DESERT CENTER-CA~Modern "Ghost Town"

Holland had made plans to drive me to Desert Center-CA, this afternoon; he has talked about this place for a while … and we have passed it innumerable times, but today we pointedly put time aside to make the Day Trip 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨

I got a little fancy for my Swan man 😘 - and checked out a curiosity shop before leaving Quartzsite 😊

'Cherry Flash' glittery Lipgloss; 'Auburn' Brow Gel, 'Hard Candy' sparkly eyeshadow, & 'Blue Mist' Mascara.

Look at the length of that wand! It's not very stable, either. It's very springy, and makes applying mascara more than a little tricky. I also blended 'Coral Ember' & 'Neutre Enflamme' Crème Blushes to suit my skin tone.

Face on … a spritz of perfume; and I'm out the door ;-)

Daytrip today to experience a Blast From The Past - Holland's past.

A curiosity shop up the street from Terrible's Fuel Station in Quartzsite-AZ

Dino's, a Chicken & Sasquatch - things that {draw me in}; so, of course, I had to go check it out ;-)

Desert Center, California was founded in 1921 by Stephen A. Ragsdale and his wife, Lydia. The town was a vital stopping point for travelers between Los Angeles and Phoenix. During World War II, the US Army established a desert training center nearby.

And in the 1980's, when Holland was in his 20's, he had reason to stop in this little desert town 😉

He was, at that time, driving between family construction contracts in CA - and Phoenix-AZ Union jobs. On one hellishly hot day, his pickup overheated and he pushed it off the freeway and rolled it into Desert Center. There was no mechanic available there, and he was pointed towards Blythe-AZ. He tells me that he had enough water with him to limp it into Blythe. During the 10 hour limp, he had sought refuge from the scorching sun under an overpass … and a cop with a fog horn herded him out of the sheltering overpass (after which, he crept back undercover 🤠 when the cop sped past him). He'd creep a bit further forward as the engine cooled, only to be halted again when the heat got the best of his vehicle. Blythe is a little over half an hour driving time, past Desert Center - but that day it was a 10 hour crawl. It was dark when he made Blythe, so he slept in the truck; the next morning, he located a mechanic and was told it would take 5 days to get the part needed and get it repaired. He had a work schedule to keep, so he hopped a bus to Phoenix-AZ; and went back to Blythe about a week later, when the call came to "come fetch." He was not happy when he arrived to fetch 😤: his truck had been broken into, and all his tools had been stolen. Some of the tools were irreplaceable, as they were 1-of-a-kind crafted specifically for him, as requested.

Since we've been married, and I have heard the story many times … I was curious about the place: so, today my curiosity was satiated.

The Desert Center-CA of today, is a functioning "ghost town": the P.O. is still doing business, and CA Road Work is branching out from that location. Population may be very sparse (we doubt anyone is actually still living there - at least there is no evidence of community of any kind thriving), but it has not yet gasped it's last gasp.

This Bug Station is 6 min's from Blythe-CA, & 47 min's from Desert Center-CA

Desert Center-CA from CA Ag Station; 47 min (51.7 mi) via I-10 E

Sheets of solar panels for m.i.l.e.s. - up to the mountain flanks-CA

Desert Center Tenant Housing when the town was booming.

The café Holland limped his overheated truck from; leaving it in Blythe-CA, to catch a bus to Phoenix-AZ where he had a job waiting.

There is still a functioning P.O. here; people coming and going with mail in hand.

Holland recounting his brief stop, here, in the 1980's.

It took him 10 hours to limp his truck from Desert Center to Blythe in the scorching heat: hours of nothingness in between.

Abandoned School Building; Desert Center-CA

Colorful tagging … all the deserted buildings have been vandalized with graffiti. I do not consider rebellious destruction of private property "expressive art".

Desert Center is now the halfway mark for road work storage tools.

Road work machinery storage, RVr's needing a pit stop break, and a makeshift truck stop is what remains. The vacated Main Street was busy with truck drivers needing a place to pull over for the required 'time out'.

Founding: "Desert Steve" Ragsdale, an itinerant preacher and cotton farmer from Arkansas, founded the town. He built an adobe-style café,  gas station, and service garage to attract travelers.

Itinerant Preacher: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itinerant_preacher

Desert Steve Ragsdale: https://desertmagazine.wordpress.com/2012/08/17/desert-steve-ragsdale/

He also built a "plunge" for travelers to cool off in the desert heat.

Desert Center-CA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_Center,_California#:~:text=The%20town%20was%20founded%20in,a%20prospector%20named%20Bill%20Gruendyke.

World War II: The US Army established Camp Desert Center in 1942 to train troops for combat in North Africa.

The camp included shower buildings, latrines, an evacuation hospital, and more. The camp was closed in 1944 and the US Army buildings were removed.

Camp Desert Center-CA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Desert_Center#:~:text=Camp%20Desert%20Center%20was%20built,and%20the%20Battle%20of%20Leyte.

After the war: The town was again active after the war with the birth of the Kaiser Steel's Iron Mine at Eagle Mountain.

Eagle Mountain Iron Mine-CA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle_Mountain,_California

The Rise, & Fall of Desert Center-CA: https://www.desertsun.com/in-depth/life/2021/07/11/rise-fall-and-uncertain-future-desert-center/7694206002/

Desert Center-CA

Making the tight loop through the desert main street, Indio-CA was mentioned … and my intuitive husband correctly read my unspoken thoughts 😒

"NO! Don't even let your mind go there …"

Holland tells me that Indio is worse than Blythe … and Blythe is pretty sketchy.

Distance from Blythe-CA to Quartzsite-AZ is 23 min (22.4 mi) via I-10 E

Blythe is like the sketchy areas of Portland-OR & Seattle-WA. Kinda like Kelso-WA, in that regard.

It was roughly a 3 hour road trip, with about an hour Grocery Outlet (only been in business in Blythe for a month, today) walk through.

It was a relaxed drive 🥰, with laid-back tunes, and good convo.

It was an informative excursion … and a profitable walk through 😊

And the good vibes just kept rolling after we got back to Independence: every pic and vid I took today turned out great. Online newsfeed told us that Dan Bongino would be part of the new FBI staffing - another win for Team Trump's Administration 👊

RETURN TO SERVICE; former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino. Fairness, Justice, Law and Order will be brought back to America, again.

It's still early in this evening, and I'm going to start drafting design for another project I have in mind …