Salvation Mountain, Niland, California

Leonard Knight was born 1931 Burlington, Vermont. He attended a one room school house.  At 20, the Korean War was on. He was drafted but the war ended shortly after and he came home. He painted cars and taught guitar. At the age of 35 sitting alone in his van he was saying the Sinner Prayer, “Jesus I’m a sinner, please come upon my body and into my heart’. He accepted Jesus into his heart and was never the same again. 

Seeing a hot air balloon, he decided that was the way to have people see the Sinner’s Prayer. Working odd jobs and with a second hand sewing machine he attempted to make a Hot Air Balloon with “God is Love.”  In 1984 he moved to Niland Southern California with his home built inflating furnace. He never got his balloon aloft. It kept ripping so after 14 years he admitted defeat with the balloon and proceeded to make his first mountain monument with cement and paint.  When this collapsed he made a second mountain with adobe cement and straw . People donated paint and Leonard figured he’d used 100,000 gallons on his mountain

The mountain was at the site of Slab City, a place where squatters from the north snowbirded south into the area of the Fort Dunlap Training Base.  The county decided to charge a user fee to camp there but didn’t like a ‘religious monument’ at the entrance of a county campground. They hired a toxic waste specialist who declared the mountain a ‘toxic nightmare’ before taking samples. He said there was  a high level of lead.  They were going to haul the mountain off to a toxic dump.  The community and Leonard responded by taking the samples from the same sites  and sending them to an independent lab. This found no toxicity. Leonard continued to work on the mountain

Eventually the Mountain received recognition as a “national treasure”

The Christian Rock Band , Third Day featured Leonard Knight and Salvation Mountain on their Revelations CD.  

These are excerpts from the Salvation Mountain pamphlet . Also the salvationmountain.us internet site. Leonard Knight died 2014 but a caretaking group continued to maintain the site.  The volunteers I met were kind and helpful.  

It was odd for me. I love Christian art and have been to St. Petersburg, Constantinople,  the Cistine Chapel,  Golgotha and the Church of Nativity, Bethlehem.   Here at Salvation Mountain I too felt the presecnce of God and was moved. .  What a monument of love!!

Leonard believed “we’ve got to start loving God more. god’s love is the strongest force. Hate is going to get smaller, and love is going to get bigger.’

He often said “Love is universal. Love God, love one another and just keep it simple.”

The sinner’s prayer, “Jesus, I’m a sinner. Please come upon my body and into my heart’. God is love. 

Fountain of Youth RV Mineral Hotsprings Resort — Friday Jan.16

I’m tired after 15 minutes in Lobster Pot. I’m recovering before taking the Vespa and the little guy to visit Salvation Mountain in Nyland.  We’ll take the Vespa.

Last night I had a wonderful dream of snowmobiling with my father, He was on the seat in front of me. We had a great time coming down a mountain but when I looked back up I was concerned about us flipping but I trusted his and my weight would do fine and gunned it up the mountain and past a truck stuck on the side.

 I love dreaming of family and friends and dogs. I feel they’re visitting me.

I was at an AA meeting here and always feeling spiritually inspired after such meetings. Lots of folk and in person.  I was at another at Bombay Beach.  The meetings are a real attraction of FoY in addiction to the hot springs, little dog park and the proximity to Bombay Beach.

I had a week of work and it was tiring.  I feel good about it.  I feel I am serving a purpose and glad for the income to pay for this Thor Hurricane which I love.

While I try to stay in the present which is where God is I find my thoughts skipping forward to spring , taking Laura to the Whistler RV park and Harrison Hot Springs.  We’ve gone frequently with the Truck and Camper but I’m really looking forward to going with the Thor. Also I’m thinking about taking the Thor over to the island for a couple of weeks or so this year.  I want to get a little Maverick hybrid to tow but that’s another learning curve. For now the Vespa is working fine though I’m a bit anxious about loading it.  Renting the car in LA made me appreciate 4 wheels and I’m tending towards that as a little truck would serve so many functions. I could trade in my Mini but the cost is still challenging. 

Carney has gone to China and said he’s pleased to negotiate the New World Order. He actually said it and then back pedaled The WEF meetings is coming up and I really would like to see the American trash this Climate Change fraud and the WHO/UN scam.  Net Zero, the Carney gospel is just hustle and the move to digital id and consumption restriction is 1984 in a big way at the very time when we have the capacity to be collectively wealthy .  I fear that government is massive mismanagement and globalism.  Centralization of neo communism is rife with corruption.  I’m getting sucked into FB and social media posts spending too much time there when I could be doing more valuable things like writing books, playing, guitar, walking the dog, anything but social media.

