Still in Borrego Springs and still hot, but not quite as hot as yesterday. In fact, the morning, until about 11:00 a.m., wasn’t too bad. It got hotter as the day wore on.
Hello Folks,
I decided to do a “special edition” for fear I wouldn’t recall today’s adventure if I waited another whole day. Plus tomorrow we head back to Orange County.
To back up a bit to last evening, here is a picture B took of his bike in front of our room as the sun was setting.
Here is a picture of me in the parking area of our motel, with the sun setting on the mountains behind me. To my right is a large Ocotillo plant.
We ate at a bar-like place, but we weren’t disappointed. We split a rib meal that included a plate of salad each, a half ear of corn each, tomato and bean soup, a small baked potato each and a quarter rack of barbecued ribs each. At first, we were a bit miffed that they charge $4 to share a meal, but when it came, it was more than well worth the charge. They didn’t just give us a spare fork; each person got a full salad, soup, and all the extras. Of course, we had the obligatory Margaritas since we were walking! So, here goes last night’s dinner.
I also forgot to add a picture B took yesterday while dirt biking of a bush with beautiful purple flowers. He said the ground under the bush was completely purple from all the petals that have fallen off.
This morning we went to a different place for breakfast, Kendall’s Cafe which has been here for a long, long time. We didn’t haul my ever increasingly heavy purse and B forgot to bring his cell phone which was still charging, so no breakfast pictures. Too bad, as B had a nice looking breakfast with cheesy sauce over his eggs and a nice bowl of fruit. I chose blueberry pancakes. We did bring our Baker’s maple syrup, so that wasn’t forgotten. We ate outside under an umbrella and it was not too hot until about 11:00.
One thing I like about where we stay in Borrego Springs is that the town is so small, we can walk to most of the local eating places. Anyway, once done with today’s breakfast, we walked back to the room so I could grab my heavy purse and my hat. B wanted to show me a glass dress and high heels an artist was exhibiting. Plus we went to a local gift shop for B to get a map to replace one he thinks he lost, and I bought a tile hot mat as a remembrance of Borrego Springs. I usually do not buy anything for myself, but I knew I would regret it if I didn’t buy it.
While in the area we found an interesting garden showcasing all the local cacti and bushes in this area. Lantana grows as a bush out here. Anyway, we finally found the exhibit of the glass dress and high heels. We both thought it was pretty spectacular. Here’s a picture.
By then it was time to hit the road. We have both read about the Slab City out here in the desert and about Salvation Mountain which is in Slab City. Slab City is defined as thus by Wikipedia:
Slab City, also called The Slabs, is an unincorporated, off-the-grid alternative lifestyle community consisting largely of snowbirds in the Salton Trough area of the Sonoran Desert, in Imperial County, California. It took its name from concrete slabs that remained after the World War II Marine Corps Camp Dunlap training camp was torn down.
On the way there, we stopped in Westmoreland at a huge date place, and we got a couple date shakes. Frankly, to me Slab City was more like a huge junk yard with very shanty buildings and rusted out cars. B said it’s like a large homeless encampment with very ramshackle buildings and a lot of burned out and/or decrepit cars, as well as some campers and motor homes, mostly looking in poor condition. Vast amounts of trash everywhere, both in yards and scattered all over the desert. They do have a library however. Anyway, we drove around some of the roads and then came upon Salvation Mountain.
Salvation Mountain was the dream product of a man named Leonard Knight who was born in 1931 and died in 2014. He devoted many years to making with clay and sand a testament to his faith in God. It really is something to see. His old paint cans still decorate the area. Also included is a tractor that he used and painted, a couple of old cars, and a pickup with Bible quotes and flowers, etc. As I said, it is something to see and very funky, as is Slab City. Here are some pictures we took.
Of course the drive to these places took longer than we expected and the blasted sun was shining, plus the winds had picked up substantially. Remember, the old van has NO AC. I had to slather my arms with sunscreen.
We drove by miles and miles of crops as far as the eye can see. The land is incredible, huge flat fields with huge equipment that is used to plow and harrow and seed these amazing fields, which are as flat and smooth as a billiard table. So the next time you buy some veggies out of season, please look at the label. If they come from California, this is one of the areas that grew it. Anyway, I was enthralled with all these fields.
After all that fun, we decided that, since we weren’t too far from the Salton Sea, we’d swing by and stop at Bombay Beach. Salton Sea is a huge lake (B says the largest California lake) that, in a few words, is an environmental nightmare. It smells awful! It has no outlet, and most of the water coming into it is agricultural runoff. B says, when Sonny Bono was in Congress, he worked hard to lobby to clean it up, but in the end, got nowhere. It is really an ecological disaster. You can read all about it in detail here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salton_Sea
So, Bombay Beach is a sandy beach open to the public, but to my knowledge no one goes into the water. Anyway, again there is a group of people who live in the town and, other than the fact they appear to have electricity and are a bit neater than Slab City, live very much the same way. The sign said population 295.
We stopped and took some pictures. There were a few campers on the beach, but the smell was really disgusting. Some people have left funky tributes behind to remind anyone who stops that we need to clean up this area and the sooner the better. Here are a few more pictures. The steel display of a skeleton of a dead fish is one of the more poignant reminders of what we are doing to the environment.
The water is brown, and it and the beach stink. No, we didn’t touch the water!
This was once a thriving lake up to the 50s and 60s, with bustling towns and hotels, restaurants, etc. and a wonderful bird sanctuary. The birds and fish mostly died from the dead, toxic lake. California isn’t all glamour and money. It has its share of homelessness and natural disasters.
Anyway, from there we beat feet back to Borrego Springs. So we ended up driving around the entire lake. We expected gas to be cheaper out on the main trucking highway, but it was $6.40/gal, so we decided the $6.10/gal at one place in Borrego Springs was not so bad after all!
We walked to our last dinner here. As it turned out, neither of us was very hungry and it wasn’t as tasty as some of the other meals. Here is a picture.
We didn’t get any pictures of Slab City or Bombay Beach, because we didn’t see any particular thing that really summed it up. As B said, they probably don’t have a HOA (HomeOwner Association) in either place! See Wikipedia for more details on either place.
Here is a picture B took of me as we were walking back from dinner. The entire gutter is filled with flower petals from the trees in the parking lot.
I think that’s about it for today. B is beginning to pull things together for our trip back to Orange County tomorrow. He’s already mounted the bike back on the trailer.
Stay well.
The Clampetts 