about the mixed messages this spot of grass posed for an illiterate pooch. The "Point of Interest" sign for the abandoned Nielsen Grist Mill in Capital Reef National Park was exceptional. Except for the two open doors, the entire copper and galvanized steel sculpture is completely flat. The simplicity and masterful use of the materials to convey a sense of structure and place make it one of my all time favorite pieces of art. It’s just fun to look at.

 

Evidently the wind was blowing above and below this set of contrails that held my attention for many miles. How many years of wind and weather, I wondered, did it take to shape this rock before a patch of plants would call it home.

 

Passing through Capital Reef National Park individual details captured my attention as much as the monumental mesas.

 

Sunset was around 5:30, which was pretty early to be calling it a day with so many more miles to go when I was on the outskirts of Delta, Utah. I just didn’t want to miss any of Highway 50, one of the most spectacular stretches of nothing in America. I turned around and went back to town to get a room.

 

Driving through Delta the next day I passed the same non-descript building that I had passed three years ago when I moved to California. On the second floor is an absolutely magical world. During the Uranium Boom of the 30s and 40s hundreds of people came to Billy Vans Dance Hall. Long before the days of Disco this giant Mirrored Ball danced light on couples working up a Saturday night fever. And yes, interestingly enough, that is the Mormon Temple atop the sphere.

 

The art and invention of Billy Van is quite impressive. To create the mirrored ball he fastened together from two wagon wheels and rounded out the form with gauze and packing. The ball moved as an airplane (seen on the left of the ball at the end of the banner) propelled in a circle. On the platform attached to the ball a model train moved in the opposite direction.  He cooled the dancehall with an electric fan of his own invention and even invented a strobe light to add to the atmosphere (seen below in the middle).
Next to the strobe light mechanism is the view of the ball from the bottom. Beneath the ball the floor was polished aluminum to reflect the words and the glittering lights.

I only knew this place existed because of Aretha Franklin. On that trip to California I took four days to drive the 1,300 miles. I stopped for every picture and recorded every synchronicity in a notebook. I had already spent an hour getting through the small town of Delta and I just wanted to get moving. Just as I caught this vision of white in a window I turned on the radio and Aretha was singing, "Knew you’d be a vision in white." The song "Freeway of Love" was also sending another message: "City traffic movin’ way too slow. Drop the pedal and go…go…go", but still something called me back. While I was taking the picture of the Saints and Saviors through the window I heard a voice. It was the owner of the shop, Roger Anderson. He told me to come inside for better look. He told me that the Deldan Clay he used for the statues was the whitest in the world and that he hand dug it all from a hillside outside town. He showed me around his world and we talked about art and then he said, "Art. You want to see art? Wait until you see what is right above us." We went upstairs and to the ballroom. Art indeed! I noticed from a picture of Billy Van and an assistant that Roger wasn’t the only one who knew how to break a mold. When I got back in my car I knew that I must be livin’ right.

 

The next day I headed down Highway 50, through a stretch of the most deserted desert in America. It’s a space that is, as writer Tom Robbins said, "that sacred place where nothing begins to happen." I love it every time I find myself there. I look forward to taking you along in my favorite place to be by myself in the middle of nowhere.

 

Thanks for joining me on the first leg of my trip home. I’ll drop the other shoe (literally) in the next chapter. If you want to be removed just send a reply with "No Thanks" in the subject line. If you received this from a friend and want to be added to the list send me an email. I will be delighted to include you.  jd@jerrydownsphoto.com.

 

Find your Self in the Light!

Love, Jerry

Jerry Downs Photography
P.O. Box 1082
Larkspur, CA 94977
415-686-2369
http://www.jerrydownsphoto.com/

 

Knew you’d be a vision in white
How’d you get those pants so tight?
Don’t know what you’re doin’
But you must be livin’ right
We got some places to see
I brought all the maps with me
So jump right in…Ain’t no sin
Take a ride in my machine
City traffic movin’ way too slow
Drop the pedal and go…go…go
Goin’ ridin’ on the freeway of love
Wind’s against our back
Goin’ ridin’ on the freeway of love
In my pink cadillac
Goin’ ridin’ on the freeway of love
Wind’s against our back
Ain’t we ridin’ on the freeway of love
In my pink Cadillac?
Never you mind the exit signs
We got lots of time
We can’t quit ’til we get
To the other side
With the radio playin’ our song
We keep rollin’ on
Who knows how far a car can get
Before you think about slowin’ on down
City traffic movin’ way too slow
Drop the pedal and go…go…go

Freeway Of Love
 Lyrics by Aretha Franklin

 

I believe in everything; nothing is sacred, I believe in nothing; everything is sacred, …Ha Ha Ho Ho Hee Hee
Tom Robbins
  Even Cowgirls get the Blues