April 29, 2021 Tonopah, Nevada

 79 degrees and sunny. 

Welcome to Historic Tonopah. Tonopah is an old mining town. This is a map of all the mining claims in Tonopah. 

The Mizpah mine at the Tonopah Historic Mining park was by far the richest of the many mines. The metal headframe was one of the first steel hoisting works. You can  stand on a grate over and stare down a 600 foot lighted shaft. The hoist engine is massive. Looking from the Mizpah mine down to Tonopah, Nevada. 

There is a bridge that allows visitors to walk directly over the original 500 foot mine stope. The first  100 feet was dug manually by miners. Some of these stopes are only about 3 feet wide and braced with logs. The last 400 feet was done later with machinery. John in the Burro Tunnel, which is an original tunnel. 

A small manual hoist from when the work was done my miners. Behind it on the hill is the big steel, automated  hoist and the hoist house. The Clown motel. the rocks on the scale are high grade gold ore. They just look like rocks to me, Caution, this part of the walking trail involves steep terrain. Please pace yourself accordingly. A map of all Nevada's mining districts. 

The Silver Top mine hoist and hoist house. Silver Top mine ore house. 

Desert Queen hoist and hoist house. All three of these mines were right next to each other and all the same mining company.  Back in town the lobby of the historic Mizbah Hotel built in 1905, where the rich and famous stayed. 

Stained glass window in the Mizbah hotel, entrance to Belvada Hotel and a lamp in the Belvada Lobby. John got a double IPA to go, sealed in a can from the Tonopah Brewing Company-blood, sweat and beer. To enjoy at home after he drove us home.

Sunset tonight from camp. 

April 28-29, 2021 Goldfield, Nevada

 74 degrees today and sunny. We drove into a very strong headwind to Goldfield.

We left California into Nevada, past the giant cow at Longstreet's casino, into Beatty with the mural of the railroad. Beautiful historic downtown Beatty, Nevada. 

Thank you for visiting Beatty, the gateway to Death Valley, The only shop in town that was open was the Gold/Gun/knives store. Goldfield-The worlds greatest gold camp. Beautiful historic downtown Goldfield, Nevada. It is mostly a ghost town, there are some people living there and a few shops, but the only one that was open was the Gold/guns/knives store. 

At the Goldfield RV park. 

View of beautiful historic downtown Goldfield, Nevada from camp. Sunset in downtown Goldfield. 

Joshua tree forest. The International Car Forest in Goldfield Visitors Center and restroom.

The International Car Forest in Goldfield used to have art on the cars. Some did, but most had graffiti. 

The International Car Forest in Goldfield. The founder had the land, equipment and cars. He decided to build a car forest. Some of the cars belonged to him and others just showed up.  

The International Car Forest in Goldfield. A young joshua tree, It's Ok to be WILD at the car forest, Santa Fe saloon has the meanest bartender. Welcome to Tonopah. 

April 27, 2021 Shoshone, California

 74 degrees, partly sunny and light breezes. 

I went to a writers workshop today at Villa Anita in Tecopa.  Villa Anita is an interactive art installation. Their website says it is combination boutique hotel, art museum, botanical gardens, learning classrooms and spiritual spaces. It made from recycled items. A very unique place. This is the first meeting of the  writers group since the lockdown. The whole thing was outside. Robin is instructing us here. 

We had a tour of the Villa Anita . A wall of desert poetry. Inside the chapel. 

Beautiful glass in windows. Many walls made from glass bottles looked cool with light coming through.

One of the entrances. There is a bottle wall on the right. Many sculptures among the greenery.

The garden area. A colorful green walkway. 

Carlo prepared us a wonderful buffet lunch. More of the writers group in a nice outdoor space.

Another artful sitting area. The entrance to Villa Anita, the clouds kind of obscure the name above the gate.

Grimshaw lake is greening up. Cool light and shadows on the clay hills.

The bore hole wetlands are also turning green.  A cool arch on the river trail in Shoshone.

Raven on a wire in the sunset. His feathers were all ruffled from the wind. Sunset tonight.