My Artwork - January 2017

February 1, 2017 Teressa Jackson

January 2017 brought several different locales and some visits from familiar faces to my trek. I spent time in Bisbee, Tucson, Ajo, and Yuma, Arizona; cruised Salvation Mountain and the Salton Sea and laid my head to rest in Aguanga and Fallbrook, California. Although those distractions slowed my pace a bit, I still managed to create six new pieces of original artwork inspired by my travels and informed by my original photography. Most are already sold (thank you, patrons!), but you might still be able to find a treasure to bring some adventure to your decor.

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Saguaro National Park, Arizona: 1/2/17, 13:56:04

Saguaro National Park, Arizona: 1/19/17, 12:44:25

Saguaro National Park, Arizona: 1/19/17, 13:43:40

Fallbrook, California: 1/31/17, 11:40:17

Every $25 you buy in art helps keep me rolling on my adventure across the United States for approximately 1-2 days (gas is expensive!). I'm truly grateful to all the people in my life who keep me fueled up, both literally and figuratively!

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Salvation and a Forgotten Sea

January 27, 2017 Teressa Jackson

Yuma, Arizona, was about as close to California as my former home of New Albany, Indiana was to Louisville, Kentucky. Within moments of leaving my hotel this morning, I was cruising down the interstate in the Golden State.

Before too long, I was in the midst of rolling brown sand dunes. On a windy day like today, that meant sand was blasting my car and all over the roadway. I couldn't believe that people were riding dirt bikes on the windy dunes, but they seemed to be enjoying themselves just fine.

My first destination was a short jaunt off of State Highway 111. I encountered Leonard Knight's creation, Salvation Mountain, shortly after passing the sign for Slab City, "The Last Free Place on Earth." I had wanted to visit the Mountain for years, and by the amount of traffic they were getting, I clearly wasn't the only one with that wish.

Leonard, a Vermont native, landed in this California desert in 1984, beginning construction of the mountain that he worked on for nearly 30 years. Salvation Mountain, which he constructed out of clay, bales of hay, latex paint, tires, and pretty much anything else he found useful that had been discarded or donated, was named a National Folk Art Site in 2000, and a National Treasure in the U.S. Congressional Record. Leonard passed away in 2014, but the not-for-profit, Salvation Mountain, Inc. continues to work to maintain and preserve his labor of love.

Unfortunately, I picked a somewhat bad day to visit Salvation Mountain. Going inside Leonard's creation or climbing the "Yellow Brick Road" stairs that led to the top were off limits, as the recent rains had made the construction wet and vulnerable to damage. I still enjoyed seeing the site and appreciated the care that was still going into its preservation.

Next, I was headed to another "weird" destination. Sometime, ages ago, I saw a television documentary about the Salton Sea. For some reason, I never quite got it out of my mind, so when I found myself in the general vicinity of California's largest inland body of water, I went for it.

The Salton Sea was a dry basin when European settlers first came to the area. Apparently, it was actually, at one time long ago, a part of the Gulf of California. When farmers in the area needed water, a man was hired to engineer a canal from the Colorado River to the basin. After a couple tries, he got the canal to flow, but it ended up flowing for over a year and filling the basin to create the Salton Sea.

In the 1950's, the sea was a popular recreational area for Californians. However, the destruction created by a couple of hurricanes combined with the increasing salinity of the sea caused the area's eventual decline. The sea continues to increase in salinity, and is currently about 50% saltier than the Pacific Ocean. It's still quite a ways from being as salty as the Great Salt Lake, but it is inhospitable to most fish except the tilapia who live there, and they don't appear to be living the dream, either. It is, however, a popular spot for abundant bird watching. I'm sure the birds don't mind the fish snacks, either. I found it to be weird, peaceful, and oddly beautiful. :-)

After my tour of the Salton Sea, I cruised until the white salt crust no longer lined the roadway, through the cities of Indio and Palm Desert, and headed up through Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument to my home for the next couple of days in Aguanga, California. And now... I'm hungry for something salty...

From Ajo to Yuma, my Arizona Exit

January 26, 2017 Teressa Jackson

Monday, I awoke to a beautiful, sunny, mid-60's day in Tucson. It was a bit of a shame that my plans were to pack up and head west, but cruising down the highway with my sunroof open really isn't such a bad way to enjoy fantastic weather. In my opinion, non-interstate driving makes this even better, and that's exactly what I had planned.

I hopped onto the Ajo Highway and headed west. The scenery was beautiful, with plenty of saguaros and mountains to keep me company. I drove through the large swath of land that the Tohono O'odham Nation calls home, including their capitol of Sells, Arizona. I especially enjoyed listening to the Nation's radio station, which was eagerly promoting their upcoming rodeo festivities, encouraging their members to register to vote, and discussing other community events. They alternated between speaking in their language and English, and nearly every call for event participation seemed have the caveat of the Nation "not being legally responsible" in the event of some type of mishap, which I found to be a little amusing.

The blue skies and puffy white clouds gave way to wind, dense gray fog, and clouds, which added a mystique to the landscape that I rather enjoyed. I headed south at Why, Arizona, apparently named such because State Routes 85 and 86 originally intersected there in a Y-shaped intersection. At the time, Arizona law required city names to have at least three letters, so the town's founders named the town "Why" instead of "Y."

And now you know "Why." Ba-dum-dum.

