AMARGOSA OPERA HOUSE

Thirty miles north of Shoshone, CA sits the little town of Amargosa Junction. During the years 1923-1925, the Pacific Coast Borax Company constructed a company town consisting of a complex of spanish Colonial style buildings of adobe. Today the hotel and opera house is still open with a little cafe but the rest of the town is in disrepair.

Marta Beckett, an artist and pianist from New York, had her car break down near the town while out on vacation in 1967 and upon seeing the theater fell in love with it and decided to rent it for $45 a month and to assume responsiblity for repairs. Marta danced and performed in the theater from 1968 until 2012. She is now in her nineties and still lives in town.

Kristy drinking coffee in the little cafe

We enjoyed a great meal in the cafe and saw a performance in the Opera House, where the walls and ceiling are covered with Marta's beautiful murals.

There is a great documentary about Marta and her amazing life titled Amargosa.

Update 2/1/2017. Marta Beckett died on January 31st, 2017. At the age of 92. Here is to a life well lived.

Murals inside Opera House

The hotel is said to be haunted

ASH MEADOWS NWR-NEVADA

Crystal Spring

Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge is the largest remaining Oasis in the Majave Desert. There are over 26 plant and animal specis that don't exist anywhere else on the planet, including the rare pupfish species.  The water here is known as fossil water because it comes from melted ice from the last ice age. The Devils hole is over 500 ft deep and the bottom has never be found. The Nature conservency protected the area from development in 1980 and was finally purchased by the U.S. fish and wildlife service where it officially became a refuge in 1984. 

After learning about the efforts of the Nature Conservancy Annette and I donated money for their future projects. One of our intitial acts to fight for our wild lands.

Shug: The Working Dog Camp Host

Shug's first day on the job starts with a quick patrol of the park to survey the scene: Quiet and calm today except for two crows on tent site #3's picnic table. Looping past the pond, Shug crosses the road to unlock the gate for the warm spring pool and then skirts the west edge of the park back to her campsite. This working dog looks forward to another day to meet and interact with interesting people. During this three-month working stint, Shug plans to learn how to greet visitors from other countries in their native languages. Loving life!

Shug = Office Boss

Small Town, Big Life: Trying Out Work Camping

Pop 31

After that ridiculous election, we need to try something new to distract ourselves from the fall of western civilization. Kristy spies an interesting entry on the WorkKampers website--a 2-day-a-week camp host job at Shoshone RV Park, just 5 miles down the road from our BLM boondock site near Tecopa Hot Springs. We send an inquiry email saying, “Hi. We’re full-time RVers hanging out in this area for the winter months and we’d like to talk to you about the camp host position. If you haven’t already filled it, let us know and we’ll come by.” No response. And we’re a little bit sad because the RV park has a sweet little warm springs swimming pool and a nearby tennis court for playing pickle ball, but we figure it isn’t meant to be and let it go. In the meantime, we’re hiking and biking out in our desert wash, cruising in to Tecopa for the occasional mineral hot springs soak, and enjoying the high-desert ambience.

Debbie, Annette and Shug

 A couple of weeks later, we get an email asking us to drop by the RV park and before you know it we’ve become the official Tuesday and Wednesday camp hosts with a free RV site. The managers of the park, Debbie and Clay, who have been living the RV life for 20 years, are warm, funny people with boundless energy. Counting Shug, and, of course, we do, the three of us comprise 10% of the population of Shoshone, CA.

Our home at Shoshone RV Park

Museum

The Crowbar Cafe and Saloon

Shoshone Inn

General store (where Lynn is working)

Old cabin

Sheriff's Office

Old building

The market across the street from the museum and restaurant

Checking out the pup fish ponds

Pup fish pond

Old miners dugouts \ Dublin Gulch

Warm Spring pool 89 degrees year round

Kristy soaking

Annette sporting her new robe