Uranium Springs postapocalyptic town and pre-enactment site (plus the usual news and memes)
In this week’s update, we’re going to visit Uranium Springs, a postapocalyptic town outside Holbrook, Arizona. Uranium Springs is the site of the annual Detonation festival, a postapocalyptic “pre-enactment” (read: cosplay) event. Long-Suffering Husband attends every year, along with a few hundred other Mad Max maniacs who are much more optimistic about the postapocalyptic aesthetic than I am.
Attendees at Detonation, and its larger, better-known cousin, Wasteland Weekend, make the woman on the left look drab.
I’m kind of fascinated by the whole postapocalyptic pre-enactment thing, and I love a good postapocalyptic story. I even wrote one: “Collateral Damage,” first-place winner in the Arizona Authors Association 2020 literary contest (learn more here and here). And I have a soft spot for Uranium Springs Detonation, because it’s the reason I get the house to myself for a few days every year 🙂
But before we get to our virtual visit to Mad Max Land: Welcome to the Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer! Grab a drink, pull up a seat, and let’s get this party started.
The postapocalyptic town of Uranium Springs
Uranium Springs is on private land outside Holbrook, AZ, a small desert town best known as the place you stay when you visit Petrified Forest National Park. Accessing the site requires a 45-minute drive on a dicey dirt road. I’ve never attended Detonation, because while I like camping, I don’t like camping in an uncomfortable costume and makeup with no running water, a homemade pit toilet, no showers, high winds laced with desert grit, and 300 drunk people dressed like extras in the latest Mad Max movie. My husband’s pre-enactor friends think I’m missing out. I’m entirely OK with that.
Anyway, while I’ve avoided the event like an apocalypse-inducing plague, I’ve been out to the site a few times for informal meetups with my husband’s friends. It definitely has a Mad-Max-meets-Waterworld-Without-the-Water vibe.
The land near just outside the grounds is fascinating, with interesting landforms and colors typical of Arizona’s Painted Desert.
There’s something about the land and the postapocalyptic encampment at Uranium Springs that inspires me. I’ve been mulling over ideas for a novel based on the world I created for “Collateral Damage,” and there’s a part of me that would love to spend a few days camped out there, brainstorming ideas and creating characters. It would make such a cool site for a writing retreat!
Then I remember there’s no running water. Never mind.
I wouldn’t last a week in a real apocalypse.
Long-Suffering Husband says he’s taking lots of pictures at Detonation, so we should have some photos of the locals next week. You won’t want to miss that. The work they put into costumes and creating an immersive experience is truly impressive.
Writing News
In my world, there isn’t much news (and I refuse to write about the news in the larger world–it’s far too depressing).
- I’m still waiting to hear back from the Daphne Du Maurier contest, sponsored by the RWA Kiss of Death chapter. Finalists for unpublished manuscripts are supposed to be announced in May. Pretty sure I’ve checked my GMail account about 35 times per day this week. Send help.
- This week I’m brainstorming ideas for a mystery short story. Left Coast Crime will be in Tucson next year, and the local chapters of Sisters in Crime are pulling together an anthology for the conference called Trouble in Tucson (see the anthology call here). The submission deadline is June 30, so I’ve waited way too long to get serious about this.
- Speaking of looming deadlines, the Arizona Authors Association annual literary contest closes July 1, and you guessed it: I don’t have anything ready to submit for that one either. Damn my procrastinating ways!
The Memery
Speaking of procrastination, I’ve acquired a fresh batch of memes for your viewing pleasure (my procrastination = your entertainment). Here we go:
Exactly. I don’t want the next apocalypse to involve worms. People in Mad Max costumes would look silly battling worms.
And now I’m picturing venomous 32,000-year-old worms.
Truth. I think I’d prefer the worms.
Something to keep in mind if the next plague is spiders rather than monkeypox or ancient worms.
OK, OK, enough with the worms. Let’s move on to slightly more modern times:
“Is your child a changeling or just ugly” about killed me.
