Kevin and Corey at the high point of
our trip, top of the Beartooth Pass, Montana.Summer of 1999 started a period of much traveling for me, after selling my sign business of 18 years. In Early July I headed north to summer vacation with my two youngest sons, Kevin and Corey, now living with their mom in Washington State.
Kevin and Corey at the high point of
our trip, top of the Beartooth Pass, Montana.
We traveled through Western Washington, the Idaho Panhandle, and on to the Yellowstone area of Montana and Wyoming. After visiting Sky and Shar Wiseman in Billings Montana for several days, we traveled back to Yellowstone over the Beartooth Pass, possibly the most scenic road in America.
Wildflowers that were blooming in July
added much to this fantastic scenery. I hope to get back again
and do some backpacking, perhaps in the summer of 2001. At the
least I hope to visit SkyShar again, and drive this road with
at least one of my sons.
As Fall time approached, I returned alone to Joshua Tree, where I camped extensively in the familiar Joshua Tree National Park, and then in the nearby Turtle Canyon, near where I lived some years ago.
In October, my long time chat
buddy Erika (aka Maggie) and her dad 
came to visit on their way back to
Brazil after visiting relatives in Japan. We went hiking in Joshua
Tree National Park, visited the famous Gubler's Orchids greenhouses,
hiked the Palm Canyons of Palm Springs, and took the Palm Springs
Tramway up to the forested heights of Mt. San Jacinto. Here's
some of the highlights of the visit, all from the top of the tramway
excursion.
Soon after Erika and her dad
left to return to Brazil, my Oldest son Abel
came down from summering in Washington State to join me, and to
help make the Ojos
de Dios, and together
we made a trip to Arizona and New Mexico, returning to where Abel
was born near Alburquerque, and to search out buyers or our craft.
Along the way we stopped at Sedona Arizona, land of the Red Rock
Crossing, one of the most photographed spots in America.
We managed to get our Ojos placed
in a few stores, the most promising being in San Antonio Texas.
We somehow hooked up with the owners while they were on a buying
trip to Sante Fe, and if you are ever in San Antonio, look into
Rivera's Trading Post (or Rivera's Gift Market, or Rivera's Chile
Shop) to see lots of our work.
Here's a recent Ojo, one of the 83 we shipped off to Texas in
time for Christmas.
In December, after getting an early draw on an eventual inheritance, I bought a 1984 Chevy 20 Van that I am converting for camping, complete with solar panel, and propane heat and cooking stove. It's a big improvement over the 1970 Dodge pick-up with camper shell that I did all of the above traveling in. I still have the Dodge, but I think it's going up for sale soon.
Send me e-mails that you visited this update, and perhaps I'll update more often. Coming up, a trip to Myrtle Beach So. Carolina to visit the Avatar Meher Baba Center there, after a trip around So. Calif to find more stores to sell our Ojos de Dios. Then I hope to start up a new sign business back here in the Joshua Tree area, and sometime in the next year or so make a loooong delayed pilgrimage to INDIA.
cheers to all
Jay, December 26, 1999
Joshua Tree California