Tuesday 8 March 2011

The Desert Minx Part 4 – Playbike of the Month

In our quest for the ultimate desert/ lunar landscape we wave Canyonlands goodbye and set off for







Disconcertingly I am starting to think I have come to Phallic Land...




Yep












A brief distraction….balancing rock…get away





An Arch





Do you get a sense of the size






That is a giant’s face isn’t it



Albeit with Bell's palsy 

 
and from the side








Did I tell you we turned up on the same day that Walmart had sponsored a trip for all those people who have been photographed in their shop?




Is this the inspiration for the “Hills have Eyes “






Back on the phallus trail again








The chipmunks are very forward…






Another Walmart tripper, you can’t see her face but she was about 65.






It gets worse






Then the photo we daren’t take. There we are, just eating our ham and cucumber sandwiches, when there is the thrum of motorbike engine. The front wheel appears first, followed by a steering column  shining brightly. Its silvery gleam cuts through the red desert dust. Five minutes later the rest of the bike appears topped by the Bonny and Clyde of the biker world, but only from a criminal perspective. He is the oldest, ugliest, skin and bone biker you have ever seen in your life. His passenger? The meanest, toughest biker bitch you would ever run away from, complete with deep red Mohican haircut, Miss Universe body circa last week, and the snarliest smile you would see this side of Manchester.


Now just a reminder, this is a Saturday morning. In addition to the Walmart pin ups bus trip, the entire Mormon Tabernacle choir is on a family retreat. Given the claims of multiple marriage and Osmond size families, that is one hell of group of contemplaters.

As Bonnie dismounts, she kills a passing tarantula with her spit. Clyde, meanwhile, attempts to steer the Forth Bridge into a parking spot. His lack of muscle tone shows, he should have just got off and let Bonnie pick it up and deposit it in a spot 50 yards away, it would have been less of a challenge for her than walking home with a big weekend shop.

So you are in the Arches National park, of what would you take pictures? Well it appears that Bonnie and Clyde, incited by the flagrant phallicism all around them suddenly remember they are this month’s photo editors for BBT (Biker’s Bitties and Titties). In an equally sudden flash of inspiration, they decide this is the perfect spot to nail the commission. Bonnie proceeds to sit backwards, straddling Clyde’s chopper, (there had to be some technical input) and lift her t-shirt to the gravelly tones of Clyde's

“Yeah baby, oh yeah, that’s good, yeah, up, up up"

Clyde snaps merrily away at a chest that Boadicea would have used for stabbing Hannibal’s elephants to death!

Phil's cucumber shrivels .................................................in its sandwich.

Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches everywhere fall out of picnickers mouths. In honour of true British restaurant diners’ style, where nobody ever complains, not a single word is uttered in protest, and all the time the sun beats down and the wind whistles around the Good, the Bad and the Unbelievably Ugly.

Stay tuned for the tent that broke the camper's back.

The Desert Minx Part 3 – Sunday Sport headline…Outer Space Guy drives London bus


So en route to Canyonlands

Ant hills


Ant hills a la Martha Stewart colour swatch






Oh sh…supermarket deal of the day…




Irony from…..the God Squad…..???????







 In perspective it is all starting to feel a little unearthly







Funny no sign saying you are now entering booby county

 





A whole day of driving and 40 miles away from the nearest civilization again.








Yikes ….everyone has been eaten by the bloke who wears this…







And so to the camp site and just like West Texas we have seen jack sh..t for 3 hours and it’s full 

So we end up in Australia at the foot of Aluru

Busy busy busy


We have a great view of the sun setting behind the needles











And beetles

 
Now we are cooking for three (not the beetle but Riona)






Night


Then dawn over the Needles






We go exploring and we cross the brow of the lunar landscape to this!
















Then…



The lesser known Canyonlands Marriott Hotel








Hoodoos as in Palo Duro Palo Duro Canyon




Henry Moore?






The heat haze reduces the impact of the needles close up








But to give it perspective check out white van man

 

Then you get amongst it all, we didn’t have time to go all the way in. Apparently you can camp...but it is eery









Was it something we said?






Then in the midst of barreness








The view across the valley












I wouldn’t want to spend the night in there, though you can…
but there is a limited food source








Back at base camp Riona decides to refresh her climbing skills au naturel







Even without shoes getting purchase proves difficult




A lovely smile from a perch that looks like a giant grimace






Riona have you got that tshirt of mine?????




Unwilling to give in to my back issue I practice my climbing skills while cook takes over










Keeping up her strength to cope with staying with her mother and do without straighteners







Dawn again and this has been like a giant sentinel






And so to catch up on the news  - The Native American Indian equivalent of the Telegraph…..Lots of words...Today in Parliament








Daily Star…bigger print less complex pictures…





And Sunday Sport claims this was driving a London Bus through Midsommer Norton





And we end on an educational note Newspaper Rock

Medical note ..I am starting to need an ambulance