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January 14 through January 20, 2005
Friday January 14:
The temperature is 50.6 degrees under the RV at 5:13 AM. We decided to leave early, stop at Home Depot in Yuma for stuff to make an antenna mast to attach to our rear ladder, then continue to the Slabs via a free dump station at a rest area on the way. It was a bit past noon when had two lengths of electrical conduit cut to fit in the pass through storage area under the RV, and passed unstopped through the California fruit inspection station on I-8. There was lots of traffic, including 3 RVs, and only one lane open. They could not stop many vehicles without a LONG traffic jam. I-8 in California passed along side the southern edge of the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area.
This area is a favorite of the dune buggy set. We found the dump station at the rest stop on SR 111, only one of two holes serviceable, and only one water faucet running in the whole facility, but we got the job done and parked in the RV parking area to wash our buggy windshield, shower, and wash the parsley we'd bought for a tabbouleh salad. All these things take lots of water, and we refilled after completing the tasks. It was after 4PM when we arrived at Niland, and after one wrong turn, we found the main RV parking area at the Slabs.
This is an abandoned WWII military training base known then as Camp Dunlop, now just used freely by RVers, some year round even if the temperature does exceed 120 degrees in summer.... I had heard a lot about the Slabs from various sources on the Internet, so was not totally unfamiliar with what to expect. We passed the old main gate guard house, and could not miss Leonard Knight's cross topped Salvation Mountain on the right.
It is a brightly painted straw bale and mud folk art creation he has worked on year round for 20 years, covered with Bible quotations. We proceeded on Beal Road passing the pastel blue Christian Center on the left, then the Range on the right, before finding a man cleaning his large RV parked in a space near the road. He said we should just find a space we liked and park...and that there were plenty down the dirt side road next to him. We drove slowly to the top of the hill, and selected a spot protected by a low bush that turned out to be perfectly level too. :-) We could see the Range across Beal Road, but had lots more space from the next RV here than at any commercial campground I've seen. The cell service was strong digital too. The RV's near us looked well kept, and the area was perfectly clear of any debris .... Are there places nearby on the Slabs where I would not feel safe parking? Sure, but we could also find many areas like the one we chose. Claire made Swiss steak for dinner while I stowed a few things below, then we ate dinner and failing to find a PBS TV station, I went to bed. There were a few generators running as I drifted off to sleep....but the night was as quiet as any I've had anywhere after 10PM.
Saturday January 15:
I tried the net shortly after midnight local time, but had trouble getting on. It appears the local tower might be overloaded; it often allows a connect, but kicks me off shortly afterwards. I decide to go back to bed and try later. At 4AM it works, and stays connected until I finish all our regular net business, and upload the web page too. I call SunWorks, the local solar electric shop who had quoted me a good price on new Trojan T-105 house batteries. They had them, received just last week, and the date code was February 2005...(the factory codes them three months ahead to allow time for shipping to the dealers). Their shop was not in the town as my GPS coordinates indicated from the address, but at the Slabs, not far from us.... :-)) There does seem to be something wrong with the GPS data I get from the net about locations here at the Slabs; perhaps folks really do not want to disclose their true positions on line? I guess I would not be too keen on that myself, but a business has to be found.... I walked to see if I could find them, and they are only 200 yards from where we are parked; I had not noticed the sign when we drove in.
The facility is comprised of a few old busses and a permanent workshop, but RVs were lined up for solar installations. We moved over there after finishing the business on line, and waited until "Solar Mike" was free to get us the batteries. I installed them myself, and gave him the old ones. He's a straight shooter and said he sold the good used ones to folks here for $25, or I could pay him the $5 core charge and sell them myself.... I could not believe many folks would want to pay $25 for a 6 year old mostly used up battery when they could buy new for $62, and we had no good place to transport them, so Mike got them. He indicated he would test them before selling them. After returning to our parking spot, we walked to Salvation Mountain, approaching from the rear top. I was surprised to see folks were CLIMBING on this artwork....
We were told to just "Follow the yellow brick road...". There was another camper up on top who told us of the flood problems here during rains a week or two ago. He had moved from his isolated parking spot in the desert to one close to the road and dryer to avoid getting stuck in mud. He was waiting to return there until folks who had moved in close moved out; Lee preferred no close neighbors. Down below we saw a group of folks who admittedly were not ordinary amateur film makers producing some video presentation on Salvation Mountain.
