Day 2: SALTON SEA to the MEXICAN BORDER

Salvation Mountain, Niland, CA located south of I-10, 5 miles east of Hwy 111 at Niland. Contact Leonard Knight, PO Box 298, Niland, CA 92257. Visit anytime.

Leonard Knight has been painting and repainting his bright Biblical messages on the sides of Salvation Mountain since 1985. He requests that all donations be in the form of paint, preferably acrylic.

A few years back, environmental fanatics stirred up the local government. Samples were drilled and tests were done – Salvation Mountain was declared a “toxic nightmare” by county officials. Signs went up warning about “Hazardous Waste,” and Imperial County was on its way to hosting a veritable Superfund cleanup site. Plans were laid to treat it like nuclear waste – haul it away in trucks and bury it in Nevada.
http://www.salvationmountain.us/

Directly behind Salvation Mountain are two murals which stand as the antithesis or as an artistic response to Salvation Mountain. The first is a mural dedicated to sexual acts, the second is a mural dedicated to dinosaurs and war. It’s as baffling and intriguing as the religious side of the mountain. The mural is fairly graphic and it’s probably inappropriate for most children.

Slab City, or “The Slabs,” is a free RV oasis located in the desert southwest, near Niland, California. Once a WWII-era Marine facility, it is now home to squatters and seasonal snowbirds, who live in RVs and vehicles among the concrete remnants. It is known as a “great place to spend the winter.”

http://www.slabcity.org/

Off a dirt road on the muddy flats near the eastern shore of the Salton Sea lies the Salton Sea Geothermal System. This area contains gryphons (a small mud volcano) and mud pools. As carbon dioxide slowly bubbles up to the earth’s surface, it passes through an aquifer, forcing water and mud to bubble like a cauldron beneath your feet. The temperature of the mud can reach 65 degrees C.

The Niland Mudpots are located in a “hot” area in a zone in extension between the San Andreas and another major fault.

At 184 feet below sea level, Calipatria is the lowest city in the western hemisphere. To keep their American flag flying above sea level, the city built what it claims to be the “world’s tallest flagpole at sea level.”

Dedicated to “Good Neighborliness,” the flagpole is a symbol of the community’s sense of fellowship. In 1957, Harry and Helen Momita, two former Japanese internment camp residents, were in a car accident while on their way to see their children in Los Angeles. Helen was killed instantly and Harry was hospitalized for several weeks

With the help and concern of fellow Calipatrians, Harry’s Pharmacy remained open during his convalescence. When donations poured in from Calipatria and others outside the city for Helen’s memorial, Harry was overcome by their kindness.

The flagpole had been under discussion for some time. When a town meeting suggested that it be dedicated to Helen, Harry suggested that it be dedicated, instead, to “Good Neighborliness.” The donations for Helen’s memorial, coupled with the offer of the Pacific Southwest Pipe Company to supply parts and labor for cost, and Harry’s winnings from “This is your life,” finally paid for the flagpole.

Bombay Beach, a half-submerged wasteland of derelict buses and vehicles, is located on the east shore of the Salton Sea. Like many communities along its shores, it has had to contend with rising and falling water levels. A berm now protects the west end of the town but a portion of the town beyond the berm is either under water or half-buried in mud.

The town, as well as others on the shores of the Salton Sea, is one of the lowest settlements in altitude in North America.

In 1986, Jacques-Andre Istel convinced Imperial County, California, to legally recognize a spot on his property as the official Center of the World (it is also recognized as such by the Institut Geographique National of France). He has built a town around it to capitalize on its unique properties.

Drive just west of the border between Arizona and southern California, and stop in Felicity, in the Sonoran Desert. Step inside the pyramid. Stand on the metal disk, and you will be standing at the Center of the World. As mayor of Felicity, Jacques-Andre will sign the official certificate you receive for this moment.

www.felicityusa.com.

The Blu-In is primarily a cafe serving breakfast and lunch. It is also the only gas station in Ocotillo Wells, and a local supplier of motorcycle parts, and camping supplies. The west end of the lot offers a place to rent motorcycles and quads from The Quad Stop (be sure to plan ahead, bikes go fast!), and a mechanic, JT with John Tuttle Motorsports, who can repair almost anything.

http://www.bluincafe.com/

Ocotillo Wells, California – Blow Sand Mountain ($225)

Operated by California State Parks, Ocotillo Wells offers over 80,000 acres of desert recreation, including motocross, trail bikes, sand rails, bugs, and everyday 4×4 trucks.

To the south and east of the park, large tracts of BLM land (U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management) are also open to off-highway vehicles. The western boundary and part of the northern boundary connect with the half-million acre Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, which is closed to off-highway recreation, but open to exploration by highway-legal vehicles along established primitive roads.

