2023 A New Year of Travels

A few days after Christmas 2022, I started my trek south from Everett, WA to southern AZ.  I wanted to make the trip quick since winter weather is always foremost in my mind.  I won’t go into great detail on my journey south, but I chose to go Interstate 5 much of the way.  Then peeling off to Hwy 99 further south.  The highways in CA are in such poor condition once you get past Santa Rosa area.  I mean, huge 4” deep potholes right in the middle of the lanes.  Cracked, chunky asphalt for miles!  Ugh!

Backing up, I really enjoyed Valley of the Rogue State Park in southern Oregon.  Right off the interstate, it is quite large and has some very nice paved walking paths along the Rogue River.  I stayed at this park waiting for just the right moment to drive over the Siskiyou Mountains which can be treacherous in bad weather.  Luck was with me and I had a sunny day to make my journey from southern Oregon to Redding, CA where you are finally over the majority of mountain passes. 

This month was also the time when CA had multiple atmospheric rivers come through causing catastrophic flooding. Again, I was very lucky to pass through the Sacramento area and beyond in between storms and before the really bad storms arrived.  I did have several days of pouring rain but was soon beyond it to get settled on the south side of Joshua Tree National Park. Tip: if you go to Joshua Tree for the first time, stay in the north near Twentynine Palms.

Mostly I chose to stay south because I wanted to see several out of the way quirky sites. The first was Salvation Mountain.  Oh wow, I heard of this place years ago and finally made it there. It is out in the almost middle of nowhere near the Salton Sea in southern California.  Back in the 1980’s a man who lived there decided he wanted to make a spiritual Christian place of inspiration.  He used a small hill/mountain and covered it with adobe mud. He then painted it in super bright colors and wrote bible scriptures and Christian messages in places.  Its hard to describe so my pictures will provide the visual.  It was quite an inspiring place.  The original creator has passed away but there is a caretaker and volunteers to keep the place running.   The surrounding landscape is barren and I’ll say ugly, so the contrast of bright colors at Salvation Mountain is magnificent. People come from all over the world to experience this place.

Just up the road from Salvation Mountain is Slab City, the last lawless place in America.  For years this area has attracted folks that want to live free of rules and regulations.  They live in RV’s or whatever they have. Some people have built adobe houses. There are some businesses there like restaurants, a library, an rv park etc.  Some folks here are just artistic free spirits and you can see it in the art renderings in various places throughout town.  I only drove through town and did not stop to get out or talk to anyone in town.  Although the eclectic artsy-ness about the place is interesting, it has another side as well.  Trash all over, burned out cars and RV’s, people on drugs.  I personally felt uncomfortable but can see the appeal for some people.  To live free without encumbrances of any kind.

This portion of the trip took me up to about January 8^th, 2023.  Next stop Quartzsite, AZ.