New life in ghost town:
David Rhodes abandoned the city for the solitude of the Arizona desert. There, in the ghost town of Cleator, he found a life much fuller than he had expected.
“Big Dave” weighed over 600 pounds when he left Phoenix in 1998. He found new life, and a new purpose, in the tiny ghost town of Cleator.
David Rhodes moved to Cleator to save his life.
He weighed 627 pounds in June 1998, when he left his home in Sunnyslope. Fast food beckoned from every corner, and he could summon pizza to his doorstep with a phone call. He decided it was time to leave before it was too late.
He found a used camper shell for his truck, packed his things and drove north, out of metro Phoenix — population: about 2.8 million.
He climbed toward the Bradshaw Mountains, where a friend of his had a mining claim near the ghost town of Cleator.
His truck bounced up the road through the cholla and creosote until he reached a broad dirt bench along Poland Creek.
Dave parked the truck near a thicket of mesquite and cactus and bungeed a tarp over the camper top. He laid down old railroad ties for steps and unloaded a couch and some books.
“I had to stay away from easy access to what I call poison,” Dave said.
The city was far away, and Dave, for the most part, was alone. He was alive and losing weight.
In Phoenix, Dave’s father bought a four-wheel-drive truck. Every Wednesday, he drove to the camp and dropped off food and water.
Dave ate nothing but fruits and vegetables at first. He ate beefsteak tomatoes with salt. He ate raw carrots until he could barely stand them.
He gradually added rice and beans. Then tuna.
His friend came to work the mining claim from time to time. And Dave had a Catahoula leopard