In the Desert, a Place to Leave the Past Behind

HOLBROOK, Ariz.—A 10-foot shipping container rises from the Painted Desert in northern Arizona on a 100-degree morning in early July.

It is the Plotz Plot, a tiny Route 66 museum where visitors leave the past behind.

Note to the new self: “You are beautiful.”

The container is covered with similar messages, some hopeful, others laden with sorrow, each yearning for a path forward—away from a difficult childhood, a failed marriage, a death in the family, a lost job, or a painful memory.

Inside are an old cowboy hat, worn shoes, a papier-mâché head with blond hair, an acoustic guitar, and other remnants of former lives.

Denise Hamilton, an employee at the Painted Desert Indian Center about two miles from the Plotz Plot, could not tell you how to get there, having never visited herself.

She only knows it’s there and that people have asked how to find it.

“I’ve had maybe in the last four or five years one or two people even mention it,” Hamilton told The Epoch Times.

“Normal tourists coming through here wouldn’t have a clue. They wouldn’t even know it’s a niche destination.”

Fond Farewell

What began in 2020 as a tribute to David Plotz, former CEO of travel guide company Atlas Obscura, has evolved into a worldwide pilgrimage and healing destination—a place of rebirth, of sorts.

Located off historic Route 66 about 20 miles from downtown Holbrook, the diminutive museum welcomes those experiencing life’s transitions around the clock.

A four-digit code lets visitors enter whenever they arrive.

The museum sits on just over an acre of desert land that Plotz’s colleagues purchased on eBay, about a mile from Arizona’s Petrified Forest National Park.

Atlas Obscura created a database of unusual places with the site as its first entry, and soon people were leaving behind objects representing their former selves.

Some visitors have come from as far away as Germany.

“We invite those who find themselves in the midst of personal transformation to cast off a bit of their old lives and leave it behind in this archive,” the sign on the entrance door reads.

“All who are betwixt and between are welcome to contribute.”

Good as New

A storm in 2020 destroyed the original Plotz Plot shed.

Like the phoenix, the museum rose again. Atlas Obscura members rebuilt it the following year using a refurbished orange shipping container.

For those seeking a fresh start, the Plotz Plot serves as an emotional way station—a place where grief, regret, and old identities can be left behind in hopes of beginning again.

“Leaving behind my first cowboy hat,” reads a handwritten note taped onto the hat, dated Aug. 17, 2024.

After five years of “blood, sweat, and tears” at a ranch, “now, I’m leaving the Southwest, and I know not when I’ll be back.”

“I love it out here. But there’s always a time to go,” the note reads.

Another script, this one from Nov. 10, 2025, reads: “I found this place on total accident and just so happen to have a U-Haul trolley with all of my stuff on the back.

“It feels like I’ve lived many lives. I have loved with all my heart and drank my sorrows away; it’s time for a change. … But the world is beautiful.”

Two former health care workers left their identification badges, still clinging to their lanyards. Another visitor left an entire set of glassware; another, a pair of worn shoes; another, a prescription bottle.

Rite of Passage

According to the American Psychological Association, such “goodbye rituals” signify an intentional break with the past while giving permission to move forward.

“People have developed various rituals around ending important life periods. They get together for a last meal, throw a good-bye party, or see their visitors off at the airport,” the association states on its website.

“Most research on life transitions has focused on the new beginning and on what helps once people have started their new life period.

“In our fast-paced world, this is an important message to remember: Take your time to end in a well-rounded way in order to be equipped to peacefully start anew and go on with your life.”

The Atlas Obscura database lists the Plotz Plot among more than 30,000 unusual sites worldwide.

“The Plotz Plot is a pilgrimage site for people navigating major life transitions of all kinds,” the organization stated.

Hamilton likens the offbeat attraction to the old-fashioned wind pump or the telephone booth “that doesn’t go anywhere.”

“It does have its purpose, but it’s definitely a niche,” she said.

Lost and Found

Inside the cramped container are dozens of personal stories layered across its shelves—of love gained and lost, faded photographs, trinkets, and handwritten messages about experiences better left behind.

“Leaving behind all the bad memories that fill my mind,” “Mia” wrote on a slip of lined paper dated June 30, 2023. “Making room for all the good memories to come.”

At the front door leading back into the desert, a parting message, signed on Jan. 18 by “RNW,” asks visitors to look ahead and “hope for a better future.”

In the vast silence outside, letting go makes starting over feel possible.