I could also be meditating more and seeking conscious contact with God.

It’s visually very beautiful here.

I just saw a big bee and asked FB , mainly Rob Scagal , what it is . When Ifirst saw it I thought it was a hummingbird it was that big.  

Thank you Lord for this day.  

Graeme had his catheterization and is out of doing okay. 

Laura says she’s getting her nails done.

I completed my medical license renewal this morning and emptied the black and grey water tank. I’ve got laundry to do today or tomorrow.  It’s a nice day with little wind so a good day for a Vespa ride the 12 miles to Nyland.  

Thank you Jesus.

Bombay Beach - Church on the Beach 9 am - Sunday, Jan 11, 2026

Sunshine and warmth. The cross and altar.  Christian music from a single speaker.  Pastor Jack talking about St. John and the Trinity.    “In the beginning was the word’.  It’s thought the most mystical of the gospels.  The three in one god. The three persons of God.  One God , three persons, God the father, God the son and God the Holy Spirit.

Earlier in my life and theological studies I learned that the  Orthodox  church and the Catholic Church once argued over who came first Jesus or the Holy Spirt .  Was it God the Father and the Son or God the father and  the Son and the Holy.    

Pastor Jack didn’t discus that today.  He spoke of Jesus and love and freedom from addiction. He spoke of  the power of prayer and love of family. It was all moving.  Reminded me of spiritual meetings we had on the beach in Saipan when I worked on the Mariana Islands.  That was the Pacific Sea.   Here we were  looking out over the Salton Sea.  

I’d thought as I’d ridden on my Vespa through Bombay Beach to the beach, that I liked this abandoned town that was slowly resurrection. . The old destroyed house juxtaposed with the new.  It felt like my inner conscious where trauma had left wreckage but thanks to the spirit order and wellness were pooking up like sprouts from the soil.   For whatever reason that was my thought this morning especially ans Pastor Jack talked anbout it his old self and the new self since he became a Christian. . I thiought back to the dreams I had in the  70’s before divorces   and the  rebirth of a kind. . I’m thankful today for the life I’ve lead. I’m thankful for the renewal of faith that occurred after the destruction.

In the Donovan song, “looking through Chrystal spectacles ] he sang’ the doctor bit was so far out.’  I’ve loved being a physician. I’ve loved the healing and the knowledge and service. I continue with this.  I’ve liked the travel too, the different vehicles,  the libraries and learning, the concernts and the songs. I’ve loved the music. I’ve loved the writing.  I’ve loved studying the Bible and spiritual learning. I’ve loved prayer and meditations.

I’m blessed today and grateful.  Thank you Jesus≥ 

Bombay Beach Cafe - Saturday, Jan.10, 2026

It’s a year ago I was here in this court yard, sitting at a table in the sun having a cafe au lait.  The Da Vinci Fish installation is quite the work of art.  This is the centre of the art community in Bombay Beach.  The majority of art installations are on the Beach though there’s more in the town.  

Situated on the east side of Salton Sea off highway 111, 232 feet below sea level,  it’s the lowest community in the US. This was once a famous night club spot where The Beach Boys and Frank Sinatra are  performed. Another article I read said Sonny and Cher came here.  That was before 1970’s to 80s when the flow of water ended and the salinity and chemicals in the sea killed off the wildlife. Some still survive.  People fish and boat but it no longer is the glamour night spot where celebrities water skied in the day. 

Storms and flooding hit the town which never recovered. The town was abandoned but on every street there is a house with all the evidence of renewal.  Articles on the internet say that in the last decades ‘intellectuals, artists and hipsters’ have come back to the town.  Last year I enjoyed the Beach Church Serive. There’s that sense of revival mixed in with the decay and decline.  It’s been described as a living ghost town.  200 or more people are living there.  There’s a market and a restaurant bar. I like the Bombay Beach Cafe best.  

  

Today I’m just glad to be here wearing the Bombay Beach Cafe I bought last year and have worn with fond memories all year.

