Desert Bar Part 3

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 ai
rflow.













































































































The "Nellie E Saloon" is located 5 miles
off the Cienega Springs Rd exit on
Hwy-95, approximately 5 miles north of
Parker, Arizona.
We are open Labor Day weekend
through Memorial Day weekend,
Saturdays and Sundays only from high
noon till sunset, and holidays during
these months. THE BAR IS CLOSED
DURING THE HOT SUMMER MONTHS.
We are open one night only, New
Years Eve, if it falls on a weekend.
During the President's Day weekend in
February, we host the annual
"DESERT DASH", which is a 5k
run/walk and a 5 mile bike ride to the
bar for charity.

Thanksgiving weekend we are open
Thursday, Friday, Saturday and
Sunday, with music on Friday and
Saturday.
Ken has big plans for a future town, so
be sure to visit every year! He is
always working on a new project.

THE BAR IS CLOSED DURING THE
WEEK, SO PLEASE NO VISITORS
AND OBEY THE NO TRESPASSING
SIGNS.

"NELLIE E SALOON" FULL BAR and
GRILL * TAKE WATER * DRIVE SAFE *
ID REQUIRED * FAMILIES AND
CHILDREN WELCOME

Desert Bar Part 2

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.


























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. The church is made of solid steel and the walls and ceiling are made of the same stamped tin used inside the bar and the roof is made of copper. The names inscribed on the plaques in the church are people who donated money to help build the church. The church is a unique place for weddings and a great photo spot. There are no services held in the church and all religions are welcome.

Desert Bar in the Desert Part 1

The "Nellie E Saloon" (DESERT BAR) is situated 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. When Ken acquired the land in 1975, there was nothing left of the old mining camp. With the land and a liquor license from an old business on leased river land, Ken decided to give the "bar in the desert" idea a try. In 1983, Ken opened for business in the temporary three-sided structure which is across from the outdoor restroom's. He operated there for the next five years, until the current saloon was constructed. The name "Nellie E" originates from the old mining claim. They used to mine copper and then take it to the smelter and get gold.

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.

The fire truck in the parking lot was
acquired from Scott Winter in March of
2001. The fire truck was used by
Scott's father in the development of
"Bluewater Lagoon"

Snow and more snow

I think that this winter everyone is getting some harsh weather, and we are not alone so I guess one should not complain as we have had a couple of yrs of warm winters, with very little snow. Last yr I think we only had maybe about an inch of snow here at the motel.
So I guess it is making up for it. Yesterday we called some adds in the paper for snow removal. Highway robbery we say, there starting out price is $100 an hour minimum
Nevada said he will shovel before he pays that, so him and son and friend did shovel some of the snow, enough so that at least we could get a car in. About an hour after they did that a guy comes by who does snow shoveling said he charges $60 an hour i said well if you will do only the hour we will use them, he said he would be back this morning at 8 am to do it, So will let ya know if he does,I have my doubts that he will.



Just had to take a photo of the this huge icicle.

Surprise ,Surprise he actually showed up to plow the parking lot, he came early.Last time we had someone do the parking lot which was about 3 yrs ago maybe 4 they charged $35 to do the whole thing.

Many Crosses

Click on photos for larger viewing:



As we were driving home from Quartzite we came across these crosses along the freeway and it stretched out for at least a mile, we thought it had to do with the soldiers that died , but as we drove farther down
Here is what the sign said: I know this is very controversial . Sad, no matter what ones thought are.

Stranded in Weed Ca. Sunsets in Quartzite

Thought i would follow our leaders post with a collage. And Dot I am not bored with sky watch Friday

This is what it looked like at Shasta Lake Yesterday before we got here to Weed Ca. We really expected a lot more.

Roads were good so we decided to stay the night here at the Motel/ Rv park as it was already 4:30 pm knowing we couldn't make it to anyplace before dark. Well not sure that was the right decision as this is what we had this morning. Along with very high winds about 3 am when we had to put the slides in.Princess having a good time in the snow, but she did look at me with a look of "are you kidding me? " You want me to do what out here?

BlackBird for the letter B

Yesterday we went to see the Castle Air Museum but it was closed . The lady said they close at 4 but it was way before that time so i guess not much business this time of yr to see all the planes there.But they did have this one out in front so took photos of it.
Check out the website for lots more information on it. Blackbir

Campfires & The Moon

One of the things we seemed to do most nights was sit by the campfire and also watching the different colors of the moon most nights An amazing site seemed to come up every night

Unwanted visitor the Coyote

A visitor this morning in our campground, These pesty things have been howling at night ever since we got here but i have never been able to see one till this morning, i guess there getting pretty brave to show up in the daylight. Warnings have been not to leave any pets on leashes outside unattended, i guess there getting pretty hungry and easy prey for unfortunate small animals around here.
Click on the photo to see better. There were two of them but i couldn't get them together.

We are leaving in the morning to head back home, does not sound very good from the weather report, snow and more snow, we heard that the Grapevine was closed due to bad weather. Not going to be going that way but from the looks of things I-5 doesn't look good so will have to keep checking with the weather reports as we head on home. Son called this morning and said that there was already 4 inhes of new snow from 9 am to 11 am and more snow coming all week long. Might take us longer to get home then 3 days.
Weather here this morning is rainy and wet with many puddles.

Sky Watch Friday

Took this photo night before last talk about a full moon.. The skies are fantastic here have gotten some really good sky watch photos

Now don't you think they look like there having a great time at Quartzite? Now this is what i end up sleeping with at night when its cold, they all want the bed.

A for Airplane

Sky Watch Friday

Just a few sites around Quartzite area .

Sunset @ Lake Havasau

Just thought i would drop a photo from the library that has Wifi connection.

1st day out

This is taken at Klamath Lake Or.
We are at Needles Ca we have been lucky to avoid all the bad weather. But now sitting here at gas station with them changing all our tires. Some of the tires had bad spots on them so better to be safe then sorry we are having them changed. Don't stop in Needles for gas its $3.99 for unleaded.
Going to try and send more photos later But have limited wifi service.

We are off

Hello everyone,
Well it is late and tonight we decided that we had better hit the road in the morning for the start of our month long vacation to Quartzite Arizona.
The weather report says that storms are coming in Thursday and Friday. We want to get over the passes before the storms hit. So have been frantically working this evening to get everything ready to go. Hopefully we will hit the road no later than 10 am .

I hope to be able to connect to Wi-Fi somewhere on our journey so will try to check in with you all, and hopefully have some great new photos to share.