Leonard played his guitar for the camera as well... :-) There are intricately decorated vehicles as a part of the artwork as well.
The effort put into this place amazes me. Leonard must repaint often too, as the desert sun bleaches the paint rapidly. Behind the scenes, there are rooms to explore too, which reveal more details of the straw bale, scrap wood and mud construction methods used.
We went into the rooms...but some of those details I was not sure I really wanted to know....we are in earthquake country!
Then there are the things that we REALLY do not want to know...... :-))
One of the wonderful things about the Slabs is a freedom from rules, and I'd expect this includes building codes too... :-) They do claim they are subject to state and local laws though....but I don't claim to understand. I hear the folk art project has been declared a national treasure of some kind to prevent it from being torn down by detractors who claim the paint on the ground is an environmental hazard.... We completed the two mile walk (I carried the instruments, and measured 2.09 miles on the GPS vs 2.08 miles on the pedometer) as the sun set, and we could hear instruments being tuned at the Range as we got ready to eat our tabbouleh salad dinner; there was lots of it, it was tasty and we filled up before abandoning my dish washing and going to the Range to enjoy the live music. Builder Bill had constructed the stage on an old military building slab , and now passed the donation box for the volunteer musicians.
Many of these folks were professional quality musicians; some have CDs out (the red head lady guitar player, for one). One fiddler (on the left in red jacket) was said to play with a philharmonic orchestra, but she was having FUN here, and we were having fun watching and listening to her! She was definitely not playing philharmonic style at ALL. :-) The low light makes it hard to take pics without the lively motion of the musicians blurring themselves out, but we tried... the stage lights are bulbs in 5 gallon plastic buckets painted various colors, and no, we did not meet Wayne.... :-)) The folks are very friendly, and seem to want to meet those they do not recognize...like us. Solar Mike recognized us, said hi, and asked about our new batteries. I was happy to tell him the new batteries are working great. Soon he was on stage playing his harmonica with the JAMMING group....they were really good! A couple keyboards, a few guitars, a drummer, a few vocalists....this was good music and fun! We joined the folks dancing, but soon ran out of gas.... It was past our bedtime, cool in the evening, and it was hard to get close enough to the fire barrels to stay warm and not get "smoked out". Around 8:30 we left; although we could hear the music playing after we ran the generator and went to bed; it was not long before sleep came.
Sunday January 16:
I awoke around 3:30 here, thinking it would be a good time to go on line….not so. The Verizon tower we use would not keep me connected long enough to do anything. I feel lucky we could get the business done yesterday morning! I do wonder if this tower is overloaded with data users BECAUSE of all the RVers here? Perhaps we all have gotten used to going on line at odd hours to get good service? :-)) Anyway, we will try after the sun is up this morning, and all the night owls are snoozing.....Verizon was not at all cooperative here this AM. I'm thankful I had the time yesterday to do all the net business and upload the webpage. The tower may be malfunctioning, or possibly is overloaded from the estimated 3000 freeloaders camping in the Slabs and using free minutes for the net... :-) In any event, it keeps letting me connect every few tries, but kicks me off quickly, usually before I can get ANYTHING done....GRRRRR! Later our phone calls also refuse to go through or stay connected, and are pretty broken up and unintelligible on the other end. :-(( We go for a 2.5 walk along the Coachella Canal which separates the Slabs from the Air Force Chocolate Mountain Gunnery Range.
There is lots of construction activity along the canal; scuttlebutt from the CB radio said they were putting a concrete liner in the canal, but we cannot confirm that. The road along the canal is quite isolated away from the RV area, except for one broken down trailer with plywood for windows, broken down vehicles in front and "Keep Out" signs....we do obey! A few dogs observe us with what seems like undue interest...
We do pick up stones for last ditch defense, but they keep their distance. The free form nature of some of the campsites indicates long term occupancy.
The walk is tiring, and we are ready to eat dinner and call it a night early.