I drove my Thor Hurricane Class A Motorhome to Fountain of Youth RV Hotsprings Spa.  Last year I just had my Ford F350 with an Adventurer camper.  My Thor feels more at home at Fountain of Youth while the truck and camper felt right in Bombay Beach Townsite and on the beach itself.   If Fountain of Youth Resort  would be considered up town Bombay Beach is definitely down town. Asked to described this cafe I said it was the original template for Starbucks chain.  Elegant with art and gentile interior and outdoor rustic tables. Conversational snd enlightenment.  I’ve been in cafe’s in Instanbul and Paris and this has that sense.  Starbucks homogenized the idea and frankly I prefer that to the diner cafe that preceded that in North America.  Edward Hopper immortalized that with the Night Hawks painting in 1942.  Bombay Beach Cafe will one day spawn something.  The town could be the location for a zombie or a post apocalyptic movie. Yet in the middle of that is this incredible cafe where the art collective meets.  It’s all a bit like Bombay I visited in the 80’s when high rises were going up and the local Indian businessmen were using the concrete walls to support their leantoo shops. There was that juxtaposition of old and new there too. 

 I love the ambience of Bombay Beach Cafe.   Lots of dogs outside today.  One table has a beautiful young girl reading alone. Her dog lookedlike a pirate, one eye surgically closed, the other bright and alive. .  A dog’s grey beard. Laying close to its master. Loved. At another table has a few older men and women were talking art and regional politic while at another more  young women well dressed with slacks and hiking boots were talking health and family.  My hearing aids make it impossible not to eaves drop some .   I prefer not to wear them but when I do social interaction is facilitated even if I do have to contend with a little Superman hearing compared to my normal quietude.  

Bombay Beach Town it self is a mix of yards and cottage homes in disrepair and junk interspeaced with functional accommodation or motorhomes. I understand why it’s been called a living ghost town.  It’s unique with these oasis about, the market and the occasional well kept cabin, the saloon. When I first rode in on my Vespa last year  I had a flashback to an old acid trip. The graffiti and urban squalor in one corner looked like a site for a meth lab. But It was Vietnam era in my mind and I thought of this as a dream of what I thought would be the ultimate place to live. If only there were women who didn’t like to wear clothes too much, wine and pot and I could play guitar some. It was a fleeting memory of a time long ago when I stopped listening to The Beach Boys and tuned into Lead Zeppelin and later heavy metal.  A bit of graffiti insanity.  A little further along that road the  pretty white mariner  church anppeared.  I’d later attend an inspiring community church service on the beach and give thanks.  People are rebuilding the town.  They are making  homes.   Tourists are coming through with dune buggies. It’s is an artists enclave.  There’s a a bit of Mexico in America.  Quite a few new 350 trucks and new Audi , lots of vehicles.  Dune buggies on the beach. A unique place.  Very unusual.  I’m drawn to it. It appeals to the resilient. I’m glad to have come back. I’ll get another t shirt.  

I like the palm trees.  Great blue sky today and  desert winds.  More people have come into the court yard.  People say hello to each other. There’s community.  It’s easier to understand a place if there’s a factory. I imagine there are retired folk here. I’ve seen some vets. The Vietnam Vet Ball Cap gave one away.  Soon the Gulf War folks will be following.   I’ve not seen children in town but they are out on the breach. Families atop to look at the weird modern and contemporary art installation art which would be a sensation at the LACMA or Getty.  

I like letting Madigan , my cockapoo, run free on the beach.  Yesterday he was with six other dogs running free.  Freedom comes to mind in this place where it’s in renewal and people are creating the new reality.   If you stop and pay attention you can see it.   This is a place out of time.  Not fixed yet. Some of the junk in front of  one house could be junk or a yard sale or collections of colored glass. . It’s a mystery.  

Last week when I was in Hollywood I saw the Salton Sea featured  in the tv Harry Bosche detective series. I like that I’m here. The cafe au lait was good. I shared the blueberry muffin with Madigan.  We’ll be back. There’s a strange appeal.

FoY - Friday Afternoon

It’s been a heavy schedule so far. After getting up and having coffee I walked the dog to the small dog park.  Madigan met Pugsley and naturally I forget the name of Pugsley’s mommy.  Then Gilbert arrived with Ellie May and went off to bring Joey. Ginger came too. They all have humans but I seem only able to remember the dogs names.  Joey is the sweetest weiner dog.  Ginger was an energetic cutie who got Madigan to chase her.

Personally I had a profound conversation about dog poop with one of the mom’s. 

Then the wind picked up and I thought we’d had enough and I’d like to check my Starlink antennae. I’ve had it on a tripod rather than the ladder mount. I think I should improve the arrangement but the wind is forecast to die down this afternoon then all week.  I brought it in last night.

It’s been cool only 65 degrees but 80 degrees later in the week.

I had a nap when I got home.  After that I walked over the the shower and Lobster Pot Hotsprings.  There I talked to a farmer from northern Washington and a Naval couple from San Diego.  I told my story of notifying the vessel at night that popped up on my radar. They acknowledged me then disappeared to pop up behind me. Turned out it was an American submarine.  

