SATURDAY NIGHT IN SLAB CITY ROCKIN AT ‘THE RANGE’….GROOVY:))

THE KID’S WERE SURE HAVING THEMSELVES A GOOD TIME & THE LITTLE TOT ON THE RIGHT WAS HAVING HERSELF A BLAST >>>

With a couple coach tanks to dump & one to fill added to our grocery list we had the Big EEE’s wheels rolling south early this morning heading for a rest area 2 miles south of Calipatria which in turn is about 10 miles south of Niland.  No one there when we pulled in but within 20 minutes 4 more rigs pulled in to dump & take on water.  Mostly ATV week-enders with their toy haulers.  This is the rest area which is closing in 2015.  Too bad because it’s a convenient spot for RV’ers passing through this area.

THE DRUMMER POINTS TO A SOUND PROBLEM IN ONE OF THE AMPS

 

LOTS OF FOLKS DANCIN IN THE DARK

Another 12 miles miles south & we were in Brawley California with the first stop being AUTO ZONE to pick up Wrangler Jim a replacement blinker relay assembly plus a can of CRC electrician spray.  From there it was down to Brawley’s south end & Walmart.  We were first in this Walmart not long after it was built years ago & we remarked it was the nicest Walmart exterior store design we had ever seen.  Still is with all it’s southwest colors.  Lots of trees in the parking lot & they sure have grown since we first saw them.  Picked up ourselves a stash of groceries & we were soon northbound for Niland & the Slabs.  A hefty breeze from the north just made it a perfect temperature day.  With windows & door open the rig remained a nice 75 degrees for a mighty fine relaxing Sunday afternoon.

HOT DOGS HANGING AROUND THE HOT DOG STAND LOOKING FOR A FREE HANDOUT

  

NOTICE THE LONE BACKPACKER CUDDLING HIS DOG ON AN OLD SOFA

THIS FELLOW WAS A TRUE MUSICIAN ALL THE WAY

For anyone who has been to the Slabs they will right away know where Kelly & I spent a couple enjoyable hours Saturday night.  For the second time in 3 years we ended up at ‘The Range’.  It’s the place to be.  It’s where it’s happening.  There are a number of talented musicians living here in the Slabs & every Saturday night they gather with friends on a stage with their guitars, amps, drums, horns, harmonicas, washboards or whatever they have & play the night away.  People come up from the audience sometimes & join in.  There were about 5 different loosely assembled groups last night & they were all good.  Anything goes.

DANCING WITH HER DOG

  

I WAS WAITING FOR THAT GAL ON LEFT TO REALLY LET LOOSE WITH HER BASS GUITAR & i LIKED THIS OLDER FELLA’S DEEP BLUESY VOICE

Kelly & I sat in a couple old beat up front row chairs & simply enjoyed everything we saw.  Little Kids up dancing on a large old dusty slab of cement that once was the floor of a military building back in the 1940’s.  The name Slab City comes from all the slabs of cement throughout this once large military complex which stood here.  Military buildings are long gone but the cement floors/slabs remain.  If there was one dog at The Range last night I’d say there was a dozen & we enjoyed watching all the peoples dogs mingling with the dancers & folks in the audience.  The dogs as well as the people were all having a great time & we saw a lot of affection between people & their dogs.  An older couple twirled about on their wheelchair scooters swinging & swaying to the music.  Interesting looking characters everywhere & everyone seemed to know everyone else.  People were happy, a little booth did a booming business in hot dogs.  It felt like & smelled like a Carnival atmosphere.  Caught a few whiffs of marijuana in the air.  Maybe that’s why many were laid back with big smiles on their faces.  I tried that stuff a couple times way back in the late 60’s but it just made me giggle like a little school girl.  Now THAT was embarrassing!! 

GETTING LATE BUT THE TINY TOTS ARE STILL DANCIN UP A STORM

 

THAT OLD FELLA IN THE BACKGROUND WITH HIS DOG WAS A ROYAL HOOT WITH HIS SNARE DRUM SET ATOP A LONG BONGO DRUM…HE JUST CAME UP & SET HIMSELF DOWN

THE HOT DOG STAND WAS JUST A JUMPIN

Really enjoyed watching & listening to the musicians themselves.  One guy really knew his way around his guitar & I was hoping they would turn a lady bass player loose because I could tell she really knew how to drive that thing & I would have loved to just hear her rip off into the night with those heavy boogie woogie bass chords.  All & all for our second time at The Range we totally enjoyed ourselves & if your in the neighborhood on a Saturday night come on out & rock the night away outside at The Range:))

THE TYPE OF HEAD BAND THIS FELLOW & OTHERS WEAR IS ACTUALLY A PRACTICAL NIGHT LIGHT…WITH NO ELECTRICITY AT THE SLABS AS SOON AS YOU STEP AWAY FROM THESE GENERATOR DRIVEN LIGHTS IT IS AS BLACK AS THE ACE OF SPADES OUT HERE

 

THIS OLDER COUPLE ON THEIR MOTOR SCOOTERS WERE GROOVIN IT UP ON THE DANCE FLOOR

THIS FELLA IS SINGING A BOB DYLAN SONG WHILE THIS LADY HOLDS THE WORDS…DON’T KNOW THE NAME OF THE SONG BUT IT’S A LONG ONE DYLAN DID & I’M SURE DYLAN HIMSELF HAD TO READ ALL THE WORDS TO SING IT >>>