Monday January 17:
Today we intend to leave the Slabs and check out the Salton Sea. It seems like a casual day, and we need be in no hurry. Before noon a guy comes on CB channel 23 (the Slabs party line channel) asking if anyone has a gallon of 10W-40 motor oil. There are a few replies, but nobody with anything satisfactory for him. I finally get on and say I have 4 quarts of 5W-30 if he wants them. He says yes, but has no vehicle to come get them until his wife gets back. He says he'll replace them when his wife gets to Walmart. I tell him we're leaving today and will instead sell them for cash. He says he is Rooster, and will call when his wife returns. I say I will call when we leave and possibly drop them off on the way out. We eat lunch, and shortly afterwards Rooster calls asking for directions to us. He is shortly driving up in a pickup truck, and we transfer the oil and exchange pleasantries. Rooster is a slim sun browned mustached Army retiree. He needs regular treatment for bladder cancer which has been under control for a number of years, and is rebuilding an old racing engine which he assembled by coating each part with Slick 50. He had just gotten it running, but now needed oil to continue breaking it in, hence his request on the chatter channel. I guess this communications system works....we listen a lot while we're here, and get the drift of what is going on around the "City"..... There is a sign on the road that lists channel 23 as the local use channel. We've had no feeling of insecurity here where we are parked, but Linda comes on channel 23 and announces that a number of reports have come in about strangers lurking about, and that we should be extra careful to secure our property tonight. She further speculates that they have spent money on Christmas, and now the payments are coming due....so be careful for the rest of the month. YIKES, they have it figgered out that closely. We NEVER leave anything out more valuable than a dishcloth drying or our doormat, but there are more permanent campsites here with lots of things sitting out...including solar panels on ground stands, and generators. I guess I appreciate the motorhome's fully self contained nature more than ever! We decide not to leave the Slabs today, but rather bike to the "Hot Spring". Lee had pointed it out from Salvation Mountain. After pumping our tires, we started. The riding is easy and we notice a motorhome enter the hot spring area ahead of us. The elderly gent reached it before we did, but Claire asked if we might look. He was not very communicative, but said OK. The spring's water was murky gray green in color, a dirt sided pool 4 feet below ground level, steaming lightly. I put my hand in..it felt HOT. It is too soon for me to soak my mostly healed removed mole wound, and local custom requires we leave folks alone to soak, only using the pool when we find it unoccupied (we were informed that it could be quite embarrassing to approach the pool if there were vehicles there signifying it was in use). We thank the old man for letting us look, and tell him we'll leave him alone now. He seems relieved not to have to explain local custom to us... :-) We bike down into town, pass a number of boarded up buildings, look around the flea market at the Chamber of Commerce area, find a few RVs with stuff on display, but almost everything's closed and covered over with tarps. There is a dump station with non potable water for a $3 fee. Claire buys a coke at the only gas station in town. Supposedly the gas station will let RVs fill water in back....but we have no need and do not ask. We return "home", and both of us have the feeling we have come back to the "High Rent" district....
It's clean, spacious, scenic..even if free! :-) Claire prepares spaghetti for dinner, augmenting a can of sauce with fresh vegetables. It's quite good! :-) I turn in early after taking my turn with the dishes
Tuesday January 18:
In the morning I realized the generator oil needs changing in two operating hours...a couple days the way we use it. It would certainly be better to change it here than most other places, as here there are no firm rules against anything here unless the sheriff comes by. We have not seen him since we've been here. There is chatter on the CB about a dog biting someone passing through the owners camp at 1:30 in the AM....not a good time to be walking about here methinks! I'd expect worse than a dog bite after the warning we'd gotten on the CB of strangers being seen looking around, and to take care of any unlocked property. We make coffee using the generator, and I change the oil it when it's warmed up. The sheriff's car passes on the road...HUH? Then there is more chatter on the CB, from the owner of the biting dog asking when the sheriff is coming to work out details for the dog's mandatory quarantining. We left the Slabs near 10:30AM...it really is time to move on....the grass in the front yard is almost high enough to need mowing. :-)
We might find peer pressure overwhelming to neaten it up in this neighborhood too. :-)) We stopped to mail CDs to brother Bob at the Niland post office, then proceeded to Bombay Beach to actually see the Salton Sea up close and personal. We found a place that we could back the RV off the traveled road, yet keep the rear wheels on blacktop,allowing the rear of the RV to overhang the rough washed out mud beyond. Bean Boots were the shoe of the day thanks to Claire's perception that the walk to the water might be muddy. We did not notice the foul odor we'd been warned about due to decaying fish on the beach brought on by the heat of summer, but it was a long time since summer. Claire sank deeply in the mud as she approached the water, then called for a much needed retreat....
