Hollywood

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12/3/2006 3:54 PM

We woke up at a rest area across from a California penitentiary and found breakfast at an old café in the village of Desert Center. It was good food and I was surprised that Martin found anything vegan. We had decided that we were going to make a pass through the Joshua Tree National Park. We paid the $15 to go through and we stayed there for about 2 hours. We were driving for about 10 miles before we realized that none of us knew what a Joshua tree looked like until Martin pulled out a brochure he picked up at the ranger station.

The first thing we came to was a cactus patch. We pulled over and hoped out. There were trails marked with signs saying do not leave the path and another sign telling you to not to touch the cactus as they are very hazardous. As we started along the paths I started taking pictures and some video. At one point, while trying to focus the camera I backed into a cactus and a piece about the size of a peach broke away from the plant and stuck itself to my pants. I ended up with about twelve hair fine spines imbedded in my skin just below my ass. It startled me and I wasn’t sure what it was a first but it hurt like hell. As I turned to see what it was, one of the fingers on my left hand grazed it and I got stuck with another four or five spines which made my finger bleed instantly. I stood there for a minute trying to figure out how I could get it out of my skin without touching one for the thousands of hair like spines when it occurred to me that I had a pair of tweezers in the pocket of the vest I bought in San Antonio. Pulling it out was almost worse than when it went in. Apparently these cacti have ultra fine barbs on them (as I’m sure most do) that make them difficult to get out. I never did check but I’m sure I was bleeding pretty well.

The next stop was a rock formation that was asking to be climbed so we obliged for about twenty minutes or so. The wind was biting but the sun was warm. Being on top pf the rock put you about 4 stories in the air. After getting our fill of bouncing around on the rock, we moved down the road. We skipped a few different stops where people were rock climbing or just walking around in climbing harnesses. We ended up at a place called smugglers something or other. It was a trail between two huge rock formations. A microcosm in the desert. We ended up on the north side of the park and needed to get to LA by 6pm so we moved along.

In actuality we arrived on Hollywood boulevard about 2 hours early for sound check so we hooked up with a friend of Martin’s and wandered for a bit. I bought a 2 Gig SM card from a camera place and then found another military surplus store. In there I bought a new Leatherman, to replace the one I haven’t seen since Austin, Texas, and a new pair of Bates jump boots. We were looking for a place to get a beer but opted for the venue we would be playing at.

The venue was beautiful and the food was really good. Sound check went fairly well aside from Laurie’s mic feeding back. It turns out it was the club’s issues not hers after she ended up not using any of her own effects.

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Photos

Desert Center
cafe sign

Desert Center
gas pumps outside the cafe

Brian and Edward
lost amongst the cacti

Dead cactus
He hasn't gone to the other side yet

Stabber
This guy stabbed me

Comments

[david]

bastard cacti
hey man, awesome pics....i felt like i was almost checking an issue of national geographic as those are some crazy wicked looking plants :) i hope you trampled the one that snagged you after taking its pic. charlton heston would have.

[leonardo]

greetings from another former penguin in the desert
Aside from the stabber, it seems you had a great time in the desert... The pictures remind me when I was walking alone in the desert of Coahuila (northern Mexico), earlier this year, trying to reach a paleontological site (dressed in black, of course). It's been quite interesting reading your travelblog. I've realized we really didn't have that much problems at Dada X, at least in comparison with some of the stuff you've had to go through, but, still, I wouldn't have minded sharing the ride...