A fork emerges in the road that probably wasn't even a road. Now most definitely a fork.
It's a tangled sprawl of wire and cactus, dust and busted tires. As I drive slowly into its haze I'm starting to make out a filling station, a hotel/church combination with carols being sung inside the open windows. 4 Camels dressed for dinner. Incredibly a sign for an ATM alongside a car graveyard scene direct from Pixar's cutting room floor. It's 11 am and heading towards 40 degrees. My mind is playing Laura's theme from Twin Peaks.
I've arrived at Solitaire.
Several movies have had scenes filmed here. That is completely unsurprising.
My thought is 'Why here?' How did this choice get made? Was there a rock or a tree or a specific set of circumstances that caused it? Well yes but I don't know what they were. I will Google it when I can.
Solitaire is only sort of on the way to somewhere. The dunes of Sossusvlei to the South-West. A loose gravel hell - a road of immense length stretches North. South. The Namibian desert to the West. The Moonscapes of Nauklufteberg and Rotterkaum to the East. South Africa a million and a half miles to the South.
Solitaire rocks.
It is the complete article. A travellers oasis.
An oasis of random acts. It has everything it needs squashed into a fork in the road. Whoever started it, and they or their offspring may well still run it, gets my vote. A stunning visual cacophony of what life here is all about. Solitude in one way, brutal and naked terrain in another but utter connection at the human level in every way.
The store sells everything. Poetry carved into rocks, wing mirrors, carved garden chairs and as much beer as anyone could want. People smile at each other as those who congregate knowingly at the top of the baddest black run at the swankiest ski-resort. An achievement just getting this far. I bought a hat fit for Clint Eastwood.
The most busy and popular chap at Solitaire is the dude repairing tires. A long queue of sad 'there, but for the grace of God, go I'. He works 24 x 7.
Nothing punctures his dedication.
The Town…
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