She did step in the Salton sea; I decided to forgo that exercise. We had also been warned that the effluent from sewage from Tijuana Mexico flowed into here, and indeed the black mud seemed very high in organic content. There was a thick layer of sun bleached shells above the high water mark on the beach that Claire says are barnacles...
They could, well be, as the Salton Sea is more salty than the ocean now as water evaporates from the flooding created by a broken aqueduct that drained Colorado River water into the below sea level valley for two years in the 1920's. Here, you make up your own mind.... :-)
I'm not sure why barnacles would be here in such large numbers, but there are shore birds feeding on something.
This black necked stilt we had last seen years ago in Florida. We ate lunch here then proceeded on toward our destination. On the way we passed the Desert Oasis advertising date shakes. We checked out the sample dates, finding them softer, moister, and tastier than we were used to at home. Some were like candy, so soft and smooth and delicious. We decided not to buy some lest we eat them.... I asked the gal making our date shake why they were better than we were used to in stores. She said the ones in stores were probably stale, as they only stay fresh for 4 months, or 2 years if frozen. There are sure differences in the varieties too. The best tasting variety we found was Barhi; it was smooth textured, sweet, and had a slightly persimmony taste I thought...delicious! The date shake we shared with two spoons was DELICIOUS too....a whole day's calories for two in a 12 ounce cup. :-) The recipe is simple; 3/4 cup Mejool dates cubed and pitted, 1 1/4 cups milk, 1 pint of vanilla ice cream, whipped in a milk shaker to make 3 to 4 servings. The Oasis used soft ice cream for theirs, but the shake was so thick you could not suck it through a straw...spoons were the necessary tool! We moved on, and found the Super Walmart in LaQuinta CA to be quite elusive. We had the address and a GPS location, yet could not find it. The address appeared not to exist. There was no Walmart at the GPS location we had. LaQuinta is an upscale town that looks like it might not appreciate our parking there, so we decided not to ask, but continued on to Cathedral City. We did not see the Sam's club where our maps said it should be there either, but did find the Walmart, complete with "No Overnight Parking" signs. We were wondering what to do next when I remembered I needed to replace the motor oil I had sold to Rooster at the Slabs. This is the last Walmart we expect for a while, so we went in, and I asked the pleasant customer service lady if there was a Sam's club in town...she said "Yes, at the junction of Date Palm and Rt 111....the OTHER END of Date Palm than we had expected...oh well! I then asked if the "No Overnight parking" signs meant what they said. She said that they were there because of a city ordnance, but Walmart did not object to our staying, and usually 2 or 3 RV's spent the night with no problems....OK! :-) Dinner is Tuna Salad and after the mid afternoon date shake it is quite enough, and very tasty. We could not find news on PBS, and the local news stations were totally focused on local crime...not real interesting to us. It was bed time soon after dark... Claire watched some TV, then turned in early too.
Wednesday January 19:
It is WARM overnight; over 60 degrees under the RV at 6AM. The area is quiet for sleeping and we are undisturbed. I awake before 4AM and decide to work on the computer. There is plenty of power in the batteries despite Claire watching TV last night. The new batteries were a GOOD investment in carefree living for us. :-) Today we will tour Palm Springs, starting with the visitors info center on the other side of town, and circling back to Sam's in Cathedral City where we hope to spend the night. If not, we'll go on to Flying J nearby. We leave Walmart before making coffee and proceed south to SR 111. The Sam's Club is there as described, right at Concourse Ave. We seek a tourist info place that shows on our map, but it does not appear. This town certainly has it's beauty.
