Tattoos and Hand Grenades
If you head east on Highway 62 into the CA desert past 29 Palms, you quickly find yourself officially in "the middle of nowhere". For the full experience, make this trip in an open top Jeep in the summer so the dust sticks to the sweat on your body, and you start to get the picture.
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| Highway 62 |
About 30 miles out, you will see a few ramshackle homes and trailers, and a structure that looks like it might have been a convenience store and gas station back in the day. The sign on the door says "Wiesners". The store and gas station are long gone, and the store owner appears to have abandoned the place in a hurry, leaving everything inside. It has the feeling of a time capsule. You can just imagine old Mr. Wiesner saying "I'm done living in this hell-hole, I'm locking the door and moving to _______" (fill in the blank with the town of your choice).
Mr. Wiesner appears to have had a sense of humor (probably a requirement to survive in this area). Bumper stickers on the front door say Miss Fortune Tattoo Parlor - Pain is Temporary... Tattoos are Permanent! and Pair O' Dice Tattoo - Downright Ruthless Tattooin!
If you look in the side window, there's a little surprise... see the hand grenade in the window? Would have been a really interesting place to stop and have a cold one on a hot desert day.
Seems funny to see this old arrow directing traffic to Wiesner's store. There's very little traffic on Highway 62 this far out in the desert!
A fun weekend adventure, and a lot more photos to share on future posts. There was a surprise directly across the street, so I'll post on that soon. Leaving the desert today... back home for Father's Day. Wishing you a happy weekend and to those Dads out there, Happy Father's Day!
Linking to 
and 
poor old mr. wiesner...
ReplyDeleteThose sepia photos seem to show the old time "ambiance" of a time gone by. The first made me feel hot from that beating sun!
ReplyDeletegreat pics! most i like the first and last :)
ReplyDeleteI haven't ventured beyond 29 yet, so thanks for the giving me a few reasons not to put it on the top of my bucket list;)
ReplyDeleteLove them all! What a fun post :-)
ReplyDeletevery cool photo's....i adore how you describe getting the full experience!!
ReplyDeleteI really like your desert pictures and adventures and can't wait to find out about the surprise across the street.
ReplyDeleteAnd by the way, the pictures from your previous post are just great.I assume they were taken with a film camera, if so, did you scan the print or the negative?
Thanks so much, John. Yes, those were prints I came across recently (taken from a point-and-shoot 35mm film camera). I scanned the prints to capture the digital image. So much fun to go back and look at the old vacation photos!
DeleteWhat an excellent adventure.
ReplyDeleteLove both the B&W photos; very fitting for the story.
Looking forward to seeing whats across the street! Mr. Weisner was a smart man to leave, but now I wonder 'why' he left.
ReplyDelete62 is a lovely lonely highway.
ReplyDeleteWell Mr. Weisner why did you leave? Great blog looking forward to next part.
ReplyDeleteLoving the b/w captures. Soulful. xoxo
ReplyDeleteA fun collection of photos!
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking us on a pictorial adventure. I love the first and last photos.
ReplyDeleteI am surprised there is anything left in the store, and that the windows are intact!! Great series!!
ReplyDeleteI love the roadrunner!!
I just love your photo.. They look like they are straight out of a Steven King novel.. Well done!
ReplyDeleteLove that find... I agree it looks like time stood still there.. looking forward to more posts! Thank you for sharing on Weekly Top Shot #35!
ReplyDeletemake sure you wear a lot of sunblock if you have the top down....when i had my jeep eric and i drove a couple hours and didnt wear sunblock, lets just say our skin almost matched the red paint on my jeep!! but it was so fun!!
ReplyDelete