Best of 2003: Best Place To Disappear

Slab City, Niland
www.slabcity.org

Buy a beaten-down trailer or RV and head to Slab City 2 1/2 hours east of San Diego, where -- for more than 40 years -- folks have turned their backs on civilization and its discontents. Once a Marine training facility, "The Slabs" are now a 640-acre compound where you can pull in, park, and live -- rent-free. No questions asked. "The Slabs" offer a provisional church, an Avon lady, and a makeshift shower, but no running water, electricity, or sewage facilities.