With howling Coyotes blending nicely with barking Dogs, we had ourselves a mighty fine melodious animal symphony going on early this morning. Until the Rooster chimed in & shut them all up!!
Kelly saw soundless flashes in the Chocolate Mountains to our east last night around midnight. The Military obviously had a far distant bombing operation under way. Somebody opened up with a heavy caliber machine gun this morning somewhere to our northeast. The firing continued for nearly an hour. But, there is an explanation.
FOUR LARGE WATER CONTAINERS AT THIS PLACE
Slab City is located right next to an active military live fire bombing & gunnery range so it is not unusual to hear the ‘pa-rump’ of heavy explosives or the roar of jet aircraft overhead. It was here years ago where I saw yellowish tracer gun fire & red rockets coming out of the sky over in the mountain range one night.
NOTICE IN ALL THREE PICS THE VEHICLES ARE ON CEMENT SLABS…THUS THE NAME, SLAB CITY….OLD MILITARY BUILDINGS ONCE STOOD ON THESE CONCRETE FLOORS.
Threw the cameras in the Jeep this morning & off we went playing tourists touring the Slabs & it’s suburbs. Yep, even the Slabs have suburbs. Saw kind of a Ritzy area over around the southwest perimeter with it’s high end Class A’s. Nothing shabby about these folks. Didn’t see any point in me taking pics of them because you can find these Snow Bird rigs in any ordinary or up scale RV Park. Maybe I will just call them Snowy Slab Birds. But, unlike RV Parks these dry camping folks are not regimented into tight fitting neat little rows. Just park your rig wherever you like, show respect for your neighbor and get on with enjoying your day.
Some Slabbers keep their sites neat as a pin while others seem to drag home anything & everything that is dragable & pile it on top of themselves, living somewhere within the pile of clustered debris. To each his own & no questions asked.
I always find it interesting to see how folks live and treat their immediate environment. There are many varied & concentrated examples of that here at the Slabs. This is not like driving through your usual run of the mill boring burbs in most cities & towns. Here’s a quote Kelly noticed on the internet this morning by someone driving into Slab City for the first time. “Took a trip today to Slab City for the first time. Man, what a trip. It's a Mad Max-hillbilly-hippie-artist destitute community. Wow, I love it.”
Some may ask, “why stay at the Slabs now that your solar is fixed”? My answer, “Why not:))” Slab City is an experience, just as Quartzsite is an experience just as Darby Wells, the Ranch, Borrego Springs, Canyon de Chelly, Columbus New Mexico, Hickiwan Trails, City of Rocks, Blair Valley, & countless other places are all experiences. For us, it is RVing at it’s best. Staying on the move, traveling from place to place seeing & experiencing new, exciting, & scenically interesting things:))
Question was asked about why the fuse thing may have melted down between our solar panels & battery. Mike explained that fuse assembly as being a factory defective part which he discontinued using in his installations quite awhile ago. He now uses the maxi fuse assembly seen in yesterday’s blog.
And a comment from ED this morning regarding Leonard Knight’s Salvation Mountain. “Leonard Knight did not pass, it was his care taker that lived with him that died. This past December, Knight moved to a nursing home in San Diego county. He’s 80 years old. San Diegan Dan Westfall, a friend of Knight's, and a group of concerned locals have formed a non-profit board to look after Knight's mountain. Salton City resident Imari Kariotis is the board's secretary. "The purpose of the nonprofit is to maintain and promote Leonard’s folk art, and to pass on his message of unconditional love."
NO, THESE ARE NOT SLAB DOGS…THEY WERE JUST VISITING THE SLABS TODAY FROM ALL THE WAY UP IN YELLOWKNIFE, NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
Jim & Rene from LIVE-WORK-DREAM walked over about 5 this afternoon & we all had supper together. Nice to sit down & chat up a storm with these guys again. We always have lots in common every time we meet & it’s always fun to catch up with each other’s travels & experiences. They have a summer home in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains.
GROANER’S CORNER:(( I met a guy who is a walking economy. The front of his hair is in recession, his stomach is a terrible victim of inflation, and the combination together is putting him into a deep depression!
