[G2:1174]So I checked into a Super 8 in Chandler last night, and despite my being assigned a room directly across from the ice and laundry machines, I actually got a decent night's sleep.
Sleep, however, doesn't always equal rest when you've been going to bed at 1:00 each night, glazed in your own perspiration from racing through desert heat trying to track down as many locations as you can before the light disappears, then getting up again at 6:00 a.m. to start it all over again. So, I made the decision, or rather agreed with my body's decision, to take a breather today.
It wasn't all terrycloth robes and room-service muffins, though. I spent most of the day just getting caught up: organizing things, cleaning equipment, making calls, doing laundry. Actually, the washer and dryer being directly in front of my room turned out to be a good thing, allowing me to keep an eye on my unmentionables by propping open the door.
Luckily, I got done with things before it was too late and was able to rest a bit. Cursed with overachievement, though, I wanted to get at least one sight covered today, and so I timed sunset to coincide with a visit to Dreamy Draw Dam. Considering the story tied with the dam, I figured it would be the perfect location to shoot in the mysterious light of dusk.
[G2:1169 class=right]According to those "in the know," an alien craft rocketed through Earth's atmosphere in 1947, misjudged its landing and crashed where Dreamy Draw Dam is today. After two creatures were retrieved, the government, in typical fashion, covered the whole thing up. With infrastructure. According to UFOlogists, the dam is entirely unnecessary in its location and serves simply to conceal the extraterrestrial debris.
Despite the location's now being a recreation area, I unfortunately couldn't come up with a decent map that showed me where the structure was. But figuring it couldn't possibly be that hard to spot a whole dam, I decided I could rely on local markers when I got there. As I discovered, however, no such markers exist. I looked as long as I could, but I couldn't find any dam or any signs with the word "dam." Of course, I should have assumed as much; you don't hide spacecraft by telling everyone where it's buried.
So I ended up shooting a dead cactus instead.