Blow Hill is one of the more popular gathering spots at Ocotillo. During the heart of riding season riders tackle this hill all day and even into the night, when you find the hill illuminated by the headlights trying to make it to the top. This hill is a result of wind-blown sand carried for miles and deposited in this massive pile of sand.

Most of the statues are along Borrego Springs Rd, both north and south of town.

Along the Borrego Springs Rd., both north and south of Borrego Springs proper, life-sized sculptures of dinosaurs, tortoises, camels, elephants, and sloths populate the property of Dennis Avery.

Commissioned by Avery, and sited on land he owns and allows the public to use (Galletta Meadows), the sculptures were created by artist Ricardo Breceda.  Breceda, a former construction welder who created his first metal dinosaur 10 years ago, has been commissioned to sculpt camelops, sloth, turtles and other creatures that once roamed the local desert.

The statues began arriving in 2008, and the plan is to have around 70 in place by the end of 2009.

www.galletameadows.com

Thomas L. Smith, better known as “Peg Leg” Smith, 1802-1866, was a mountain man, prospector and spinner of tall tales. Legends regarding his fabulous lost gold mine have grown throughout the years.

Pegleg’s story is much like every other dubious story ever told of a “lost” gold mine. The details may vary, but the generalities are always the same: Prospector stumbles out of desert, displays gold nuggets, gives vague directions to the mine, people wander in the desert for years searching for the mine but never quite seem to find it.

In response to this tale, an annual “Liar’s Contest” is held to see who can come up with the biggest whopper about Pegleg or just lost gold in general. An official plaque has been erected by the state, but the real monument is a rock pile with an inviting sign: “Let those who seek Pegleg’s gold add ten rocks to this pile.” Since 1947, when the pile was started, it has grown to an impressive size.

The Ranchita Yeti, or Rancheti, was the brainchild of Joe Rauh, a real estate agent with time on his hands.  He designed and built the 300-pound, 11-foot fiberglass Yeti statue in his workshop in town.

You can have your very own Yeti statue, custom-made in Ranchita. Optional: Solar powered eyes that will glow at night, a motion detector with alarm in case it tries to walk, and an external motion detector with a recording feature allowing the owner to have the monster say anything when someone approaches it: from a loud growl, to a friendly “Eat at Joes” depending on its use.

www.roadsidemonster.com/news.htm

Between 1922 and 1928, Bert Vaughn, who owned the town of Jacumba, built a stone lookout. The tower is surrounded by carvings, by W.T. Ratcliffe, of animals, faces, and folk creatures, inspired by the natural shapes in the boulders.

The 70-foot tower was dedicated in memory of the area’s rough pre-highway days, when the journey between Yuma and the Pacific Ocean took a month across blasted moonlike terrain.

The top deck affords a vantage of I-8 winding down to the arid valley floor, and ach window is labeled to identify landmarks shimmering in the distance. Tourists who carry their own binoculars might spot the US Border Patrol apprehending illegal immigrants streaming across a nearby crossing in the mountains.

The carvings and tower are registered as an official California Historical Landmark (#939).

Over the past twenty years Gil Riegler and Nancy Kobert, husband and wife team, and founders of the Oasis Camel Dairy have worked closely with exotic animals. Some of their best work has been the incorporation of exotics into a therapeutic program for the physically challenged. After incorporating camels into the program, Nancy and Gil learned that camels are not only sensitive, intelligent, and patient animals, they also offer many other gifts.

The Dairy currently offers camel rentals, camel rides, and camel milk soap.

www.cameldairy.com

Dinosaur Land, built in 1962 was to have been an amusement park, with a roller coaster shaped like a volcano, life-size dinosaur statues, water rides, dinosaur “characters” roaming the park, and restaurants. It went bankrupt within two years, and all that remains is “Dinosaur Bob.”

Bob the Dinosaur is still around, but is hard to find. The trailer park that sprang up in the location of the original Dinosaur Land has grown. Bob is hidden within the park, but not hidden so well that his previous tenants were unable to cut a hole in his belly, into which they crawled to live.

ICR (Institute for Creation Research) maintains the Creation and Earth History Museum at its headquarters in Santee. The museum features exhibits such as an interpreted walk through the Garden of Eden with a literal depiction of the six days in the Genesis, a dark room with pictures of the planets and stars, scale models of Noah’s Ark and the Tower of Babel, an Ice Age room, the Canyon Wall, describing how the Grand Canyon was formed in a matter of weeks or months, rather than the millions of years posited by mainstream geologists, the Hall of Scholars with pictures and biographies contrasting scientists who believed in creationism and accepted evolution, and a room showing the ICR’s RATE project with other young Earth creationist organizations searching for evidence of a young earth.