Business on top, party on the bottom, better known as the Zoom mullet.
If you’re ever bored, try imagining what ridiculous conclusions future archaeologists will draw from the remains of our civilization.
I won a $100 prize for “Collateral Damage” in 2020, so… yeah.
Moving on to the present day (if we must):
This next one’s a real tweet from the official Twitter feed of the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife:
In case you were still on the fence about whether or not humanity is doomed… wonder no more.
OMG y’all. I checked their Twitter feed just now to see if there were any entertaining follow-ups and found this:
Ahahahahahahaha.
And I highly recommend their Twitter feed, even if you aren’t from the US and couldn’t find Oklahoma on a map if someone put a can of bear spray to your head. They’re hilarious.
“But here you are in my face”–That line has been making my giggle for 3 days, probably because:
And on that disturbing note… I’m out. Whatcha got planned for the weekend? Anything fun? If so, don’t forget the bear and bug spray… and don’t mix them up.
29 Comments
Bobbiem91
Interesting. I was at Uranium Springs and didn’t realize that it was used for a Con. I’m with you. I prefer running water.
Janet Alcorn
Yes to running water, especially if costumes and a crowd are involved. If I went, I’d probably have to keep Vicks Vap-O-Rub under my nose to keep from gagging on all the BO 🙂
Gary A Wilson
LOLOLOL
There are two types of people: those who LOVE Mad Max and those who finished the moving only by falling asleep somewhere near the middle. I wouldn’t last a day at a desert festival devoted to Mad Max. Excuse me – I’m going to wander off to see if I can find some actual uranium to play with.
After last night’s ice cream overdose, I may spend today through the weekend making tea from my Blood Glucose meds and snorting it straight into my sinuses.
You are the meme master Janet. I’m now ready for my day. . .
Janet Alcorn
Ahahahahahaha at snorting blood sugar meds. I’m home alone and unsupervised with Haagen-Dazs in the freezer, so I might have to do the same thing. I keep walking up to the fridge, looking longingly at the freezer door, then remembering my last A1C value and walking away.
I’ve only ever seen one Mad Max Movie (Beyond Thunderdome–only b/c it was playing at my campus theater when I was an undergrad). My husband has been obsessed since high school. That’s kind of why I don’t want to watch the movies, because if I watch them and don’t like them, he’ll be either crushed, or he’ll disown me. I still remember his look of horror and disappointment when I fell asleep during his favorite Marvel movie.
Gary A Wilson
I understand that Bobo’s blueberry pancakes can be an appetite suppressant. I recommend test this theory
😎
Janet Alcorn
I’m a sucker for the banana pancakes at Bobos. And I got a coupon when I donated blood for a pineapple upside-down cinnamon roll pancake at Snooze, so I’ll be falling off the low-sugar bandwagon in the next few days.
Gary A Wilson
I sure would – for at least three rounds to prevent mistakes from glitch data.
rawsonjl
I have always told my husband that only will I not survive in post- apocalyptic worlds but I really don’t want to. I like my creature comforts waay to much and am not a survivalist in any definition of the word. I always thinking camping under the stars sounds wonderful too and have even planned a few trips with friends and then I’m like wait– no bathroom? No shower?— never mind!
Janet Alcorn
I knew I didn’t want to survive an apocalypse by the time I was a teenager. I grew up within bombing distance of a weapons-grade plutonium lab (a/k/a a big, juicy Cold War target), and I always insisted I hoped the Russians dropped the first nuke on my head. No way do I want to be around for the aftermath.
I’ve been camping under the stars (when I was a lot younger) and in a tent (when I was slightly less younger), and it’s wonderful. But I consider myself a state-park-level camper: bathroom and running water on site are a must; showers strongly preferred. I’ve done more primitive camping a time or two, but by about day 3, I’m driving 50 miles to a truck stop to take a freakin’ shower before my own stench burns off my nose hairs.
