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Kind: captions
Language: en

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You might have seen Salvation Mountain
in music videos or in documentaries.

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It attracts people.

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Even for folks who aren't religious,
this hill,

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covered in half a million
gallons of latex paint

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and sitting in the middle
of the sun blasted California desert,

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this hill has something about it.

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And it was the work of just one person.

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Leonard Knight was a man
who, he was kinda lost,

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just cruising around trying
to figure out what to do.

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He discovered Jesus,
so he had a mission,

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and then he started doing things.

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and he made a hot air balloon,
like 200 foot,

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sewed it all together with all
these praises to God on it.

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Brought it out here.

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The desert ended up taking
its toll on the balloon,

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but he stayed and he built this mountain.

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But you really have to look at it
to get the big picture.

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That sand hill, that way,
shows exactly what was here.

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Couple little straggly bushes
and a flat hill of sand.

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And Leonard built all this.

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He added extra clay, hay bales,
whatever it took to build this all up.

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He just kept goin' and goin'.

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He was going to dome the whole thing off.

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And he never really thought
of himself as a artist,

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he more thought of himself as
somebody just doing what he was doing.

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He was a persistent dude.

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This mountain originally fell
after three and a half years of building.

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He rebuilt.

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He had a passion, and
this is so beautiful.

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28 years of dedication.

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Try dedicating 28 minutes
to something nowadays, realistically.

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I think about that.

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Leonard Knight had no training,
no collective of other folks around him.

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The technical term is outsider art.

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He wasn't inspired by anyone else's work,

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unless you count God.

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He wasn't imitating great artists,

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he wasn't asking for feedback
from friends around him,

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he just created this, and
it resonated with the world.

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Years after his death,
there's a group of people here

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who give their time preserving his legacy.

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We have so many people
coming from everywhere.

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I've met people from
little countries in Africa,

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to all over Europe, to
floating little islands

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and this and that, it's amazing.

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And some people, they come here
for the religional deals on it, cool.

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Some people come here for pretty people
takin' pretty pictures at a pretty place,

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which-- be respectful, and that's cool too.

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It's getting you out, you're doing stuff.

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They're getting off their couches
and getting away from the TVs and stuff,

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which is... TV is awesome too,
though, so I'm not knocking TV.

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Paint donations that we get here,

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most of them come from the visitors.

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They'll bring a couple of cans,

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couple of cans turn into a hundred cans.

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Let's say I wanted to paint that heart.

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I would have to wait a
considerable amount of time

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'til I had enough really beautiful red
to mix up to paint that heart.

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And then it makes it
so much more satisfying

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when you do do it.
But the best thing is,

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that our paint comes really
from the heart, from the people.

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Even if this were to fall apart,

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it's inspired so many people,
filmmakers, pilgrims, and tourists alike,

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that it'll live on in memories,
in photographs, and yes, in music videos.

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The moment I knew about it,

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I wanted to come here
and see it for myself.

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I started volunteering here because

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I realised how important it was
to everybody that came here.

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And so I volunteered more,

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and eventually they had me
be like a greeter

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and I would, "Da-de-dah-de-dah."

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Then I was like,
"Well, can I paint while I greet?"

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"Oh yeah, go ahead."

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"Da-de-dah-de-dah."

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Next thing you know I'm the caretaker

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and I've been living
here a year and a half.

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In my heart I'm the
preservationist of this place.

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I've tried to paint it all the same
and make it beautiful and keep it.

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When I fix it, I fix it good.

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If I can't fix it good,
don't fix it yet, leave it alone.

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Leave it alone 'til you can do it right.

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The biggest thing is: this is about love.

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Leonard's love was God,
and his relationship with Jesus.

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But all kinds of love is awesome.

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Like these people all just love cruising around
and hanging out, doing stuff.

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That's all makes everything better.

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We don't think about all
the dumb crap in this world.

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And you know what?
Then the dumb crap in this world

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really becomes dumb crap in this world

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and it doesn't have a powerful voice.

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There's not many places in
this world where it's good,

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and nothing's expected of you.

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We hope you would donate money to us

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'cause that's how we do it,
but if you don't, cool!

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We got free souvenirs anyway,
and there's constantly stuff going on.

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But if you show up on a Saturday,
you'll get to see what this is really about.

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It is just packed with
people having a good time,

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respecting the mountain,
respecting each other, it's awesome!

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Some folks would say
it's divine inspiration.

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Some folks would be a bit more cynical
and say that it had to be someone.

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Of all the millions,
perhaps billions of people

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who ever tried creating art
with no experience and no training,

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yes, statistically someone
was going hit the jackpot.

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But it's difficult to be cynical here.

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So I brought a couple of cans of paint along
as part of my own pilgrimage,

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because as it turns out,

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I want to help preserve this as well.