Q: What has four wheels and flies?
A: A garbage truck.
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-Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))
BAYFIELD BUNCH PHOTO ALBUMS https://picasaweb.google.com/117858411710794543295
The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of
right now...AL.
Maybe in a future post you could go into what makes Q different than the Slabs, that is, what makes them different to you. They seem to me to be a lot alike, although I've only visited Q (never stayed there) and never made it to the Slabs.
ReplyDeleteYes, if you could explain the difference between these 2 desert meccas, it would be appreciated. I think I would prefer the more upscale section. Some of those places look a tad scary. Sounds like you are having a great time!
ReplyDeleteVirginia
For me, there seems to be a divide between two types of residents of the slabs.
ReplyDeleteThere are permanent folks that do not have the means to leave. They tend to live in the older rigs that were more than likely acquired for little or no funds. They are fairly well entrapped by their lifestyle.
And then there are visitors like Al. They are there out of curiosity as to what could possibly make such a place tick...
The difference is that as visitors, these folks do intend to move on, and do have the means to accomplish that move.
I can't help but wonder what the folks that have to stay think of those that are there as visitors. Do they think badly of folks that can afford to move on?
JMHO, and curiosity....... Rod
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteDon't know what happened, but I lost my comment. And it was a good one! *snort*
ReplyDeleteRight. Whatever.
It's certainly "interesting" to see the lifestyles of these folks. I think though my first urge would be to start hauling stuff away, but that just me. I have a bit of a problem with too much junk hanging around. I think that has to do with moving into the house of my late father-in-law. He was "a bit" of a pack rat. Man, that was a job!
I've seen this sort of thing in a few places. The Maritimes comes to mind, and there was a "short cut" we took once when my sister was living in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
We didn't stop and chat. Being on the "outskirts" like that, one never really knows for sure.
To each his own I suppose, although I've only ever had a "problem" with folks having too much junk underfoot when livestock was concerned. Saw that once in Nova Scotia. Cows and sheep don't know enough to stay away from the junk, and can get hurt.
Other than that hey, pile it up all around you if it make you feel better!
Thanks for the photos, as always.
*pfft* meant to add, "as always, they (the photos) were awesome."
ReplyDeleteThe tour of the slabs is definitely an interesting one for sure, we were there five years ago and really were amazed at the varieties (to say the least) of interesting accommodations.
ReplyDeletetwo different ends to the spectrum that is for sure!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for showing folks that this isn't the scary, dangerous drug-infested place that the mass media has made it out to be.
ReplyDeleteThere are some great people here (like you and Kelly!) which is why Jim and I keep coming back each year.
To answer your reader's question about whether or not the permanent residents hold grudges against the snowbirds, I'd have to say that for the most part they don't. Everyone here has a live and let live attitude and as long as nobody is hurting anyone or getting into each other's way, everything is copacetic. The Slabs has a mutual respect among most visitors of every economic means, that is so unusual in this country. It's refreshing.
When I look around my studio, I feel like it would fit right in there. I worked all morning sorting fabric and fake furs. Four big bgs went to the trash, three were seled and marked "flea market" and lots more is piled high on work benches and family room couch. I find it very hard to part with anything that has potentiial. I understand.
ReplyDeleteI got a little of a flashback to the Hippie Communes from the '60's...Probably a lot of old hippies livin' in some of those buses..Ya just had to be there..the slabs and the sixties.
ReplyDeleteWhen we were at the Slabs last winter, some of the folks around our group were year rounders, and others snowbirds. Many have a limited pension so being able to stay rent free allows more income for other things. That is about our main goal when we will fulltime too. The less spent on manicured RV parks, the more we have to put in the tank or for new toys and gadgets for the motorhome!
ReplyDeleteKaren and Steve
PS some of the trash laying around is from folks from town. The dump is on the same road as the Slabs, but the dump costs money. So the folks drive out, do a lap around the Slabs and toss out their bags. Awful!
Leonard's caretaker that died his name was Kevin Eubank we are trying to bury Kevin's ashes in El Centro https://www.facebook.com/groups/324187777632248/?ref=ts we have raised 200 so far...
ReplyDelete