Better Beaters - Building Cars and Daily Drivers

 Now for some photos from East Jesus and Salvation Mountain.

Try, but you can't escape the weirdness.

You have to drive through Slab City to reach East Jesus, which is at the end of the road. Metaphorically as well as literally!

Slab City is located on the remains of an abandoned Marine base built in 1942, used to train artillery and anti aircraft units during WWII. After three years of use it was decommissioned and finally torn down in the early 1950's. The slab foundations of the buildings were left behind, which gave the community it's name. 

Originally, snowbird campers parked their travel trailers and campers on the slabs, primarily during the Winter when it is much cooler. There are no utilities; no electricity, running water, sewage facilities, or local police. The county Sheriff will respond, but locals prefer to handle their disputes themselves. Residents must be extremely self reliant. They proclaim that it is the "only free place left in the country." They may be right. 

Anyone can move out there. Residents live off the grid, without paying rent, utilities, or property tax. They live in old campers, trailers, buses, and hovels that they piece together. Modern technology now provides for solar panels to provide electricity, and I saw several large square plastic agricultural water containers located close to each residence. There were several chemical porta potty toilets located throughout the neighborhood.

The area has long attracted bohemian art types that have constructed the unusual art installations in the area.

These are assembled out of discarded materials and cast off items, which is a commentary on the transitory nature of our consumer society. It provides an endless stream of "junk" that is used to build these installations.

VW busses, a bohemian favorite.

More TV screens carrying the artist's message.

Limos have it tough out here.

So do Bugs.

Admit it, this would creep you out if you stumbled
 onto something like this in the woods!

Ending this visit on a positive note.

Now we go to the nearby Salvation Mountain.

Salvation Mountain is the creation of Leonard Knight (1931-2014). Knight was born in Burlington Vermont and served in the Korean War. Knight found slab City back in 1984, and felt that God had led him there as a site for his monument to His love and salvation. He built a couple of smaller displays but began the Mountain in earnest a few years later. He lived in a home built camper on his truck, which he parked at the site. He worked every day, all day on his creation. It is built primarily out of hay bales, adobe, and lots of coats of latex house paint.

The man certainly has left his mark.

You have to admire Knight's devotion to his project. If you are a Christian you would agree with his message, if not his choice of media. But this monument has achieved a lot of recognition and fame and has been featured in several movies. I remember it from the movie "Into the Wild." 

The Noah's Ark display is a newer addition.

This is the remains of the "library." It was dome like structure that visitors could enter. It housed a small museum. It was built of hay bales, some wood framing, and there were a couple of dead trees that helped support the structure. We had entered the structure when it was still standing back during our previous visit.

Deflated, but not defeated!

As you can see, it has collapsed like a deflated balloon or unsuccessful attempt at baking an angel food cake. I imagine that the exposure to weather and the occasional rainstorm caused the deterioration and subsequent collapse.

In the above photo you can see the wall of hay bales, and some wood framing. I guess that it was built like an igloo. The bale's were stacked up in smaller circles and anchored with adobe.

Maybe nothing lasts forever, except God's love, according to Knight. The mountain is still holding up quite well, and it's a fitting monument to a man with a mission.