{"id":9096,"date":"2020-06-01T09:00:52","date_gmt":"2020-06-01T16:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/?p=9096"},"modified":"2020-05-30T13:55:58","modified_gmt":"2020-05-30T20:55:58","slug":"twilight-zone-to-the-accidental-sea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/?p=9096","title":{"rendered":"Twilight Zone: The Accidental Sea"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Bob Sparrow<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Twilight Zone’s Rod Serling<\/p><\/div>\n

You are in a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man’s fears and the summit of his knowledge. A world where your imagination is the only ticket required for passage.\u00a0 Next stop: The Twilight Zone of Travel<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re on a dark, desert highway, cool wind in your hair, warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air.\u00a0 Up ahead in the distance, you see a shimmering light.\u00a0 Your head grows heavy and your sight grows dim.\u00a0 You had to stop . . . but not for the night.<\/strong><\/p>\n

That shimmering light is 50 miles south of Palm Desert<\/strong> in a place that rivals Palm Springs<\/strong> in popularity and draws more visitors than Yosemite<\/strong>.\u00a0 You are on the desert floor at 223 feet below sea level<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

You have arrived at the wonderfully, bazaar Salton Sea<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Salton Sea in the 50s<\/p><\/div>\n

You are just in time to witness one of boating\u2019s 21 world speed records<\/strong>, as the high salinity makes boats more buoyant and, at more than 200 feet below sea level, barometric pressure improves performance.\u00a0 Speed boats, water-skiers and fishermen populate this body of water that is larger than Lake Tahoe<\/strong>.\u00a0 Its shorelines are dotted with beach-front motels, yacht clubs and fancy restaurants.\u00a0 It is a place that caters to over one million visitors<\/strong> a year, looking to get away and relax in the sun and possibly to invest in what is called the \u2018California Riviera\u2019<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re at the North Shore Beach & Yacht Club<\/strong>, which just opened the largest marina in southern California, where celebrities including Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, the Marx Brothers, Jerry Lewis<\/strong> and Desi Arnaz<\/strong> gather at this Salton Sea beachfront motel.\u00a0 Your plan is to have some cocktails, a nice dinner and take in a performance by the Beach Boys<\/strong>, who were appearing live that evening.\u00a0 The only problem . . .<\/p>\n

You are 60 years too late!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Shoreline of the Salton Sea today<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The North Shore Beach & Yacht Club today<\/p><\/div>\n

The North Shore Beach & Yacht Club<\/strong> no longer exists.\u00a0 In fact much of what was built to lure visitors and investors to this area has been ravaged by 120-degree<\/strong> heat, 75 mile per hour winds <\/strong>but\u00a0mostly by a body of water that was created when the Colorado River<\/strong> breached a dike in 1905, releasing water that became the Salton Sea, an ecological disaster dubbed the \u2018Accidental Sea\u2019<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

1,000s of dead fish on Salton Sea’s shore<\/p><\/div>\n

Over the years, due to the heavy alkalinity which causes a lack of oxygen in the water, the sea has become uninhabitable – in fact over 1.7 million fish<\/strong> died in one day . . . yes, in one day.\u00a0 And if things weren’t bad enough, the Salton Sea sits directly over the San Andreas fault<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Salvation Mountain<\/p><\/div>\n

If you continued your journey along the east shoreline of the sea, you’ll hit the not-so-bustling town of Niland<\/strong>, population of less than 1,000 – fewer during the summer.\u00a0 From there, since you’ve already come this far, it’s just a short distance to a must-see attraction – Salvation Mountain<\/strong>.\u00a0 Constructed by Leonard Knight<\/strong>, who started building the 50 foot mountain in 1984; this masterpiece is resplendent with not only biblical and religious scripture such as the Lord’s Prayer<\/strong>, John 3:16<\/strong>, and the Sinner’s Prayer<\/strong>, but also includes flowers, trees, waterfalls, suns, bluebirds, and many other fascinating and colorful objects.<\/p>\n

And just when you thought that things couldn’t get any weirder, you continue east on the road another mile or two and find Slab City<\/strong>, ‘the last lawless place in the United States’<\/strong>.\u00a0 And you ask yourself, can this ‘last lawless place’ really be that unsafe?\u00a0 Here’s a quote from one of the residence of ‘The Slab’<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Entrance to Slab City<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Slab City Library<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThere are definitely some murderers in Slab City, but they would be stupid to do anything here. They might have killed people in the past but they surely won\u2019t do it here, they are hiding. So you could say, this is one of the safest places on earth!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

OK, it’s time to get out of the sun and this Twilight Zone episode.\u00a0 Thanks for joining my virtual tour; can’t wait to actually go there . . . or NOT!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Bob Sparrow You are in a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man’s fears and … read more<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":9097,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[813],"tags":[3348,1430,3345,3344,540,3343,3349,914,3347],"class_list":["post-9096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel","tag-accidental-sea","tag-coachella-valley","tag-imperial-valley","tag-north-shore-beach-yacht-club","tag-palm-springs","tag-salton-sea","tag-salvation-mountain","tag-san-andreas-fault","tag-slab-city"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Rod-Serling.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p31aN0-2mI","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9096"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9096\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9130,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9096\/revisions\/9130"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}