by kenny

Bill and Julie went to Fresno to visit Bill's friend Brody. A phone conversation revealed that Brody, who had some time off, was thinking of going to the Salton Sea, which is where we were headed after leaving Ratface's house. We were overjoyed to make plans to meet the 3 of them there.

Laura had always been interested in the Salton Sea. It's a really fascinating place, although a tragic one. Read about it here and here. There are differing points of view about the Sea, but most people would agree that it's a disaster. Check out the documentary Plagues and Pleasures of the Salton Sea.

Near the Salton Sea are a couple of wonderful places-Salvation Mountain and Slab City. I had read about Salvation Mountain from roadsideamerica.com. I had heard of Slab City too, and had wanted to check it out. I didn't realize they were close to each other and the Salton Sea. Then we saw the movie Into the Wild, which features both places, and reminded us to go there. And we're so glad that we did. These places are amazing.

A little geography. The Salton Sea is in the Imperial Valley desert in Southern California, south of Joshua Tree National Park. It is 15 miles wide, 35 miles long and covers 376 square miles. It's borders are peppered with a few small towns. Niland, California is on its east border. Three miles north east of Niland lies Salvation Mountain at the entrance to Slab City. East of Slab City lies the Chocolate Mountain Gunnery Range, a bombing test range.


Leonard Knight is 76. Twenty four years ago he tried to get his handmade hot air balloon off the ground in the desert in Southern California. It didn't happen, so he decided to stay a week and build a monument of the balloon. He is still there. He has built a huge monument, rooms, and "museum" from hay bales, adobe, old tree limbs, and odds & ends that his found in the desert. It's all covered with his own unique folk art and brightly colored house paint donated to him from visitors and friends. The bright colors are overwhelming against the desert backdrop. Julie and Laura Were moved to tears. Leonard lives in a truck and does all the work himself. And he is an amazing man. Simple, gentle, sincere, dedicated, and full of love.

During WWII, Camp Dunlap was used for military training. In 1956 the camp was dismantled, leaving only the concrete slab floors/foundations. "The Slabs" or " Slab City" has since been home to thousands of campers, snowbirds, drifters, squatters, etc. Temperatures get well over 100° in the summer, so only about 100 or so Slabbers stay year round. It costs nothing to stay or live in Slab City because it is not a developed campground. This is probably due primarily to the undesirable surroundings, but Salvation Mountain also has something to do with that. The land belongs to the State of California. At one point local authorities tried to bulldoze the mountain citing the toxicity of the thousands of gallons of paint seeping into the "pristine" ground between the Salton Sea and the bombing range. It seems to me they just wanted to develop the land, and start charging people to camp at the Slabs. Salvation Mountain, being religious in nature, probably would not be able to exist in or near a campground own by the State. Leonard wasn't thwarted, however, and now Salvation Mountain is considered folk art of national importance.


Slab City has a golf course, library, social clubs, a hot springs-fed culvert/cistern "shower", a church, and an open mic music stage complete with generator-run party lights and theater seating. Well, theater seats. People are generally friendly, but many keep to themselves. People have nicknames. There is some litter and junk and as with most places, it's a good idea to watch your back a little. Overall, a relatively safe, incredibly interesting place.

Bill, Julie, Brody, Laura and I camped here for 3 days. We hung out with Leonard Knight at the Mountain. He took us out for iced tea in Niland. We went to the library (take a book, leave a book), hung out at our camp, and enjoyed great music at the Range. Bill even played a set. It's a pretty great place and we want to comeback to stay longer. Please checkout our photos and the links, then go visit for yourself. This site has some great photos and Slab City info.

by laura beth

Today we are leaving Grandma's house. We have had a wonderful time here. It has been especially good for me, getting to know Grandma and Aunt Laurie better. They both really made me feel like part of the family. We've been here 3 1/2 months. Although we've done a lot of "fun" things, we've also spent a lot of time staying in, sitting on the couch and watching movies while working on the business website. It's been nice to have another place to feel at home. We've cooked big holiday meals for lots of people. We've eaten really well. We've spent a lot of time with our cousins and their kids. And we have watched more TV since we've been here than we have since we met. Ah, Grandma's house.

Thanks Grandma and Aunt Laurie. We love you.

by laura beth

After going to Crystal Cove with Heather, I had been wanting to take Kenny there for a date. The delay with the moho at the mechanic caused us to change plans and we almost ran out of time since we're leaving really soon, but we were finally able to get away. And I took photos this time.

The weather was perfect and the beach was gorgeous. We hiked the beach and hiked back on the cliffs. We didn't stop for a shake, but instead went to the Beachcomber cafe for a banana boat. Yumma licious!

