Travels

Traveling south was fun. Visiting friends & relatives is always nice as are their views. 

Hood Canal view in Washington

Medford Oregon view

 

Lake Shasta CA, not nearly as low as in was in '77

I did notice that things have changed over the years, I can't drive as long as I used to!

Following Hwy 1 N of San Fran

Hwy 1 just N of San Francisco

Help Wanted signs on the ag inspection booths coming into Calif on I-5, a huge billboard on I-10 announcing that Riverside county was hiring sheriffs & numerous "Help Wanted" signs in Quartzsite Arizona.

I found a camp site just outside of Los Angeles in the Angeles National Forest from a POI list on my Garmin GPS that I downloaded. It's good to see the technology actually work.  

Not too long after I arrived a troop of Boy Scouts arrived, made me smile, I remembered those days. The trip through Los Angeles was uneventful but it was a Saturday too!

I saw the Salton Sea for the first time, pretty darn big!

I went to Slab City (3 miles from Niland Calif). It's infamous in some circles, a square mile of abandoned military base where people go to live.  The sign out front proclaims it the "The last Free place", it may be. 

From what I saw & the people I talked to it was nowhere near the dark stories I'd heard of it but it is a place with a lot of room to do what you want. I parked in a 'safe' looking area.
I saw sheriff patrols & a Border Patrol car come thru.

Just people living.. Shelter is what you made of it with no real rules, so is the rest of what you do in your busniess of living.

I saw tents, pallet buildings, people living in vans, cars & all shapes/sizes of RVs from the top of line new ones to the far end of line in the RV world. Solar everywhere!
Spaces marked off with painted tires, empty bottles, coils of razor wire, fences from pallets and places turned into compounds. 

I walked all over the place & had zero dog problems, there were lot's of dogs but I had no problems with them. 
All those dogs and no problems, that was unusual & it seems to be to be the norm in this place with no rules. 

Grass hut

Not really a tourist attraction once you get past Salivation Mountain and take a driving tour of the area & the people.

Slab City is a place you can go if you have nowhere else to be.

A 3 hour tour...

 I wanted to be a tourist so I went to Quartzsite. 

My camp 6 miles from town

Here in Quartzsite things are just starting. I watched the tents for the stores going up, I bought things I need from some tents that were already up or maybe never came down.

I camped in the desert with other "VanDwellers" in a "free area", we had a fine Thanksgiving dinner! 

The 'free area" is for 14 days then you have to move at least 25 miles to a different "free area" & you can't come back for another 2 weeks, or you can move to a "fee area".

My plan is to hang out at least until February. In January the big tent RV show happens as does a Vandweller gathering. It's cheap to live, the people are interesting and there is a lot to see in the area between the sales tents, flea market & the Snowbirds.