Now I’m home and have had a shower.   I’d planned to go to Bombay beach but there’s an online meeting at 1 and it’s 1240.  I could go after the meeting.  I’d still have between 2 and 5 when it’s dark. I wanted him to be able to run on the beach and for myself to stop in at the Bombay Beach coffee shop.

I miss Laura because she helped with my scheduling.  Hard questions like should I have porridge or eggs for breakfast, she’s great at.

Barb is celebrating her 40 year birthday today. Amazing!

FoY - Mineral Hot Springs and RV Resort - Friday, Jan. 9, 2026

I am thankful to be alive.  I am grateful to awake to my little dog Madigan wanting attention and pets. 

I have had peaceful dreams of beautiful women, like sisters, sharing housing and space and meetings.  I have these two major locations of my dreams. This kind of condo or apartment complex with beautiful architecture and lectures halls. There we are passing each other. People are beautiful . We are all young in our 20’s to 40’s.  Then there is the other place equally appealing place on the wooded northern ridge where we are dressed in jeans and have quads and 4x4’s.  

I was at a meeting last night. I am so thankful for meetings and shared experience.  I am so thankful to be welcomed and feel a part of.  

It was a long day of work yesterday. I liked everyone and being of service and being challenged by th chemistry and medicine.  It was tiring.  I was glad when the evening came and my work was completed.

The winds came up and I was concerned for my Starlink.  I had already taken out one of the poles so it was low to the ground. I put a rock and the edge of the small propane tank on the base of the tripod to hold it down.  I have the pole buddy but the upper part of the one I have on the ladder is lose and I need to replace it with the other components I have or just a a tie to it. I have it as my task for today. Maintenance.

I walked Madigan twice to the pet park and he met with other dogs. He loves it here. I made it for a soak at the end of the day.  Lobster Pot.  I could go there now but I expect I’ll walk Madigan up to the dog park first. I’m having the morning coffee and challenged by building a schedule.

I enjoy Laura’s company because she has particular ways about doing things and if I were to ask her whether I should walk the dog or sit in the waters she’d have an ‘answer’. It’s joyful to share decisions with a friend even when they’re simple like what to eat tonight.  After a day of work I’m fairly brain trashed and the thought of simple things which task to do is often a challenge. I think of myself as ‘lazy’ but I’m obviously not. 

We discussed judgement and judgementalness.

We talked of journaling. So many do it now. Perhaps it’s been always this way.

I start my day reflecting on my relationship with God..

My purpose is to know God and do his will. God is loving and I say I play peek a boo with Jesus. I had a Vespa ride with Madigan on my schedule to Bombay Beach.  I have the potential of an on line meeting but the time in the middle of the day may conflict with activities like Bombay Beach. I want to have coffee there and also let Madigan run on the beach.  

I feel good walking Madigan to the pet walk. There’s an uphill climb and it’s exercise.  I’ve the foundation training to do and so far have missed that today.  My mornings are most productive and today I have so little planned.  Perhaps this afternoon I’ll fix the pole buddy.  I brought the Starlink satellite in last night and might do that today.  I have pegs somewhere but would have to find them.  

Todays’ Bible Verse - Beloved , let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.”

I love family friends, madigan and impressionist paintings and palm trees and indoor plumbing and electric blankets and fine food and coffee.

I am grateful for all I love.  

In the daily reflections the discussion is ‘Providence - the protective care of God”. I feel providence as I drive my motorhome on the freeway. That is for sure.  I feel providence in the protection of my Starlink antenna in the winds .  

I like to journal as a place to put my pictures each day.

I bought a FoY hat and a FoY towel from the grocery store. I have the tshirt from last year.  When I sit in Lobster Pot in the afternoon the afternoon sun is in my eyes.  The ball cap will address that.  I like that it’s big and fits but I bought a grey white one and don’t know what I was thinking because I get everything dirty that’s light colored but all my other hats are black or blue.  

I like that I have some peace of mind today though this morning it’s not so evident.  I’ll walk the dog and give thanks to God and Jesus for this sunny day  Holy Spirit come!!!

Romans 7.15-20 ‘what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate, I do”

Romans 7:15-20 St. Paul - “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do , but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do , I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but its sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing. Now if I fo what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but is is sin living in me that does it.”

