COME WALK WITH ME---LET'S SEE WHAT WE SEE

SLABS SHORT STORIES PART 2---I TAKE YOU WITH ME ON A MORNING STROLL.

75 yr old water tank--100 ft in diameter--17 ft tall--2 of them served Camp

Dunlap--this now abandoned Marine base.  Stay with me---I will have a surprise for you.

Perfect space for the graffiti artist.  Shall we go closer?

See what he has on his mind? A protest against corporate evil---He names the bad guys!

And--- he's also mad about:  Military waste---the horrors of war.

But here's the surprise:  In 70 plus years, no one had been IN these tanks---What's in there? We wondered---AND THEN---AND THEN---My friends and I........

http://lifeontheopenroad.blogspot.com/2008/12/you-want-to-go-where-and-do-what.html

click here for the full story.  (courtesy my ex who filmed the adventure)

Only one man here has a reserved parking spot.  He's 80 plus and more vigorus than any of us youngsters ---- His people (the LOW's---Loners on Wheels)  honor him in this fashion.

Continuing my walk by this camp---probably a full time Slab dweller.  The fence blocks harsh summer windstorms from the West and furnishes shade from the afternoon sun.

Ah--this interested me when I heard about it.  A subterranean dwelling---now collapsed --- another effort to beat the fierce summer heat---117 degrees regularly.  I walk on---

My timing is great here---This unimaginative squatter/builder was just exiting his Box? (Yeah--he lives in that box)--to throw his trash into the nearby bushes.  Where are the windows, I wondered.

I walk past the Library--- now languishing---but once thriving---it's keeper is losing interest after 12 years of attending it. 

A sign of the times---internet cafe---that's new.

Note that line of stones---clear proof of Desmond Morris's (author--the Naked Ape?) theory that 5 things characterize human behavior everywhere: 1. Territoriality 2. Tribalism 3. Heirarchy 4. Gender specific division of labor 5. Weapons--and war

I think he could have added---ARTISTIC EXPRESSION.

Here's a guy very serious about power.  See all those solar panels? That's enough electricity to run a fully electric household.  Note also the wind turbines---their big advantage is that they can generate power at night (if the wind is blowing) ( they cost about $500 each and when active do the work of two of those panels) 

Completing my walk--I cross paths with two friends on an interesting quest---using a high-tech treasure finder to locate a watch--buried somewhere here 25 years ago.  They reported later that they failed.

RANDY PHILOSOPHIZES:  Walking anywhere with senses alert is interesting.  Walking the Slabs is mesmerizing.