The snow capped peaks above the sun drenched valley has its charm, and there are lots of folks around who seek it too.... We turn off SR 111 to turn around, and on the way out find a sign for it, and return to the vacant lot we've turned around in to park. The info center is under construction, and is self serve, but we find enough info to decide where to go and what to see. We make coffee while looking the info over, and Claire picks a shopping complex a few miles away in Palm Desert to browse through. Her main reason for choosing it is the claim for lots of free parking. :-) We find it easily, in a very upscale community, but much of the parking is urban California style; tight spots for small cars, or multi level garages without RV headroom. We find a convenient spot in a vacant lot again, and park next to delivery trucks with the same problem we have. We make shopping our exercise for the day, and proceed to poke into what appear to be grossly overpriced shops, many appearing to be offering sales of half off on merchandise inflated by a factor of 10. Shop owners complain the weather has inhibited tourism this year; there was serious flooding here, with roads closed and property damage. We do not notice any weather problem, unless it is the HEAT. It's over 80 today with bright sun, and we are nearing core melt down as we walk the sunny side of the street. We poke into Tiffany's store; nice looking REAL diamonds, much brighter sparkle than the HUGE fake stones in the costume jewelry showing in many stores, but if you need to ask the price, you can't afford it here.... We enjoyed the very adequate air conditioning though! :-) We walk about 0.6 miles one way, then return to walk about the same distance the other way. The sunny side of the street is HOT. This restaurant offered open air patio dining, but surrounded the patio with misters spraying onto the sidewalk....
It's a clever idea for their patrons' comfort, but I shield my camera while passing quickly by at the edge of the sidewalk. We did find one store closing out their Dansk line, and bought a cheese grater for under $3. Claire wants a small stainless skillet, but the $200 price tag on one we see is a show stopper...geeze, who would PAY that? We return to the RV and are happy we'd left the fan running; it is HOT in here, but at least it is shaded. We decide to drive through Palm Springs, as we've done enough walking for the day. The area is beautiful with the snow covered mountains approaching ever closer, and the hilltop homes are spectacular...and I'm sure spectacularly priced too. :-)
I am surprised to see Palm Springs is under 43,000 people, but I'm sure the population is much higher when Cathedral City, Palm Desert, Indeo, and surrounding towns are considered. We drive through the central tourist area of Palm Springs, and conclude that the development and heavy action has shifted to the towns further east like Palm Desert where we had shopped.
The Palm Springs tourist area looks congested and aging by comparison, although its location right under the mountain is impressive. We head back to Cathedral City, and shop for our upcoming boondock in the BLM land south of Quartzsite. We are not satisfied with Albertson's, and buy little. There are few shoppers in the store. We find another supermarket a bit further south, Stater Brothers, and it's CROWDED. Prices are WAY lower than Albertson's... I do wonder how Albertson's here stays open. I guess it is folks who do not know (like us) that are their only patrons. We continue to Sam's, find the "No Overnight Parking on Penalty of Death" signs in the congested parking lot and go in to buy a few things we need, expecting to have to move to Flying J for the night. We buy much more than intended, and I ask the clerk on the way out if we can park overnight..."Sure, no problem!" Oh well.... :-)) Claire found an inexpensive Portuguese port wine we try when we get back to the RV; it is VERY nice for the price, and we return for more to put in our stores... preparing for hard times or floods, of cuss! :-) Dinner is warmed up squash soup, DELICIOUS again...perhaps even better than the first time. It improves with storage. The room it leaves in the fridge is needed for new stuff too! I am in bed right after dishes....
Thursday January 20:
The 83 degree heat of yesterday is forgotten in the cool of the morning; it's 55 under the RV at 7:15 AM. Today we plan to finish our Palm Springs area tour, and spend the night at Flying J before proceeding toward Arizona. We expect to do laundry, take on water and dump in Blythe CA before going into the boondocking area south of Quartzsite Saturday. We do not dawdle in Sam's lot, but head out directly to the Coachella Preserve. We've decided to go to Joshua Tree National Park for the night; it has a good hike in the mountains, we can get water and dump there, and the cost probably does not exceed the extra cost of fuel we'd take on at Flying J when compared to Arizona prices. When we pass Flying J, we realize we've made the right decision; this is not a regular Flying J, and appears not to have a separate parking area for RVs. The Coachella preserve is a hidden jewel; it is a free park area sponsored by BLM, US Fish and Wildlife Service, the Nature Conservancy, and several other agencies aimed at preserving the California fan palm and the desert oases needed for it's survival and the survival of much desert adapted wildlife.
It has a number of hiking trails, but smoking is prohibited in the oases. This photo (taken from a display in the visitors center) shows why...
