Slab City

This is certainly one of, if THE, strangest snowbird destinations we've come across. Slab City is actually the former Camp Dunlap Naval Base, a few miles east of Niland, CA. When it was abandoned, the concrete slabs that formed the foundations for many of the buildings were left, hence the name. It's a large desert area that isn't administered by anyone, which is not, in my estimation, entirely a good thing. There are a fair number of permanent or semi-permanent residents, as well as lots of people who just come for the winter . Although some "neighborhoods" appear clean and well-cared-for, many long-termers have their rigs and mostly ramshackle structures set up on the slabs, surrounded by broken-down and, and rusted out vehicles and burned out shells of old RVs, along with broken glass, trash, and assorted junk. And unlike all the other boondocking sites we've stayed at, the people don't seem very friendly; no one stops by and "visits" the way they do other places. I was pretty creeped out at first, although less so now, our third day. There is a very nice open air library/book exchange, run by a nice guy from Maine for the past seven years for the six months a year he's here; the other six months, it's "help yourself."

Yesterday, we visited Salvation Mountain, which is at the entrance to Slab City, maybe a mile from where we're camped. For the past 24 years, it has been a labor of love for the now-76 year old Leonard, who came here on a hot air balloon intending to stay for a week. Leonard mixes adobe from the clay hills and sculpts it into fantastic shapes, including an ocean, waterfalls, a "yellow brick road," flowers, etc. He finds tractor tires and huge branches out in the desert, plasters them with adobe, and turns them into trees. Someone donated 9,000 bales of hay, and he arranges the bales, covers them with adobe, and makes fantastic and complicated structures. Everything is painted in bright colors and labeled with Bible verses. Leonard loves giving tours of his mountain. He lives on site in the back of an old truck, also brightly painted, with his dog, Boy. He seems to live on donations, of paint and materials as well as cash. But he doesn't ask for anything, and just seems genuinely delighted to be doing what he's doing.

Today we're taking an excursion to the Salton Sea, a few miles the other side of Niland, and then tomorrow morning we'll head out again, not sure where. I'm ready for some good scenery and/or places to hike and mountain bike. maybe Organ Pipe National Monument?