California Desert 2015

2-16-15

We are back in California.

I had to show Doris Slab City. That is where we are staying tonight.

Our first stop was the library. When I mentioned to her that this place has a big library she gave me a strange look. She saw the garbage and the dilapidated temporary structures used for housing, and the old, run down motorhomes and trailers, she could not believe that this place has a library.

But there is a library and it has many books and games.

From the library we drove to Salvation Mountain. Here Leonard Knight used a lot of paint, people donated, to paint the hill at the slabs.

His Jeep and the old trucks are still there. Leonard passed away last year.

He added to the mountain by building structures with adobe, straw, and branches of trees.

I met him several times and found him to be a nice person.

From the Slabs we went to Bombay Beach. This was a wonderful place to visit thirty years ago. Now with the Salton Sea slowly dying it is a disaster. Houses are deserted and falling apart. The beach is in bad shape. People used to come here for fishing, swimming, and camping.

Our next stop was the Sonny Bono National Wildlife Refuge. Here birds stay for a while on their way to their winter home.

The green fields are provided for the birds.

In the evening we went for a walk. The beautiful paintings on the water tanks have been destroyed by graffiti. The vandals left the spray cans all over the desert.

2-17-15

At 10:00 AM we rolled into Peg Leg Smith Monument, near Borrego Springs, California.

We set up the motorhome and then drove to Ron’s Ranch and picked up my mail. We sat with him for a while and then we stopped at several places to look at the metal statues. I have seen them many times but it was a first for Doris. We had a very small meal at the Mexican restaurant near the Christmas Circle, and then went to the library to get our E mail.

We continued on the east side of the Christmas Circle enjoying the statues and the desert verbenas.

On the way home we bought a large bag of tangelos and a large bag of grapefruit.

When we came back to the motorhome I visited Mike and Jim, two of the regular winter visitors at Peg Leg Smith.

Then we made mashed potatoes and cooked bratwurst and ate it with the leftover red cabbage. This was another meal of my liking.