Roads Not Taken
by Diane Neil, High Desert Branch
How many years have my husband and I lived in the High Desert? Over twenty. In all that time there was a delightful treasure of eye candy twenty-five miles from our house on a road we’d never before taken. It was quite by accident that we took the National Trails Highway on a recent Sunday, looking for a restaurant we thought we’d been to before.
We did find a restaurant, Molly Brown’s, but it wasn’t the one we were looking for, and we arrived fifteen minutes after it had closed. (It’s only open for breakfast and lunch). The road north didn’t look too promising, so we turned around, and lo and behold! Across the road was a fairyland of brilliant color sparkling in the sunlight like a cathedral window. Bottles of every shape and size were artfully displayed on huge metal poles that were spaced about eight feet apart and topped with unique objects like angels on Christmas trees. We stopped and gawked.
Although the place was closed, other cars were also stopping and people were hopping out and taking pictures. A hand-written sign announced the recent death of Elmer Long, the man who had created the sparkling wonderland called “Bottle Tree Ranch,” not to be confused with “Bottle Trees,” the remnants of which used to be seen from HWY 15 near the Bear Valley Road exit.
We learned that Elmer’s father had collected the bottles for many years and had taken his little son on bottle-hunting expeditions all over the High Desert. Elmer had had a life-long fascination with the beautiful antique bottles, which were stored for years on the property, along with other found objects like scrap metal poles, telephone pole insulators, a surf-board, a toaster, truck springs, a Radio Flyer Wagon, an alto Saxophone, wagon wheels, and a 1922 Smith and Wesson pistol.
When the elder Long died and Elmer retired and found himself with time on his hands, he began creating his “Bottle Tree Ranch.” Visitors came from all over, many bringing signs and other objects, all of which he incorporated into the facility.
And to think that we just discovered this treasure on a road we’d never taken—only twenty-five miles from our house.
This essay appeared in the September 2019 edition of
The Inkslinger, the newsletter of the High Desert Branch.
Diane Neil contributes frequently to socalwritersshowcase
in many genres.