This looks familiar...
Halfway through Nevada, about 80 miles from anything in either direction, I came across a ghost town. It was at the edge of a salt sea and at a crossroads. This is probably metaphorically meaningful. It looked like it was a thriving business with a garage, restaurant, gas station, and several motel rooms and a "main house" (an old man who stopped too told me it had been abandoned for maybe 30 years now.) These looked like some old motel buildings.
The sign on the main building is probably a give away of what the main "business" was *it IS in Nevada). (Click to enlarge to read the sign).
I went in the buildings to explore. This is a view from the main house to one of the motels. The owners probably lived in this house (you couldn't commute to work here).
This is a scenic view out of what was probably the kitchen counter area.
This is one of the motel rooms. I wondered who slept on this mattress both before and after it was a ghost town. Was it whores and lonely truckers? Maybe someone on a honeymoon? Or even a husband and wife with a small child tucked between them? Or even recently a drunken tryst on the floor in the middle of the night by flashlight?
Did this keep some one company in the middle of the chill and lonely nights? Did families sit together in bed with pillows propped up behind them and watch "Mayberry RFD" or "Star Trek"?
This is the restaurant/store. Did lonely men buy liquor to embolden themselves to stay the night? Did daddy buy cold sodas, or candy bars and icecream for the kids as they drove through the hot desert? Did the hookers and lonely men sit alone at separate tables sipping coffee in the mornings, not looking up from their over easy eggs and toast? Did families wrestle with kids in high chairs and ask for more napkins to clean up spilt milk? Did lovers hold hands across the plastic tablecloths and dream of where they were going to start a new life together? Did it burn out before or after the people who owned the business?
I found this scrawled on one of walls inside one of the motel rooms next to the front door.
The entire town is a metaphor for our broken, burned out humanity that Jesus took on Himself. The "town" is still a town, the rooms still have four walls and a roof, a door and retain the nature of what it was intended to be, but it is subjected to death and decay and all manner of futility happens in it and yet... and yet, beauty could happen in it too. Yes, save yourself...join yourself to Him who has renewed our human nature, be sure beauty happens. More to come.
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Halfway through Nevada, about 80 miles from anything in either direction, I came across a ghost town. It was at the edge of a salt sea and at a crossroads. This is probably metaphorically meaningful. It looked like it was a thriving business with a garage, restaurant, gas station, and several motel rooms and a "main house" (an old man who stopped too told me it had been abandoned for maybe 30 years now.) These looked like some old motel buildings.
The sign on the main building is probably a give away of what the main "business" was *it IS in Nevada). (Click to enlarge to read the sign).
I went in the buildings to explore. This is a view from the main house to one of the motels. The owners probably lived in this house (you couldn't commute to work here).
This is a scenic view out of what was probably the kitchen counter area.
This is one of the motel rooms. I wondered who slept on this mattress both before and after it was a ghost town. Was it whores and lonely truckers? Maybe someone on a honeymoon? Or even a husband and wife with a small child tucked between them? Or even recently a drunken tryst on the floor in the middle of the night by flashlight?
Did this keep some one company in the middle of the chill and lonely nights? Did families sit together in bed with pillows propped up behind them and watch "Mayberry RFD" or "Star Trek"?
This is the restaurant/store. Did lonely men buy liquor to embolden themselves to stay the night? Did daddy buy cold sodas, or candy bars and icecream for the kids as they drove through the hot desert? Did the hookers and lonely men sit alone at separate tables sipping coffee in the mornings, not looking up from their over easy eggs and toast? Did families wrestle with kids in high chairs and ask for more napkins to clean up spilt milk? Did lovers hold hands across the plastic tablecloths and dream of where they were going to start a new life together? Did it burn out before or after the people who owned the business?
I found this scrawled on one of walls inside one of the motel rooms next to the front door.
The entire town is a metaphor for our broken, burned out humanity that Jesus took on Himself. The "town" is still a town, the rooms still have four walls and a roof, a door and retain the nature of what it was intended to be, but it is subjected to death and decay and all manner of futility happens in it and yet... and yet, beauty could happen in it too. Yes, save yourself...join yourself to Him who has renewed our human nature, be sure beauty happens. More to come.
2 comments:
Excellent post Steve. Good photos. Seeing the word slut so openly displayed on the signage is shocking although at one point in my life I would have had a different response.
It's good to see you waxing philosophical and you're right that this seemingly destitute ruin is a metaphor of us.
These pictures remind me of the sci-fi channel's miniseries that we rented and enjoyed called "The Lost Room". It's about a key that if put in any door will open up to a mysterious, abandoned desert hotel room.
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