Tuesday, December 18, 2007

YIKES!! ANOTHER DAY AT SLAB CITY






TUESDAY DEC.. 18/07
Nice quiet & spacious night at Slab City compared to the crowded & noisy one we spent in Yuma the night before. Slept ok & there wasn't any noise from the Naval gunnery range. When I saw the gunfire over there Monday night I didn't hear any noise associated with it so that gunnery range is a long way off.

Right behind where we are camped there is a new & sizeable irrigation canal with clear flowing water & even some sizeable fish so we walked along the birm above the water for our morning walk. There are millions of small sea shells that have been turfed up by the construction so it's easy to see how this whole valley was once either an ocean or lake bottom. In yesterday's blog I said there were maybe a hundred units scattered around here but after a drive around the area this afternoon I have to correct that assumption. There are literally hundreds & hundreds & hundreds of rigs all over the place & we haven't even been down to the south end of the area yet. Kelly found a recent article about Slab City in the New York Times which I am going to include separately. It's worth a read to see just what this whole Slab City place is all about. It's actually kind of a fascinating place once a person gets used to all the litter & debris. We will definitely always remember Slab City & probably with a certain amount of fondness too.

Puttered around in the morning until 11 when we had an appointment to see a fellow about having a couple of solar panels installed. He came highly recommended on the RV forums so that's how we actually ended up in Slab City. It's a very busy place with motorhomes coming & going with various solar installations in progress. His business is called SunWorks but is nothing like any other work place we've ever seen. Check out the picture & I will have more pics on Wednesday because after some price negotiation this afternoon we decided to have him do a couple panels for us plus batteries & inverter. We will have the motorhome at his place for 8 in the morning.

Didn't do much else to-day except some motorhome maintenance. (check oil, tires, tank levels, etc.) Fired up the generator a couple of times to check email, doggy walk, & soaked up some California sunshine. A relaxing day. To-morrow could be a long one because of the installation. Will probably stay here in Slab city for one or two more nights to make sure we understand the solar system & everything is working ok. From here we'll probably head north west up into the Joshua Tree National Park or maybe to the west a bit & have us a look at the Salton Sea area. Probably won't know where we're going until after we've been there..................................



2 comments:

  1. Al, i have been watching with interest, but with the preparations and craziness of doing my christmas shopping just havent sat long enough to dash off a note.

    The hermit

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  2. Hi Bayfield Bunch, we are Gordon and Sandra from Ottawa, Ontario. Gordon is originally from Dayton, Ohio and has been a permanent resident of Canada since 1990 when we got married. We've been fulltiming in our 2004 Titanium fifth wheel pulled by our 2004 Dodge Ram since August 2004 and are presently in Tucson, AZ.

    Just thought I'd drop in and say Hi to fellow Canadians.

    Our blog sites are:
    http://srmerrikinblog.blogspot.com
    http://www.gordonwolford.com

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