The Desert Bar and More

We had not a speck of dirt gather under our feet last week.  Momma Loi and Kelly were here and we ran everyday.  Between sightseeing and motorhome shopping we racked up the miles, saw quite a few 'sites' as well as motorhomes and nope we have not yet purchased our permanent home on wheels.  Anyway-on one of our drives David spotted this big boy.






And found  this old mine (or what we imagined was an old mine) on a hillside and pulled over to take a look.

 After a little prompting Kelly decided to check it out.  No bats and if there were any gems in the walls they had been mined out.

 Kel had to take a hike up to see what she could see

 And Loi, well she decided to stay safe and look for something fun from down below.

Rather than try to tell it in my own words-which can often be a mumble jumble-I am going to cut and paste from the Desert Bar website.  This is one of the coolest places ever (just ask Kel ).  It is powered totally by solar and is open from high noon till dusk, as the sign says.  The food is great, not very expensive and the beer is the coldest I have ever tasted (well the Odules was cold anyway and Kel reported that yep the beer was as well).  David and I will go back and spend an afternoon some day just to listen to the music and enjoy the people.  So, on to cut and paste.

The "Nellie E Saloon" (DESERT BAR)
is in the Buckskin Mountains,
in Parker, Arizona, on land that was
an old mining camp. The camp was
located on the portion of land that is
now the parking lot


This is just one view as we drive the almost ten mile, barely maintained road back to the Saloon.  The road winds through the mountains so far that you wonder if you will ever get there.

It wasn't easy to get good pictures of the place just because of the hoards of people that were there but this is a view of the band's stage.

The "Nellie E" was completed in 1988.
The inside of the saloon is unique in
many ways. It has windows that are old
glass refrigerator doors, the bar stools
are made of steel and they sway from
side to side. The top of the bar is
brass and the ceiling is made of
stamped tin purchased from a factory
in Missouri. The saloon is powered by
solar energy and is stored in batteries
and run through inverters.

You can see solar panels on the roof of the building top of the picture.  Below is the long line to purchase a smoked tri tip sandwich, or a huge philly sandwich and feel free to add beer batter fries to your order.  The hamburgers are made in a structure up above.  The building with the solar panels is an indoor bar that does have a wood stove for heat on those windy days.  We were told that when going you should get there early because the place fills up quickly.  We were there before 'high noon' and followed a string of vehicles out to find the parking lot full and loads of people already enjoying the day at the bar.  A popular place.

Built in 1981, the covered walk bridge
was the next big project. It was
dedicated in October of that same year.
The church was started in 1993,
completed in 1996 and dedicated in
October

 Across from the saloon is an outside
bar, cooking area and stage.
The tall structures you see on the
property including Ken's house,
located across from the parking lot,
are "cooling towers". They work similar
to an evaporative (swamp) cooler,
except they don't have a fan. When
you wet the pads on top, cool air falls
and you get a nice cool airflow.

Tri tip and philly sandwiches in the making.  And yes this too is powered by solar.

When Ken opened the bar, he hauled
water in a 50-gallon tank loaded on the
back of his truck. Then he purchased
an old fire truck, which he used to haul
water. In 1989, he started using a well
in the canyon as his water source. In
the summer of 1997, Ken drilled a new
well on the north side of the saloon
that operates on solar power, with the
pump set at 360 feet.

Rachel, Melvin and Dezbah joined us for a day.  Melvin and Dezbah taking a walk outside the bar.

The long bumby windy road on our way back to civilization. 

 

Sunday was the day to take Loi and Kel to the airport.  We waved goodbye and headed back home to take our last shower for a week.  We are now parked in the desert in Quartszite living on not electricity, not solar power but a generator and only the water that is in our tanks.   We crank up the generator in the am for coffee and evening to charge our phones etc. and because our water is limited to what is in our tanks we use it sparingly.  I love Quartzsite!