A Visit to Salvation Mountain

On our last blog I wrote about Slab City, and one of our other stops was Salvation Mountain. I had heard a lot about this and had seen pictures, but being there in person was so different. I must say it was a most humbling experience. Leonard Knight created and designed this masterpiece. It is his work of love and his testimony of God's love that he wanted to share with everyone. People come from all over this country and even other countries to visit this place. It is located right next to Slab City.  There are no utilities here either, and he lived here for 28 years working on this in the hot desert sun. A few years ago, Leonard moved to an assisted living facility due to multiple health issues. He was in his early 80's. I just learned also that sadly, Leonard passed away about 10 days ago.  If you Google Salvation Mountain you can learn a great deal about Salvation Mountain and Leonard Knight. In fact there is even a movie in the works about him. In his years at Salvation Mountain, he testified about his faith to over 500,000 people who visited there.  He was a very friendly person, and he was always willing to talk to anyone who would listen. People really loved him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                  Even inside the mountain is painted, and you can go inside.
                                 .
                             

 

 

 

                                Everything that could be painted was painted with bible verses.

A Drive through Slab City in Niland, CA

Perhaps you have read about Slab City in California or seen a documentary. It is a place that attracts snowbirds in the winter, but there are also about 150 permanent residents who live there all year. Many live in poverty and you can tell... they are just scraping by. Some moved here to learn how to live off the grid and to be left alone. These people are squatters, but the government basically lets them be. Most all our pictures were taken by Al from inside the vehicle. We were very surprised to see in some areas, really nice RVs with solar panels and some really nice set ups. We didn't bother to take pictures of them. I guess these were the snowbirds and they were in a separate area. Many years ago this place was a Marine base, but has long been abandoned by the government.  I couldn't help but admire some of the talent of the people in decorating their surroundings.

 

                              Now this really takes you back in time.  in pretty good shape too!
                       

This gives new meaning to a shoe tree!

                                       This pick-up is decorated with all kinds of junk!

                                                         Church services are held here

 There were children sitting outside this bus/van/home combo. Tried to not include them in pic

                                         I kinda liked the outside décor on this one!

                                         Very sad to see this. I hope there was no loss of life.

                                                                                             

                        We saw this out by the road, but we didn't drive in or stop to check it out.

Just down the road from here is Salvation Mountain, another very interesting place we also visited.  I will be blogging about this also hopefully in the next few days. Both places were very interesting, yet completely different, which is why I decided not to combine them.  So......As soon as I can, I will be back!!!