Joshua Tree Memorial Stone

During the course of my cross-country road trip in 2022, I came across a spot just west of Death Valley where a memorial to the band U2 was created in the spot where the photos for the cover of their album, The Joshua Tree, were shot. The pull-off on the road wasn’t marked and the actual memorial is about a quarter mile into the desert. If you didn’t know it was there, you’d never see it. While I had a bunch of stones in my car, I didn’t take one with me to the spot and regretted it. Instead I decided that if I ever had the chance to revisit the place, I’d leave a stone, and here it is.

The stone is the largest one I’ve made so far. It came from the shore of Middle Bass Island in Lake Erie. My grandparents had a cottage on the island and the shore was limestone cut by the glaciers. There were stones like this strewn about and before they sold the place, I took quite a few large stones like this back with me, not realizing that I’d actually have a use for them some day.

Unlike my other roaming stones, I’m hoping that this one remains at the memorial forever and that people manage to leave stories here about their journey. But whatever happens will happen. I’m just glad that I made it back.