We went to the Montage Resort, walked the beach, and watched the sunset. We had a picnic for dinner with smoked salmon, cheese, and red wine. I guess we had an okay time...

by laura beth

For a couple of weeks, Kenny and I have been busy working on Grandma's guest room. We scrubbed years of boy grime off the once light-olive-yellowish-green walls, then patched hundreds of tack and nail holes, then primed and painted it pink. When we offered to do it, we didn't realize what we were getting into, but we ended up having a pretty good time, and we're pretty sure Grandma loved it.

by laura beth

We took the moho to a Midway Auto in Huntington Beach to look at that little overheating problem. At first it was kind of sketchy. The day after we dropped it off, they called us back and wanted us to come back to put down $1000. We kept getting different stories, and it kept taking "one more day", but when it was all said and done, we got an amazing deal on 4 new tires and a new radiator. And the sketchiness was kind of just chalked up to miscommunication and things lost in translation. Thanks to Jaime for all his hard work at getting us on the road again.

by kenny

We piled in the car with Brett and Cathi and headed to Temecula for a day of wine and giggles.

Our first stop was at the ol' CCBC campus. It was like pulling teeth trying to get past security, who must not have believed that we could possibly been alumni. We spent just a few minutes looking around.

Cathi was a superfreak at organizing the day and getting us all kinds of coupons and discounts. We got 2 for 1 deals, and even a free drink at one place. Hoorah for Cathi! We laughed a lot, drank awesome wine, had sushi for dinner, and came home with a tons of complimentary wine glasses. We can't wait to do it again. Thanks Brett and Cathi. We love you guys!

by kenny

We went to the Rice's again tonight. We played a mean game of Fireball Island, and a few rounds of Cranium. Good times.

by laura beth

I got to spend today with Heather Kelly, or as Kenny calls her, Heatherface Kelly, or Heavy Head. I love this girl. We've had good times since we've been here-lunch at Portillo's, Sweeny Todd, SCCTM, Ellen, her birthday at Brenden's, Trapped in the Closet...but this particular day was extra wonderful.

Heather and I met up with some of her friends in Corona Del Mar. From there we drove to the entrance of Crystal Cove State Park. We walked the gorgeous beach for and hour and a half to the beach cottages, then up to the Shake Shack for a date shake. Crystal Cove is the bee's knees as far as a State Beach goes. You could spend at least a couple days there, looking in tide pools, walking, photographing...There are wildflowers on the cliffs and we saw hummingbirds everywhere. It's just great, and I highly recommend going there. Pack a picnic and for a $10 parking fee, you have all day entertainment. There's even a decent restaurant near the cottages.

After hiking back up on the cliffs, Heather and I drove to her mom, Carol's place in Laguna Beach. We had dinner with her, and walked across PCH to the beach at the Montage Resort. The property where the resort sits used to be the Treasure Island trailer park with a private beach (part of The Long, Long Trailer was filmed there-a great RVing movie!), and now it's a hoity toity resort with a public beach. Treasure Island was also filmed there. Billy Bones! Arrrgh! The water and beach there are sooo pristine. We then went back to Heather's friends' house to have a BBQ and play Balderdash. All in all, a wonderful day with a wonderful friend. Lots of beachy outdoor goodness.

by laura beth

Bill and Julie left today.

Smoothies at Juice It Up, the farmer's market, Philly's Best cheesesteaks (authentic--Julie vouched for them), In-N-Out, day trips, hanging around the house...we had such a wonderful time with them. Bill even got to play music while he was in town-at the farmer's market and at the House of Blues. It was hard to see them go.

by laura beth

Bill had never been to Disneyland, and since we were on a kick, we decided to go again. Thanks to a friend who works there we were all able to get in for free. Also, Kenny bought this software called Ride Max. Based on the date, day of the week, time of day you go, and rides you want to go on, it maximizes your day at Disneyland, and minimizes the amount of time you spend in waiting in line. And it really works.

Julie and I are both prone to motion sickness, and although I had been fine on the other visits to Disneyland, I agreed to take a Dramamine with Julie. Big mistake. We were total zombies the whole day. However, we didn't get sick, and we still had a pretty sweet time. Julie did not at all like my favorite roller coaster at California Adventure, but they both loved Space Mountain. Julie and I also worked up the courage to go on the Hollywood Tower of Terror, after we had talked each other in and out of it several times: "I'll go if you'll go...but if you don't want to, I'll totally stay here with you." I had been on it one other time, but it was real real scary and I had butterflies at the thought of going again. We did it, though. We were gripping hands so hard our knuckles turned white. It was superduper!


On the way back to Ratface's we noticed that the moho was overheating. Guess we better take care of that.