My southbound trail quickly led me to my reason for visiting the area: Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. I had not previously heard of this monument before, but when I saw it on the map, I just had to check it out. It's apparently been a national monument for over 40 years, as it was designated as such in 1976, the year of my birth.

The monument was shrouded in the same mist and fog I had journeyed in for the the past hour, and made for some intriguing scenery. The landscape there is dotted with saguaro and organ pipe cacti and interesting volcanic formations, making for some truly otherworldly scenes. The organ pipe cactus is a relative of the saguaro, a giant "bushy" shaped cactus that can grow to over 20 feet tall. These cacti are relatively common in Mexico, but only occur naturally in the U.S. in the area around the monument.

One of Ajo's two lovely Spanish colonial churches

After an afternoon winding around the monument's scenic loop, I pointed my car northward toward Ajo, a tiny town with a cute little Spanish colonial town center. The woman who checked me into the cabin where I was staying was about the sweetest person I've ever met, and informed me she'd lived there her whole life. Ajo was home to just three restaurants, and the grocery store was a combination IGA and Ace Hardware. As I picked up some groceries, I imagined that everyone knew everyone else in the store but me.

I spent Tuesday hiking the monument in sunshine, and it looked equally beautiful but completely different than it had the day before. I had intended to do a couple of the trails. However, my hike of the Arch Canyon Trail ended up being more than I bargained for when I unknowingly kept going on a steep, rocky, unimproved trail cut by hikers to the top of the mountain overlooking the "arch" in the rock. It was extremely challenging (and a little bit scary at times), but I did it, and the views were spectacularly rewarding.

I could have stayed in Ajo at least another day, but my reservations had me moving on, so I headed further west to Yuma, Arizona on Wednesday. Yuma is essentially located at the intersection of Arizona, California, and Mexico, and has the distinction of being both the hottest populated locale in the U.S. and the place with the most sunshine in the world. Yuma also grows a tremendous amount of the fresh vegetables you enjoy during the winter, so you can thank them if you enjoyed a salad, broccoli, or cauliflower today (I definitely spotted fields of all of those).

I strolled Yuma's cute historic downtown, enjoyed a craft beer sampler at one of its breweries, and visited a date farm where I slurped down a date milkshake in the sunshine. Yuma has the wonderful effect of making me feel vibrantly youthful, as it is obviously an extremely popular retirement destination. I think my hair might be the (naturally) brownest for miles around!

Yuma has been a good place to relax, as my battery was running a little low from moving around so much and my difficult hike. I can't say I've found anything to absolutely love about it, but I certainly haven't found much to dislike about it either. You'll never hear me complaining about the sunniest place in the world. Sunshine makes me very, very happy.

And tomorrow, it's westward ho again!

View of the arch from where I hiked to, way up in the canyon

Announcing Upcoming Tour Dates!

January 14, 2017 Teressa Jackson

It's hard to believe that the first two weeks of 2017 are already a wrap. In a week, I will bid farewell to my Bisbee home. I'm going to take a little break from my schedule of one location per month and take the opportunity to visit a few locales on my "must see" list.

An Organ Pipe Cactus. Photo Credit: Robb Hannawacker

1. Ajo, Arizona

After spending a few days in Tucson, I'll head to the area around Ajo, Arizona, where I will visit Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge. I had never heard of either of these places before beginning my travels, but was intrigued enough after learning of them to put them on the itinerary.

2. Yuma, Arizona

Next, I'll spend a bit of time in Yuma, Arizona, located at the intersection of Arizona, Mexico, and California. I love sunshine, and I should find plenty of it there, as the sun is said to shine during about 90% of Yuma's daylight hours, making it the sunniest place in the world. Per Wikipedia, Yuma is the "driest, the sunniest, and the least humid, has the lowest frequency of precipitation and has the highest number of days per year (175) with a daily maximum temperature of 90 °F (32 °C) or higher." I definitely wouldn't want to be there in July or August, when average high temperatures exceed 106 degrees.

3. Salvation Mountain & Salton Sea

After Yuma, I'm making a stop to see Salvation Mountain and the Salton Sea, California's largest body of water. The Salton Sea has an interesting history and has always intrigued me. I'm looking forward to some unique photography opportunities there. This video probably explains the sea better than I really could.

4. Fallbrook, California

Joshua Tree National Park. Photo Credit: Joshua Tree National Park

My next home, Fallbrook, California, is known as the "Avocado Capitol of the World." I am spending a couple of weeks on a small ranch that is home to an alpaca, mini horses, pig, goats, and chickens (I love farm animals!). I will also be relatively close to the beach and other outdoor adventuring locales.

5. Twentynine Palms, California

From Fallbrook, I'll spend a week in Twentynine Palms, California. Twentynine Palms will serve as home base while I visit Joshua Tree National Park and Mojave National Preserve.

Badwater Basin Sunset, Death Valley National Park, California. Photo Credit: Nagaraju Hanchanahal — Badwater Basin Sunset, Death Valley National Park, California. Photo Credit: Nagaraju Hanchanahal

6. Death Valley, California

Last, I will round out February in one of the places I've longed to see the most - Death Valley National Park. I will have a week there to explore its otherworldly scenery with the benefit of February's non-deadly temperatures.

As time ticks on (which it does at the same speed when I was home and working full-time, sadly), I will determine where March will find me. Until then, I don't think I will be at risk of boredom!

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