This so speaks to our thoughts on ‘addiction’ today. The old language of morality was that Good and God were permanent and immutable while world was temporary and impermanent.  This speaks to ego and self too.  The ancients saw the self and false self or ego.  The self was connected to God as the ‘nous’.  This ‘conscience’ or good desire versus the ‘Sin’ which ‘missing the mark’.  I could have good intentions but my desire to do right could be thwarted .  The word to ‘sin’ was an archery term referring to missing the bulls eye.  

Today we consider addiction in the same way. There’s genetic predisposition.  The identical twin alcoholic has a 50% chance of being addicted if his identical sibling is regardless of whether they are raised together. The genetic predisposition is greater for alcohol than other addictions but shows that there’s a variety of ease of becoming addicted depending on parents and grand parents.  

The environment obviously plays a role but where alcohol is banned other addictions prevail.

Evil wasn’t so much Hollywood as just ‘wrong’.  There were spiritual laws, often seen in they Biblical proverbs and other wise sayings that people learned were keys to a good life. Thou shalt not murder is as valid a saying as ‘don’t spit into the wind’ or ‘don’t shit where you eat’.  

The Christian ideal is that there is a loving God and a friend in Jesus who wants you to succeed.  

The road to hell is paved with good intentions says that mostly people aren’t truly psychopathic but go astray.  The metaphor of the journey or the path is throughout spiritual literature.  Detours and set backs abound but there remains the ‘wee small voice’ that can be called Jesus or the Holy Spirit and this points the ‘best’ way. I would argue that this isn’t the ‘only’ way is good guidance like parents give to their children having years of earthly experience before them.

Now Paul is verbose and interprets Christ.  In the NIV there are Bibles with the gospels showing the words or Jesus in red.  Paul shares and interprets Jesus sayings and message. I think he’s right a lot but I disagree with him in some things.  As Christians we reinterpret the teachings for the times.  

This passage is critical though.  It speaks to the essence of morality social and individual.  

Personally I find there is this ‘best intent’.  Today I plan to eat less chocolate, exercise more, fast whatever. What ever is what I consider ‘good today’.  The outcome analysis of my day too often shows that I’ve not exercised as much as intended and I’ve eaten more chocolate.

The ‘flesh is weak’ refers to the ‘war’ that goes on within me between what I ‘intend’ and what I do.  Jesus is God. He sets an example of what I am to do.  The Bible is the source of his statements and the interpretations of his sayings and those of his followers to this day.  My mentor Dr. Willi Gutowski recommended reading the Bible every day.  He and his family did at meal time.  I continue to study the Bible and find it as source of great solace and truth.  

___________

I was raised Baptist.  The Baptist church was a split from the Anglican Church which split from the Catholic Church.  The Anglicans rejected the Pope as the leader of the church.  The Pope is not only the head of the spiritual church but also the head of the Vatican state or country.  Protestants as a group broke from the secular leadership while following much of the same spiritual teaching.  The Church of England rejected the Church of Rome.  Baptists and Mennonites argued most forcefully for ‘separation of state and religion’.  This is fundamental to the American constitution.  Anglicans or Episcopaleans have the King of England as the head of the church.  Baptists see the church as separate from secular society.  They’ve maintained this since 1600’s and the American constitution did  the same.

It’s important to know that Islam has no such separation of church and state.  By Western standards they are 400 years behind social development as are the Buddhists who have a king who heads their church and their religions.  Communism is the religion of aetheism and they do not separate their religious or their prophet Marx or Mao from their state.  

Baptists believed in full immersion of the disciple wanting to be baptised and join the Christian faith. By contrast Catholics and Anglicans believe that an infant can be immersed or sprinkled and they are Christian.  Affirmation of Christianity is done when a person is older and cognizant.  The Baptists believe that a child who dies without baptisms is still pure and goes to heaven while the Catholics believe the child is of this temporal world, sinful so to speak, and impure.  

This is all going on today with the membership of the United States. Can one be ‘American’ legal, illegally or by birth but not live there.  It’s a similar discussion of belonging and who’s in and who’s out.  Are you with me or agin me. Which team are you on.  Baptists believed that God loves us all.  Christians believe that god loves all in general. The image of Satan that Merton wrote in Paraside Lost was of the Devil willfully refusing to turn to god.

We see this in addiction with people insisting it’s their ‘choice’ and their ‘right’ to be impaired and not suffer consequences of their substance abuse. This is seen with the fellow who seeks charity after spending all his money on some addiction and in other societies and cultures he ‘suffered’ consequences .

The whole notion of mens rhea and intent is central to western society whereas ‘determinism’ and ‘fate’ and ‘choice’ remain strong considerations for all that is happening in the world individually and as societies.