tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31383424.post3745787556318985375..comments2024-02-23T15:59:49.280-07:00Comments on Mobile Kodgers: A MONTH AT THE SLABS---Part 3 conclusionRandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02908010960752449161noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31383424.post-70708870324889518322016-04-24T14:51:11.940-06:002016-04-24T14:51:11.940-06:00Thank you for your insightful and informative writ...Thank you for your insightful and informative writings regarding Slab City as I am planning to visit. Am grateful!<br />davidworrix.comDavid Worrixhttp://www.davidworrix.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31383424.post-80883955080092439392016-04-23T07:33:43.174-06:002016-04-23T07:33:43.174-06:00Hey Randy, you might enjoy these poems
https://ww...Hey Randy, you might enjoy these poems<br /><br />https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/entertainment/national-poetry-month-poem-readings-2016/?wpisrc=promo_10poemsinmotionTerri Reedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10987478388396128245noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31383424.post-75781087197609120232016-04-20T22:42:22.034-06:002016-04-20T22:42:22.034-06:00Randy, I'm with you. Slab City is a wonderful...Randy, I'm with you. Slab City is a wonderful, and now long term experiment in beneficent anarchy. I may stop in there myself after May 7 when my housesitting gig is done in the luxury of Rolling Hills, CA. After a month camping between San Felipe, Ensenada, and Bahia Soledad in my own Stealth RV [patterned after yours], it's nice to sit around at my daughter's and son-in-law's place and enjoy the pool before they move in next month. Until then I'm playing at being a 3d rate general contractor coordinating with various craftsmen in their absence. In the meantime I've been keeping a journal of sorts. It's starting to morph into a detective story... maybe. I'll share an episode at random:<br /><br />Tuesday, March 15, 2016<br />Notes, Part I<br />Puerto Santo Tomas to Bahia Soledad<br />‘Winston,’ I’ll call him, came by at noon. He’s 6’ 4” within a year of my age, bald with gray mutton chops, beard and mustache. He seemed in no hurry and we visited until I wondered when we would hit the road for his place.<br />I’d just had an hour’s notice when I finally checked my email, but I was packed and ready to follow. Said goodbye to Dan, Kirsten & John, gave Hector a small tip and was on my way. He asked, “When you come back.” I didn’t know.<br />I’d wondered why Winston would make the trip from S Cal, just to show me the road. I found out. The cutoff to the ‘road’ to Bahia Soledad wasn’t so hard to find, if you knew the mileage from la Bocana. But having the conviction to take the unmarked turn and persevere without certainty would have been another thing altogether. The little ship ‘Stealth’ barely stayed together as it pitched and yawed simultaneously on a rutted road that went up grades where all I could see was sky. 4WD in ‘Lo’ was a must.<br />Even following Winston, who stopped for me at crucial spots, I still blew the final turn to entry to his property and had to back up the trailer 40 yards. At times the road is overgrown and seems to disappear entirely. Had to back down another narrow pass down his ‘driveway’ because of an acute entry angle and no place to turn around.<br />Winston and I were apparently, as Groucho said, ‘vaccinated with a phonograph needle.’ He’s a talker too, and _I_ was the one [trust me dear reader] to get us back on track. At any rate we’re kindred spirits who each thought the other was doing the greater favor.<br />Before I’d set up camp and and discovered the interior disaster of the trailer, an unhappy looking Mexicano about 50 approached us. Valentin was carrying a machete....<br /><br /><br />Dan Arnoldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03927494524010477749noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31383424.post-7482093358724160502016-04-19T01:25:42.632-06:002016-04-19T01:25:42.632-06:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17366377006456459869noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31383424.post-41112130628122736912016-04-18T10:53:46.743-06:002016-04-18T10:53:46.743-06:00Hi Max: Good question. I think the Slabs most lik...Hi Max: Good question. I think the Slabs most likely challenge would come from county authorities becoming alarmed at some Slab happening and feeling pressure from citizens to shut it down. Health concerns is an easy excuse to shut down things.<br /><br />Across the Salton Sea some 15 years ago, a Rainbow family sanctuary was shut down on those grounds: bacteria found in their small hot pool. Bulldozers were dispatched to fill it in and so it remains.Randyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02908010960752449161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31383424.post-59466520884262783792016-04-18T05:12:11.035-06:002016-04-18T05:12:11.035-06:00Randy, I have never been there but have read and v...Randy, I have never been there but have read and viewed many accounts of that community. It certainly is an intriguing place. What do you view as the main danger to its continued existence?Maxcactushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10857360652180728338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31383424.post-16681212060996227532016-04-16T13:17:43.625-06:002016-04-16T13:17:43.625-06:00Thank you Boonie for the comment--especially the q...Thank you Boonie for the comment--especially the quote by Chesterton, which is true enough--and good cautionary advice for people who adopt eccentricity as a lifestyle. They do indeed grow tedious.<br /><br />But Boonie: I am not praising Slab types--I AM PRAISING THE SLABS---AS A PHYSICAL REFUGE FOR THE POOR, THE LONELY, THE ADVENTUROUS ETC. I AM ALSO PRAISING THE WELCOMING, TOLERANT SLAB CULTURE THAT HAS EVOLVED. <br /><br />Movies and novels often invent OUTLANDS where the hero retreats to and finds allies and insights which he uses as a base for heroic actions. Interestingly, the Slabs have inspired heroic and creative actions--like the Artist colony East Jesus--like the Range theatre--like Salvation Mountain--Like the Loners On Wheels compound--The Oasis club--Traveling Pals--Wireless Cafe--Viper Lounge--several worthy artist.<br /><br />Before I went to Slab City, I spent some days at the luxurious Fountain of Youth spa. I sampled its luxuries and its luxury loving people. Both were nice! Nice enough! They dabble at art and assorted recreations and do no harm.<br /><br />BUT AHH BOONIE--You and I know that out of such a place no Great Spirit is likely to rise.<br />Life there is not raw enough to polish a soul, inspire a great insight, propel a great deed. They are tame rabbits, helpless in the real world of coyotes. <br /><br />Go back Boonie----Go back to the Slabs---and focus that big brain of yours on the big picture. The Slabs are a living laboratory where world relevant experiments are (inadvertantly) being conducted. Experiments with water use, welfare, social organization,<br />mental illness, poverty, etc. <br /><br />And one thing more: Before you lose yourself wandering solitarily in the wilderness--Drop in and visit our little mobile band of boondockers, currently near Cottonwood. ( Chardin: ISOLATION IS A DEAD END---THE SELF IS FULFILLED IN COMMUNITY.)Randyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02908010960752449161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31383424.post-85879532424259245492016-04-15T18:41:19.402-06:002016-04-15T18:41:19.402-06:00Let's concede that Slabs-characters are intere...Let's concede that Slabs-characters are interesting on some level. Wouldn't your celebration of them be more solid if they managed unconventionality in a way analogous to what some people recommend towards "heresies" and humorousness?<br /><br />Somewhere or other, Chesterton recommends that a person be frugal and judicious with their "heresies", lest they wear themselves out on unimportant ones.<br /><br />Or make an analogy between unconventionality and humorousness: we all know how tedious a person can become if they act like a frustrated entertainer, and how a comedy movie can fall flat if the humor seems forced.<br /><br />I cannot praise Slabs-types as much as you: I find their over-strained unconventionality to be a tired formula, just like the hippies of the 1960s. <br /><br />In a way, ostentatious unconventionality is just a new conventionality.kaBLOOnie Boonsterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05845667016536890886noreply@blogger.com