Evolution.....

 6:56 am - Wednesday - March 15th - GNHS - 59° F, humidity 90% (raining), wind 5 mph out of the southeast......heavy cloud cover, and rain....rained on and off all night long.  Forecast high for Wednesday is 74° F.  On this date in 2015 TLE and I were hiking the Airport Trail in Sedona, AZ.....↴

......the sounds this morning......↴

Sometimes things just kind of unfold they way they are going to unfold, and there is no use planning anything....Tuesday was just such a day.  We began Tuesay with another slow walk around the park with Charles and Phyllis, and as we were nearing the end of the walk Charles suggested we drive into Niland for lunch at the Buck Shot Cafe, where TLE and I have dined previously.  We've wanted to return for another meal, so we agreed to leave around 11:30 am for the 20 minute drive to Niland.

We left right on time.....I love punctuality....and after an uneventful 20 minute drive arrived in Niland.  Our first stop was the YeeYaw Market where Charles wanted to fill up some of their fresh water containers at the local filtered water station.  While he was doing that we walked across the street to read this plaque.....

.....I'm sure many of my readers have heard of 'Slab City', and this plaque describes how it came into being.  The site of the now 'Slab City' used to be a Marine training base named Camp Dunlap during the war, and when it was dismantled the only things left were the concrete slabs upon which the various buildings stood.  Camp Dunlap was named for Brigadier General Robert H. Dunlap, the father of the Marine Corp.  Ultimately people seeking a different life style began to settle there, and 'Slab City' was born.....it has become a tourist attraction for the curious, and the home of 'Salvation Mountain'.  At any rate, I say that to say this....we decided to visit 'Slab City' after lunch.  TLE and I have never been there, even though we have been aware of its existence for a couple of decades.

The last time TLE and I ate at the Buck Shot Cafe I had their BLT, and TLE their Ortega Burger, but they also feature an interesting Mexican menu, so this time I opted for the 3 'cripsy' taco plate (shredded beef), TLE their Quesadilla, and Charles and Phyllis shared their 3 soft taco plate (chicken).  All the ingredients were fresh, and we all loved our choices, so it is now official....the Buck Shot Cafe is a good restaurant, worthy of your patronage.

'Slab City' is just 3 miles east of Niland, and we arrived there in just a few minutes.  We drove quite aways into the settlement, and I took a short video of what we saw....

....there were actually some interesting encampments with large, modern solar arrays, but for the most part the rest of the area looked pretty run down.  I lost count of number of burnt out cars, and RV's.....I mean burned to the ground.  There was actually an 'Internet Cafe', but it did not look as if it had been open in a while.  There was also a 'Hostel' with a similar 'unused in a long time' appearance.  There were many, many abaondoned encampments in various states of decay.  Overall I was a little disappointed in what we saw.  My impression was that 'Slab City' was, at least at one time, a thriving off the grid community.....I'm not so sure that is the case now.

On our way back to the main road we stopped to tour 'Salvation Mountain' which was initially created by Leonard Knight back in 1984 as a tribute to his Faith, to which he had come late in life.....

....to describe it as impressive does not do this man made monument justice, and the number of people there on a Tuesday was mute testimony to that fact......

....Leonard Knight created, and maintained 'Salvation Mountain' until his death in 2011 at 82 years of age.  There is now some kind of trust that continues it maintenance to this day as I understand....

.....it was just one of those days that seemed to evolve, and we loved every minute of it, especially the time we spent with Charles and Phyllis.

We arrived back at GNHS around 2:30 pm, agreeing to reconvene at the 'lido deck' around 6 pm for dinner, which was prepared by the loving hands of Phyllis.  We ate, talked, laughed, sipped some vino, and generally had a great time until around 8 pm when we once again bid our adieus until Wednesday.

Oh, by the way, I received a call from COYNE in El Centro regarding the status of the blue Kawasaki KRX #10 which was rolled badly a week ago.....the frame it bent, and it is officially 'TOTALLED'....doh!  Additionally, it was decided by Bob and Casey (owners) that I will haul RZR #2 down to COYNE Wednesday to have the reverse gear repaired in the transmission....hopefully it is not a major repair.

Thanks for stopping by!