The Slabs are the last remains of an abandoned military base in the Mojave, and it is here that the Loners on Wheels gather for their annual encampment. LOW, as it is fondly called, is a club of freewheelin' senior RVers who spend much of the year roaming the country. Their honorary queen is the venerable Duchess Grubb, an 88-year-old "single" with an undying wanderlust. Morosoli's engrossing Loners on Wheels is the story of the Duchess and her grand assortment of compatriots as they gather at The Slabs and caravan northward to Joshua Tree National Park. The LOW are an independent bunch whose self-sufficiency goes beyond the motor homes they drive. Like the Duchess, they thrive on "the Three Fs: Freedom, Friends, