SoCal
Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2010 11:45 am
Spent a few days around Mojave, Needles and the Salton Sea last week with a friend from SF. Made a whirl wind trip from Chicago to take care of biz.
Somebody in Mojave had 6 buses in their yard. But the real treat was Salton Sea and Slab City. You start south from Indio, you can just feel the social mores start to loosen up; and never saw some many palms all in one place. Bombay Beach has some really archeological "ruins" right on the beach where it flooded and caught some trailers. A little strange.
Well, maybe you had to be there. The preacher of Salvation Mountain couldn't be found high nor low - we were there Sunday so maybe he was plumb tuckered from a full day of hard work... Slab City population seemed sparse, but the ambiance was relaxed and good. Couldn't stay but a couple hours, but I could tell where you might want to get there "early" to nail down some shade. Wouldn't mind spending a week or so to see how the place functions.
Everybody we met south of Indio seemed relaxed and friendly; or maybe just moving that close to manana land mere days out of Chicago the contrast got to me. Even the belted and booted guard at the check point on 111 northbound above Niland didn't threaten. Mighta been cuz we were in an '86 CRX that was stretched tight around the two of us, though - any other bodies would have been sticking far out the tail gate.
My friend has pics of Slab City but since she's an art photographer I'm not sure what she actually aimed at... I'll post them when she manages to figure out flickr.
Cheers, Rufus
ps - that's better - fixed the pic links
Somebody in Mojave had 6 buses in their yard. But the real treat was Salton Sea and Slab City. You start south from Indio, you can just feel the social mores start to loosen up; and never saw some many palms all in one place. Bombay Beach has some really archeological "ruins" right on the beach where it flooded and caught some trailers. A little strange.
Well, maybe you had to be there. The preacher of Salvation Mountain couldn't be found high nor low - we were there Sunday so maybe he was plumb tuckered from a full day of hard work... Slab City population seemed sparse, but the ambiance was relaxed and good. Couldn't stay but a couple hours, but I could tell where you might want to get there "early" to nail down some shade. Wouldn't mind spending a week or so to see how the place functions.
Everybody we met south of Indio seemed relaxed and friendly; or maybe just moving that close to manana land mere days out of Chicago the contrast got to me. Even the belted and booted guard at the check point on 111 northbound above Niland didn't threaten. Mighta been cuz we were in an '86 CRX that was stretched tight around the two of us, though - any other bodies would have been sticking far out the tail gate.
My friend has pics of Slab City but since she's an art photographer I'm not sure what she actually aimed at... I'll post them when she manages to figure out flickr.
Cheers, Rufus
ps - that's better - fixed the pic links