The Raven Journal - Joshua Tree, CA
Sol Invictus
by Anastasia King Jaress
Douglas ‘Buck’ Buckley, photo by Anastasia King Jaress cover shielding it from the sun’s heat. Two repurposed trampolines shade a veranda crowded with ‘70s era patio furniture. A claw-footed tub sits on the outskirts inviting guests to bathe beneath the sky and gaze at the shadows playing on the mountains across the valley.
It’s early in the morning when I drive out to meet Douglas “Buck” Buckley at the Buzzard’s Roost, a five-acre parcel perched ten miles from the entrance to Joshua Tree National Park. I ramble along a dirt road through a broad expanse of classic Mojave scrub - chubby cholla, bushy creosote and a king’s guard of Joshua trees. The sun is quickly establishing its dominance, promising to turn the day into a classic desert scorcher. After two days of monsoon rain, the sun’s rays are reassuring.
Perched between downtown Joshua Tree and the sound bath emporium, the Integratron, both of Buckley’s rental properties earn nearly perfect marks on Airbnb. Visitors adore staying in the Rocket, which is outfitted with ‘50s furniture and dozens of little mid-century Flash Gordon, space race and diner culture touches. Guests appreciate Buckley’s water and energy saving efforts – the passive solar hot water heater on the roof, rainwater catchment, solar panels, etc. Inside, it’s comfortable and quirky; your eye is constantly being tugged along strange tangents. Two more vintage trailers are being transformed into climate conscious AirBnB rentals.
I park behind the house, a tidy one-story “rambler” that had grown from a one-room homesteader’s cabin into five rooms of middle-class practicality. It’s ringed in neat gravel and appears typically suburban, except for the array of solar panels on the roof and two enormous plastic cubes beneath the rain gutter. Several vintage trailers dot the property. Amongst them sit an old van painted corncob yellow, a miniature playground set and a mish-mash of other items, some recognizable, some not.
There are currently 213 comments on Buckley’s Airbnb profile. He has responded to every single one. Most of them go something like this:
Buckley ambles towards me, tall and lanky, with a cloud of sand colored hair, some of which is tied back in a slender ponytail. He’s a no-nonsense sort who prefers doing to talking, so we start the tour.
“Buck was a great host and the Rocket was a funky experience! Buck is doing great work in permaculture. Thanks Buck!” Buckley loves permaculture, a design philosophy for growing food and constructing buildings sustainably. A “permanent agriculture” or “permanent culture”, it coalesces a broad range of disciplines – engineering, agriculture, biology, architecture, and more – to create
“Basically, I like old things,” Buckley begins with a muted smile. We’re gazing at the Rocket, a 1958 motorhome designed after the spacecraft that were popular at the time. Its bold American red stands out against the muted colors of the desert, its presence amplified by a tall aluminum 13