Deep Desert Denouement

We aimed our rigs toward a cluster of dying towns, south of Ridgecrest, CA, resolved to stay the night in one of them and get the story. We rolled into Randsburg in the late afternoon with no place to stay.


Randy relishes these challenges so we set the stopwatch and sent him on a charm offensive. It took him all of 5 minutes to get us invited to the private ghost town estate of Jack and Goldie Jackson. That's Jack on the right with Cowboy Bob.

Living people in dying towns tend to be extreme individualists and often super-gracious.


So we settled in just above town and toured on foot. Diana went off to photograph things. When she's proud of them, she puts them on Flickr. Randy interviews folks.


Can you imagine opera in a dusty desert town?


Randy engages Jeanne, a local artist. Some of her work dangle behind her.


A puzzler for both of us. What is a spizzerinctum?


Another of the old small towns in the area, Red Mountain, did not seem nearly as friendly. We're guessing Marge is the ex-wife!