New Year’s ‘Salvation’

By DANIEL WINSTON GATTO | Junior Reporter

It was January 1st, 2023 and I was going far from home about 185 miles. I was going to a place in the desert near the Salton Sea, called Slab City. A commune of people who wanted to live off the grid and away from the cities. I was only going with 3 people this time; My brother, his girlfriend and my dad.

We usually listened to a whole album while driving but this time my dad was excited that a Grateful Dead concert from 1971 had just begun. On the way, we stopped at the Salton Sea for a photo op and the concert was still going, we stopped for gas, the concert was still going, we stopped for a snack, the concert was still going, we stopped for the bathroom and the concert was still going!!!

I dozed off a couple of times and finally my dad woke me up and said we were almost there. Just as we pulled into a parking spot, the concerts encore’s last notes were ending in perfect harmony as if Jerry Garcia’s bohemian, angelic, spirit had guided us there safely. I looked up through the windshield and saw a colossal mountain with the word Salvation on it. WE HAD ARRIVED.

As we walked around that area we met a woman with two dogs. She was the unofficial tour guide and she told us how the dogs had come to be there. One of the dogs she had bought and one, sadly was abandoned there as a puppy. I am very glad that this dog had come into such a lovely home after such a traumatic experience.

The lady was nice. She explained this mountain was made of adobe bricks and miscellaneous junk. She also told how it had been painted with thousands of gallons of donated paint.

After this we drove to the 24 hr Lizard Tree Library which was closed. Really??? But the Librarian, Aurora, let us in because we had a box of books and DVDs to donate. The only thing that resembled an actual library was that it had books. There was no roof, only tarps, cloth, plywood and tin. There was a clothesline in the back yard and there was even a dried scorpion in a bowl.

After this we drove towards a pet cemetery that they had. The gravestones were each unique and it warmed my heart to see how much these people cared for their furry companions. As we drove around the community, we could see tons of dogs running around, sleeping, or sunbathing. It was a very cool thing to see.

After this we went to the art exhibit. The art exhibit was very strange and bigger than I expected. Statues of different people and animals were displayed made of scrap metal and broken appliances. Robots made of car parts and rusted tools and an old pay phone. There was even a life size elephant made out of prehistoric tires.

My favorite thing was a functioning xylophone created from glass scraps. There was a whole row of TVs with strong messages on them. There was a lot of empowerment stuff including a ton of uplifting messages about freedom, which I thought was awesome.

After a while of walking around the outdoor art gallery, we stopped because my brother wanted to make a music video. We set up all of the equipment but were distracted when an extremely friendly cat strolled by. After a cuddle with the kitty, my brother played a song called “Hope” by The Descendants. Frankly it wasn’t his best performance, but he did have an audience of dusty, mangled barbie dolls.   

After this we finished the music video and started driving down the road out of there. Right as we were passing “The Range” (which was an open air nightclub), we saw a cloud of black smoke. We assumed it was someone burning garbage but when we got closer it was actually a car on fire. The owner seemed very agitated but we could hear sirens coming so we knew that they did not need our help.

Once again, another great family adventure. Yet all I could think as we left was, “What a long, strange trip it has been.”