Slab City

It has been one year on July 12 that I started my fulltime RV’ing lifestyle. I can’t believe it has been a whole year. I took the time to go back through this year and show you some of the highlights of my adventure.

Be sure to click and then click again to enlarge all photos.

July, 2010 – Inyokern, CA – My very first campsite at the beginning of my adventure. I was really a rookie back then.

July, 2010 – Sequoia National Park – Boondocking in Fish Creek Campsite in the Sequoias.

August, 2010 – Sisters, OR – Camping on the Metolius River outside of Sisters, OR. What a fantastic spot.

August, 2010 – Crater Lake National Park. Words cannot describe this beautiful place.

September, 2010 – Eugene, OR – Getting my solar panels installed. My boondocking will be much quieter and more efficient from now on.

October, 2010 – Albuquerque, NM – Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta – 10 fabulous days with other fun Lazy Daze owners.

October, 2010 – Palomas, Mexico – Central park. Visited there after attending Escapees Chapter 21 Rally.

October, 2010 – Deming, NM – Rockhound State Park – This a rock hounds dream park. Lots of different rocks.

November, 2010 – Socorro, NM – Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge – Visited there during the Festival of the Cranes event.

December, 2010 – January, 2011 – Death Valley, CA – A beautiful view of Death Valley during an annual Lazy Daze Rally.

January, 2011 – Quartzsite, AZ – Got together with a bunch of Lazy Daze owners during the Quartzsite RV Show. It was a blast boondocking in the desert. Lots of food, a campfire every night and the BIG TENT RV Show.

February, 2011 – Anza-Borrego, CA – Boondocking in the Anza-Borrego Desert.

February, 2011 – Niland, CA – Boondocking with the LOW’s (Loners On Wheels) at Slab City. Everyone should go there at least once.

February/March, 2011 – Benson, AZ – The winter SW Lazy Daze Rally at Pato Blanco RV Resort. Lots of great food and people.

March, 2011 – Picacho Peak, AZ – A civil war re-enactment at Picacho Peak State Park. Event lasted all week-end with gun battles and actual tents and other equipment during that era..

March, 2011 – Douglas, AZ – Visiting with friends at Bell Starr’s Silverado Ranch. Belle is wearing the pink hat. We all helped Belle work on her ranch projects. A MUST see. She is quite a lady.

April, 2011 – Alamogordo, NM – White Sands National Monument. Very surreal.

May, 2011 – Carlsbad, NM – Carlsbad Caverns. A MUST see.

May, 2011 – Melvin, TX – I just had to visit there.

May, 2011 – San Antonio, TX – The Alamo in downtown San Antonio, TX. Another MUST see.

May, 2010 – San Antonio, TX – The San Antonio River-walk. A really neat and fun place.

May, 2011 – San Antonio, TX – The Tower of Americas. The view from the top is spectacular.

May, 2011 – Luckenbach, TX. I just had to visit here because of the song made famous by Willie Nelson and Waylan Jennings.

May, 2011 – Blanco, TX – My campsite in Blanco State Park. How about that for a back yard?

June, 2011 – Fort Worth, TX. The highlight of my year. Being able to visit my family. It was sooooo much fun.

July, 2011 – Karnack, TX – Caddo Lake State Park. I spent a week here and loved every minute.

It has been a wonderful year. I have traveled 12,702 miles in 6 different states and 2 different countries. I have attended 8 RV Rallies where I have met a lot of people, learned a lot about things I never knew anything about, and spent money upgrading my rig.

This year has been much better then I even anticipated. I met a lot of great people who I continue to keep in touch with. I am looking forward this next year to travel to places I have never seen before and meet more wonderful people.

Before leaving Anza-Borrego I got these last two pictures. I had some rain on several days while there and the temperature was down in the 30’s at night. This was taken after the rain showing snow on the mountaintops.

Be sure to click and then click again to enlarge all photos.

Prior to leaving I got this pic of my campsite with the snow in the background.

My next stop was Slab City, but first I stopped in Brawley to load up on supplies. Slab City is an old abandoned WWII Marine Base that has been taken over by squatters and RV’ers. You can read more about Slab City here. It is located outside of the small town of Niland, CA on the eastern side of the Salton Sea.

When you first arrive you are greeted:

Then you get to Salvation Mountain.

Leonard Knight is the creator of Salvation Mountain. It is an ongoing project that has been in the works for over 25 years and more then 100,000 gallons of paint.

I followed the “Yellow Brick Road” to the top of Salvation Mountain. This my view from there.

I also go a view of “The Slabs” from the same spot.

This is Leonard’s truck that he lives in.

Now I’m entering Slab City.

I will tell you that when you first enter Slab City you are not impressed. One of my friends who had only spent one night their described it as a “giant hobo camp”. There are trailers, RVs, trucks and cars with tires so flat it appears they have not been driven for years. Plus the trash is disgusting and everywhere.

HOWEVER, if you continue driving as I did (I am too curious for my own good sometimes), you will find a great camping area further out. It is made up mostly of snowbirds that come here as early as Oct/Nov and then leave around Apr/May. It is a nice clean area with lots of really nice friendly folks.

I followed the signs to the LOW’s group (Loners on Wheels of which I am a member). I was told they have been located out here for over 25 years. They have 4 permanent trailers and a large group area for dining and gatherings. They meet everyday at 3:30 for Happy Hour. Sometimes they show movies and they play cards in the evening. One of the trailers houses a 2000 book library another trailer is used as a kitchen, one for the card games and one trailer for the movies. In order to show the movies they have lots of solar panels and batteries set up.

One day I decided to walk around and see just what made up Slab City. This is the stage that was used in a scene of the movie “Into the Wild”. Nothing seemed to be happening the whole time I stayed there.

Not far from where I was camped there had been a alien crash as you can see. Some pretty weird stuff.

This shows some of the area of Slab City when you first drive in. This isn’t really too bad compared to some of the areas I saw. I have seen some areas where the trailers and trucks had been completely gutted and only the frame showing.

Slab City even has some real classic cars that I doubt you could find anywhere else. They are not exactly what my father would have considered classic but they are unusual just the same. Check them out.

But they don’t stop at just classic cars. No way! Try a house boat on for size. He had a sign on it for $49k. At least he wouldn’t have any worries about a flash flood out here.

On the other hand here is a pic of my campsite for a week and my neighbor’s Lynn and Gloria. As you can see there is no trash around. Lynn and Gloria in the Airstream are an older couple in their 80’s but have been coming to the same area in the Slabs for the last 19 years. They were really nice people and I really enjoyed talking with them.

Another pic of my campsite.

This is where the LOW’s group met every day for “Happy Hour” and dinners on occasion.

I really enjoyed my stay at “The Slabs”. I found a very nice site and met a lot of really nice people. Plus it did not cost me anything to stay there.