I may have created a false illusion when expressing my frustration at our inverter delay problem.  Tracking our inverter’s progress from Slab City to Temecula RV we noticed that UPS dropped the ball by not getting our package there when they should have.  This has caused a delay.  Our inverter should be delivered to it’s destination Monday morning.  Now I did express frustration with all that but it by no means means we are unhappy about sitting here waiting for it to be returned & re-installed.  We have a nice quiet spot with nobody near us.  We have unlimited walking room.  Weather’s great & we are not in Buffalo.  Lots of areas to explore around here with our Jeep if we chose to do so.  If we drove all the way back to Congress we would just waste a lot of gas to sit around the house again for a few days only to have to turn around & drive all the way back here again.  Idea was to combine this inverter problem stop with a usual boondocking trip to Borrego Springs.  Yes we could have gone into downtown Phoenix to have this inverter problem dealt with but I’d sooner spend my time out here in the wilds of this dusty old California desert any day than spend my time anywhere in or around downtown Phoenix.  I’m not bad mouthing Phoenix it’s just that I have a natural distaste & dislike for any large city no matter where it is.  Ok, we don’t mind Tucson so much.  For those of you who do not have that same sense of adventure I do then I guess Phoenix would be the more enjoyable option for you.

A WARMING FIRE IN A BARREL WHILE A LITTLE GIRL RESTS QUIETLY ON AN OLD TATTERED COUCH

 

LADY NEVER TOOK HER HANDS OUT OF HER POCKET EACH TIME SHE CAME UP TO ADD A FEW HARMONIES

WELL, LITTLE GIRL WAS RESTING QUIETLY UNTIL LITTLE BOY CAME ALONG

Our military aviation friend Pat down there in that Sierra Vista place corrected my guess at an Apache Helicopter in Saturday’s post.  Pat says, “You caught yourself an AH-1 Cobra helicopter there Al, not an Apache. The Marines don't have any AH-64s.  Keep your head down out there, though, the Marines like to chase Jack rabbits with them”.  Wrangler Jim says it’s quite a sight out here when the Marines bring in their V-22 OSPREY aircraft Pat.  I’d sure like to catch one of those in my camera sights.

WISHED I HAD TAKEN MY LONG LENS ALONG BECAUSE THAT GAL ON THE TROMBONE SURE WAS BLOWING SOME FUNNY FACES

Bob at the CARETAKER CHRONICLES said, “I wouldn't do well in the slabs. I'd be wanting to clean up the mess. I'm sure they'd punt me out in a hurry”.  Same thing I felt the first couple times we came here Bob but unfortunately it would take nothing less than a military type action with bulldozers, backhoes, bobcats, a fleet of dump trucks, etc with everything perfectly co-ordinated & with enough personnel to carefully return this piece of desert to the natural state it once was.  It’s really too bad.  I have nothing against folks living here & totally understand their desire for freedom but there is just no excuse for all the trash & rubbish scattered about.  It’s just too bad the Slabbers themselves couldn’t get themselves organized enough to try & clean things up.  But of course the reason many are here is they don’t want anyone telling them what to do & therein lies the seemingly unsolvable problem.  Don’t know what will eventually happen here some day but I do suspect it will make the news when it does.  We haven’t heard anything so we don’t know where things stand here at the moment in regards to California’s plans for Slab City…….if they even have any plans.  Oh, & someone asked if there were any rats here.  We have never heard anything about any kind of a rat problem at the Slabs.  Too many dogs to have too many rats.

WONDER WHAT THE TROMBONE PLAYER IS THINKING

As with anything in life there are stark realities & the RV lifestyle has it’s own fair share of them.  As the majority of RV’ers know all days are not marvelously awesome & wonderful as some may suggest.  Just as in anything else there are those days that test the limits of anyone’s endurance, patience, & sense of well being.  I am always grateful to those folks who use there blogs to not only write about their good days but are not afraid to write about challenging events & how they are feeling on those bad days everyone has.  Case in point…..Check out Merikay & Craig’s post at MERIKAY'S DREAM.  Let’s just say their Troubles (Challenges) took place way over there in that Florida place & started off with their Class A Alpha awning coming unfurled on a Miami Freeway.  Their day didn’t get any better……………

A LITTLE SPONTANEITY FROM THE AGING HIPPY BROTHERS ON THE END

I especially liked Nina’s latest post over at WHEELING IT.  She expresses so well her thoughts on blogging & I must say my own thoughts mirror hers to a T.  She says it true & she says it well for many of us.  Good stuff Nina & thanks for expressing those feelings:)) 

THANKS ‘RANGE’……. HOPE TO SEE Y’ALL AGAIN SOME TIME

GROANER’S CORNER:(( The proprietor of a small village drugstore was called out one sleepy summer morning, leaving the establishment temporarily under the sole management of a very young, and very uneducated, clerk. "Just answer the phone if it rings, Jim," instructed the proprietor.  The phone rang. "Hello," said the clerk.
"Do you have streptomycin and aureomycin?" asked a voice at the other end.  The clerk scratched his head, then said, "Ma'am, when I said 'Hello' I told you everything I know!"

---

I noticed a hand-painted gold and burgundy brandy snifter at my in-laws where we were celebrating their wedding anniversary. My father-in-law explained that it had been a wedding gift from Ireland that they had received 50 years earlier.  My brother-in-law picked it up and passed it around the dinner table. My heart was in my mouth as it went from one person to another because my in-laws seemed to habitually drop things. Finally it reached me and I put it back on the display case.
"How had this fragile keepsake lasted so long in this family?" I wondered aloud.  "It's the last of a set of eight," my father-in-law replied.