Welcome to Desert Rats!

Charlie Manson's Power Wagon

Folks, I know I'm not the only Desert Rat on Vox, and that the rest of you might have somethin' to say too. So if you've got somethin' to say about the desert - any desert, not just the Coachella Valley, then by all means go for it. There are some things that will get your messages deleted and among those (apply common sense here) are being disrespectful to other menbers (very different than disagreement - I encourage disagreement), non sequitor posts in txt msg bsh*t, and gratuitous advertisement. If your band is playing and you want to plug it, fine, but don't spam the members from your pill factory in Calcutta, ok? I love seeing pictures, poetry, complaints about your neighbors, notes on the taxonomy of the beaver tail cactus, links to other interesting sites, the book that saved your life when you were out of water and out of luck, the best music for a roadtrip and your vacation video of collecting peyote buttons in Chihuahua. I'd also like to holler out to international desert rats - how's your life in Alice Springs? Riyadh? Let's hear about mummies in Acama and Cairo. Let's hear about history and let's hear about the future. The photo at left was taken in Ballarat, California a few months ago. Ballarat is a ghost town, but at the turn of the last century it had 400-500 people living there. Life on the edge of Death Valley is pretty marginal, even today, and about 40 years ago it attracted some of the most marginal people in America - the Manson family - to live there for a few months. Before you "set Tex Watson free" people start chiming in, let me say that I do not advocate Charlie Manson or any of his half-baked ideas. Still, I think this picture says something about the transient quality of desert life, the harshness, the beauty and the rugged will to survive.

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