Unarius = UNiversal ARticulate Interdimensional Understanding of Science

The Unarius Academy of Science stands in a desert town east of San Diego. It’s the knowledge hub and meeting place for a space cult formed in 1954 by the late Ruth and Ernest Norman. Unarians await the arrival of huge galactic ships in 2001.

The Unarian belief system is based on energy and reincarnation. Energy is spoken about in both cosmic and earthly terms. Nikola Tesla plays a major role with the Unarians, mostly for his work in attempting to build an energy transmission tower that was supposed to provide free power for the world.

“First”, says Bob, “there could be a global energy crisis that brings about panic and unrest all over the globe. The energy problems in California are just the start and will not be limited to just our state or country. Once the energy crisis starts, the Ships of the Federation will descend and show us what Tesla knew so long ago: that free energy for the world is a reality.”

www.unarius.org

Although the town was not incorporated until 1977, the history of Lemon Grove dates to 1892, when the first citrus orchards were being planted. By the 1940s, those fructiferous evergreens were being replaced by businesses and residential housing. But, the lemon still stands as the symbol of the community, and in 1928, a parade was held featuring a float adorned with a giant fiberglass lemon. It is that same lemon that now stands in the center of town for all to see, on a base engraved with the slogan: “Best Climate on Earth.”

Mint condition aircraft in a mint condition museum – a Spitfire Mk. XVI, a Navy F6F Hellcat and an A-4 Skyhawk jet – these beautifully restored airplanes help you appreciate the increasingly complex technology represented in the classic military aircraft of World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

http://www.aerospacemuseum.org/upcoming/eventlisting.html

The San Diego Maritime Museum features ships ranging from the 1914 Pilot Boat to the 1970s Russian Submarine.

Some say that all ships are haunted, and the ships at the Maritime Museum are no exception. At least three ghosts are rumored to haunt the ships in the museum’s collection. Two can be found on the flag ship, the Star of India, and at least one more on the ferry boat, the Berkeley.

http://www.sdmaritime.com/

While the original photograph was taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt, US Navy photo journalist Victor Jorgensen captured another view of the same scene, which was published in the New York Times. Unlike the Eisenstaedt photograph, this photograph is in the public domain.

In 2005 American sculptor Seward Johnson created a life scale bronze sculpture based on the Jorgensen photograph of V-J Day, titled Unconditional Surrender. A twenty-five foot version of the sculpture has been on display in San Diego, CA, Snug Harbor, NY and Sarasota, FL.

In its August 1980 issue, the editors of LIFE Magazine asked that the kissing sailor come forward. In the October 1980 issue, the editors reported that eleven men and three women had come forward to claim to be the kissers.

In 1989, attorney Alan May encountered the lips and eyes of 19th century “suicide” Kate Morgan on the television in Room 3502 (the room’s number today is 3312). Jilted by her lover, Kate “transported” Alan back to the day her lothario had shot and killed her. When the Office of Scientific Investigation and Research conducted their own high tech “ghostbuster” operation in the room, 37 “abnormalities” were detected in 24 hours.

Orville Redenbacher, the popcorn king, lived at the Hotel del Coronado from 1976 until his death at age 88 in 1995. Since then, he hasn’t popped up, in any form.

http://www.hoteldel.com/

The only American sculpture garden and the last major international project created by Niki de Saint Phalle (born France, 1930-2002). Inspired by California’s mythic, historic and cultural roots, the garden consists of nine large-scale sculptures, a circular “snake” wall and maze entryway, sculpturally integrated bench seating, an egg shaped fountain and native shrubs and trees planted within the interior plaza and along the outer perimeter.

Opened to the public on October 26, 2003, the garden, like the state itself, takes its name from the legendary black Amazon queen, Califia, who was believed to rule a terrestrial island paradise of gold and riches.

Queen Califia’s Magical Circle bears the brilliant, unique mosaic ornamentation that is an unmistakable part of Saint Phalle’s later work. The garden uses a greater diversity of mosaic materials than any other of her large-scale projects, including a wide assortment of polished and tumbled stones such as travertine, agates, quartzes and veined turquoise.

www.queencalifia.org

Muffler Man used in Money Magazine advertisement for Travelers Insurance, page 19 of the July 2007 edition.

Housed in the Lawrence Welk Resort village, the museum pays tribute to the 27 years of the Lawrence Welk show, running from 1955 to 1982.

Born on a North Dakota farm in 1903 of Alsatian immigrant parents, Welk dropped out of school in the fourth grade. He was 21 years-old before he spoke English. His thick accent and stiff stage presence were often parodied, but viewers were delighted when he played the accordion or danced with one of the women in the audience.