Natalie
The Painted Desert looks interesting. One doesn’t have to suffer to enjoy camping and nature so Yes to camping with bathroom, showers and running water 🙂 Thank you for your #weekendcoffeeshare.
Janet Alcorn
The Painted Desert is fascinating and a geologist’s dream. Bleak yet beautiful.
Jo
Firstly, Uranium Springs – is it possible for there to be a more appropriate place for pre-enactment weekends? There’s something so starkly beautiful about the landscape around it though – I’m not surprised it inspires you. Speaking on inspiration – enough procrastination already (That’s my stern bum on seat, fingers on keyboard voice) and finally, love the memes… my fave is the Viking burial tale.
Janet Alcorn
It really is perfect for cosplaying the apocalypse.
You’ll be happy to know I didn’t do much procrastinating yesterday. I kept my butt in my seat and got some writing done. Go me!
Jo
Excellent!
Susanne
Uranium springs feels so creepy – that’s why it intrigues me. Is the actual site of a previous nuclear test or is it just made up?
The medieval parent magazine is SO FUNNY. The changeling part was the best! ? But I loved the poisonous vs venomous one too.
Janet Alcorn
As far as I know, it’s just made up, though northern Arizona was affected by nuclear tests in Nevada back in the Cold War days, because winds blew fallout out here. People around here (and other places in the West) had high cancer rates for decades. They’re known as downwinders.
Uranium Springs is really creepy when it’s mostly empty. My husband has shown me pictures of the festival, and it’s a whole different vibe–tons of pictures, colorful costumes, basically a smaller Burning Man with less nudity and more Mad Max.
trentpmcd
“The kids are goign outside so don’t forget to spray them with bear spray…” Hmm, yeah, I do think the apocalypse is on the way, and perhaps I can use that can of bear spray to keep they after my can of green beans away.
I’m with you. Not only will I fail to survive the apocalypse, I won’t want to! And, truthfully, what do I have to offer the few remaining people?
Have a great week!
Janet Alcorn
Yeah, bear spray could be useful in a postapocalyptic world–for more than just bears.
The only things I have to offer a postapocalyptic world are some gardening skills and comic relief. Yeah, drop that first nuke on my head, please.
trentpmcd
OK, that may be the most valuable asset out there! If I survive the apocalypse, having someone with a good sense of humor around might be the only thing that would keep my sane (sane, in a post-apocalypse sort of way).
R.M. Carlson
The apocalypse re-enactment stuff is not my cup of tea, but your pictures of that “town”? Are awesome! Snorting blood sugar meds? I’m right there with you.
Janet Alcorn
Not my cup of tea either (and I doubt we’d have much tea in a postapocalyptic world). Glad you liked the pics!
Anne Fraser @theplatinumline.blog
I would not cope in a post apoccolyptic world either. Fun for a modern Sci fi story but not for cosplay.
Janet Alcorn
Seems very fun for cosplay (my husband seems to think the apocalypse requires copious amounts of brightly-colored feathers and glitter–his costume=the result of an unholy union of Mad Max and Liberace) but definitely not fun as reality. And I somehow doubt that in a real apocalypse, very many people would waste time and resources on fancy outfits (let alone feathers and glitter).
Scribble and Scran
Love the official welcome to Uranium Springs!
Janet Alcorn
Right? Apparently it’s also the official greeting out there. When my husband gets home, he has to restrain himself till he’s readjusted to normal social norms 🙂
Scribble and Scran
That’s a great excuse!
leannelc
Hi Janet – what a fun post – loved the postapocalyptic town and the memes to go with it. I didn’t even know it was a “thing” and now I’m really onboard with the idea – it’s always good to be prepared.
Janet Alcorn
Thanks! I didn’t know it was a thing either till hubs discovered it.
Kirstin
Hmmm…very interesting about Uranium Springs. I have some friends who went to some desert event but I can’t remember what it’s called.