The dead palm fronds on the fan palm tree skirts are VERY flammable tinder, and one spark can destroy an oasis with all it's wildlife. The oases are created here by the action of the very seismological active San Andreas fault down below creating water impervious clay layers underground that prevent water from sinking into the underground water table. The trapped water flowing near the surface creates the springs that keep oases green and relatively shallow rooted palm trees alive. We see the area soon after heavy rains, and there is abundant water flowing. We see a few desert pup fish swimming in a flowing stream. The sand dunes at the edge of the oasis are fragile and a necessary part of the preserve's ecosystem;
Visitors are asked not to trample on them. We hike 2.5 miles on a trail that links two oases, passing near some private residences on the way. The northern oasis has a small pond associated with it, quite beautiful. The palms appear overwhelmingly tall from the shaded center of the oasis.
I can imagine how welcome such a place could be on a 120 degree summer day here, but we shall not stay to find out. :-) We are pleased to observe again the miracle rain brings to the desert.
This was identified from the flower chart at the visitors center as a desert sunflower. As we were leaving the park an elderly lady asked the visitors center volunteer whether she could have some salt and pepper for her family picnic from some old containers on display; the volunteer said she thought they were too old to use, a tactful way of saying "no", I thought. :-) I volunteered some from the RV, and she puzzled her family by walking to the end of the parking lot with me with no explanation; she would not tell them she had forgotten the salt pepper. :-) Claire showed her the RV while I packaged some salt & pepper in plastic sandwich bags. She seemed surprised that we could have all the comforts of home including a shower, microwave, and TV in our mobile abode yet not need to plug into electricity to use it. One of her family looked about our age and called her "Mom", so she lived a lot of years before modern fully self contained RVs existed. I was quite impressed at her ability to manage a family picnic here on her own and not miss more than salt & pepper! If we had to plan on something beyond walking distance from the RV, we'd forget more than that! We drove back to I-10 and marvelled at the smog blowing up the valley from Palm Springs and appearing to originate as a dense smoky cloud blowing from the west. The haze was quite visibly brown....YECH, that's what we've been breathing the last few days? Perhaps it is blowing from LA? Anyway we are going 40 miles east, and as we climb steadily toward 3000 ft the sky brightens and the air clears. This blimp is cruising along I-10 near the top of the pass.
At first I think it is a tethered balloon, but there is no tether! The RV engine is working hard for a long time pulling us from near sea level; the engine fan runs frequently even though we heed the posted signs to turn off our air conditioner to avoid overheating, and when we finally stop at the Joshua Tree park visitors center there is a hot smell drifting from below. I trust it is grease burning off the tail pipe and muffler....but do not look. We've experienced that same smell before and found smoking lubricating grease, which gets thrown from the U joints onto the exhaust pipe after lube jobs, and waits for high heat to burn off. The exhaust pipe is certainly unusually hot, as it clicks furiously while cooling. We sign up for one night in the campground, and are assured the water here is excellent. :-) This is a welcome change from the somewhat salty taste in the water we picked up at the rest stop in Brawley. According to ranger the night is expected to be in the 40s, and we notice only after selecting our campsite from the mostly empty campground that while quiet hours are a normal 10PM to 6AM, generator hours are a quite restrictive 7-9AM, 12-2PM and 5-7 PM. I do not recall this restriction from our stay here two years ago. :-( Dinner is spaghetti with left over sauce, and a delicious salad. I use the free access to water to clean our windows while Claire prepares it. There is no English language TV here, no NOAA weather, and the cellphone is intermittent one bar. I go to bed after dinner while Claire reads.... I am again reminded that I must install our Christmas gift LED reading lights...but we don't need them in the daylight when they can be installed! :-)
PLANS: We are in Blythe CA today (Saturday) having done a first for us; we got up in the dark and drove to the laundromat here, where we have the place practically to ourselves. After a bit more shopping we'll hop across the border to Arizona today, fuel in Ehrenberg and go to the free BLM area south of Quartzsite for the week long ham radio gathering, Quartzfest 2005. We will probably pay for a 2 week Long Term Visitor's Area pass at LaPosa South to have access to the nearby dump and water, especially since we were not able to dump here in Blythe; their dump station is out of order.... There are other activities on the Quartzsite BLM lands as well, after Quartzfest finishes, so having access to those facilities would be worthwhile. After finishing in this area, we will drift north to Las Vegas and Death Valley. Beyond that....??? Weather will play a big part in that decision though.
Until next time.... ENJOY! We are!
Barrie & Claire {In the sunny southwest where snow is confined to mountain peaks where we cannot go!} :-))