Girls Weeks 24, October 26, 2021. Salvation Mountain and East Jesus.

At Salvation Mountain

 Tuesday, October 26, 2021

 Lori is doing the writing today, while Kathi works   on the Monday entry so that we make sure that we  get the entire trip journaled before it is over!

 Today is the next to last saddest day of every   Girls  Weekend in that it is the last FULL day of   Girls Weekend. We always hate to see it come to   an end, but the end always comes. We both were   out of bed for coffee and our normal morning routine at around 7:30. The plan for the day is to go to East Jesus, which is about an hour and a half away. Yes, you read that right, East Jesus. There really is a place with that name and it is down here in the Southern California desert, and, boy, is it ever interesting!! We’ll also be going to Salvation Mountain and Slab City … but I am getting ahead of myself.

We left our cute little apartment with the world's most uncomfortable furniture (with the exception of the beds; the beds are great!) at around 12:30pm. Before leaving, however, we did our final toss of the states and our remaining puzzle piece is the one containing New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Washington DC on it (which, interestingly, in our to-scale puzzle, is only half the size of the Missouri piece!). As I believe Kathi has mentioned previously, we did DC for year 5. There are a couple of pieces in our puzzle that combines small states together. When this happens and it’s the last piece standing after the tosses, we get to pick which of the winning states we want to visit. So we are going to have to do a little research and figure out which of the three options we will visit next year. We will likely combine two of the states, though, since they are small, and that will help reduce our remaining states more quickly. We did not consider when we began these trips in our late 30s that one state per year equaled 51 years, and that there may be age-related challenges to reaching our goal of making it to all 50 states (plus DC) while we’re both spry and able to travel.

On the way to East Jesus we passed many more Date Palm farms where the dates had not yet been harvested. These bunches of dates could be seen with their "coats" on, still hanging from the trees (see entry from Friday for explanation about date farming) and some of the bags of dates had already been cut and were lying on the ground. All of the dates at Shields Date Garden had already been harvested, so we were excited to see the dates still on the trees and wrapped up.

East Jesus is southeast of Desert Hot Springs and the route took us by the Salton Sea, which is a HUGE body of water that is quite strange to see in the middle of the desert. The Salton Sea is another very unique place here in southern California. The following is copied and pasted from an article that appeared in The Guardian in July of this year.

The Salton Sea was formed in 1905 when the Colorado River breached an irrigation canal and filled up an ancient basin in the desert, creating an oasis for migratory shorebirds and, by the middle of the 20th century, for celebrities and dignitaries. Developers dotted the shores with palm trees and built up luxury resorts around its perimeter, and the area became a destination for Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and the Beach Boys. President Dwight Eisenhower used to come by the golf course. (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jul/23/salton-sea-california-lake-dust-drought-climate)

The Salton Sea

 So, once the dike that was breached was repaired   in 1907 the only water filling the "sea" is irrigation   run-off from the surrounding agricultural areas that is full of fertilizer, pesticides and salt. The salinity of this inland sea that is 35 miles long by 15 miles wide has risen to the point where it is slightly higher than that of the Pacific Ocean and, as a result, most of the fish that were once found in the water died off. The water is evaporating, leaving stinking, rotting algae on the shoreline and toxic air all around it. While there are many parks and boat ramps that we saw on the shores of the lake, we saw only a couple of cars parked in their lots and saw absolutely NO boats out on the water which struck us as unusual considering it is such a large body of water in the middle of a desert. So, while the Salton Sea is attractive to look at from a distance, that is about the best thing that can be said about it. We did stop at the Bombay Beach Recreation area which was mostly deserted with many abandoned and vandalized mobile homes to take a few pics. Kathi also insisted on driving REALLY fast so we could catch up with a train on the tracks that run alongside the road we were on just so I could get a photo. Photo taken, she slowed down to more reasonable speeds, thank goodness!! 

After making a turn off the highway onto a more rural road in Niland, California, we didn't have to travel very far before spying Salvation Mountain. Woo doggies, is this ever an interesting and weird place! Leonard Knight, a drifter who was passionate about sharing his religious revelation, God is Love, experienced a few failed attempts at other endeavors to spread his message (he really wanted to use a hot air balloon to spread the word, but failed at obtaining or making one.) So, he began to work in earnest on creating Salvation Mountain in 1989. It is a site to behold. Not only the "mountain" carries his message but so do many abandoned vehicles on the property. Leonard died in February of 2014, but there is a man named Ron living on the property who maintains the mountain, which requires constant attention. For a more complete story on Leonard and the mountain visit this link: The Man and Mission Behind Salvation Mountain: What to Know Before Your Visit — The Wayfaress

The Man and Mission Behind Salvation Mountain: What to Know Before Your ... You’ve seen it on TV, the internet, Instagram – the strange yet serene United States road trip mecca that looks ...

We spent some time wandering and taking photos at Salvation Mountain and Kathi had a conversation with Ron who lives on the property with 2 dogs, 9 cats and no running water. A way of life that I cannot even begin to imagine. From Salvation Mountain we moved on to Slab City and East Jesus. Slab City was yet another "oh my goodness, I had no idea someplace like this existed" kind of moment. Many RVs and old mobile homes can be found out here on the slabs. Some of these folks are permanent residents, some are seasonal. ALL are heartier folks than I. We are talking the middle of the desert, no trees for shade, and no running water. Not my idea of home sweet home. Not even close. 

Salvation Mountain

And then, a short distance around the bend was East Jesus. How best to describe East Jesus? On the website it is described as "a refuge for artists, musicians, survivalists, writers, scientists, laymen and other wandering geniuses. We are dedicated to providing a working model of an improbable improvised community at the edge of the world." The Art Garden here is a member of the California Museum Association. Everything here is made from things that most of us would consider junk or trash. It is unusual and weird and fascinating and well worth the trip as long as you are not easily offended. I would not bring children here. There is LOTS of broken glass here. Some of it is part of the art and some it does not appear to be, but I could definitely be mistaken. Some of the art contains profanity and some of it is profane, so be warned if you decide to visit. SUCH a dichotomy between this place and the art and statues depicting the story of Jesus at the Shields Date Garden!!

We spent quite a bit of time wandering the East Jesus Art Garden in curiosity and amazement before our bladders began to speak to us of the need for a bathroom. This (no running water, remember) is something that the art garden is lacking. We chatted for a bit with the caretaker currently living there to maintain the property (who ARE these people who voluntarily care for desert art with no amenities?!) about the place and its origins before deciding we needed to answer the call of nature. The nearest bathroom was about 20 minutes away at the nearest gas station (which we were also in need of), so we left East Jesus and Slab City.

We ate the lunches we brought with us (we each had salads left over from previous meals) while sitting at the gas station then began the drive back to Desert Hot Springs and our home away from home. We stopped at a car wash called Quick Quack once in Desert Hot Springs to wash and vacuum the car. Because we rented the car through Turo, which is a peer to peer car sharing company rather than one of the traditional car rental places, one can save themselves the $50 or so cleaning fee if one washes and vacuums the car themselves before returning. Then we stopped at some Mexican place so Kathi could get herself a Mangonada, which she had been craving since our arrival, and then home.

We had bought meat for 2 meals on our grocery store run and had only cooked up the hamburger, so I cooked up the chicken breasts we had with some zucchini, butter and lemon for a tasty dinner. I ate, but Kathi saved her portion to have on her LONG trip back to Indianapolis, having been filled up by her Mangonada. We finished watching the last two episodes of Squid Game and went to bed for our final time here is Desert Hot Springs.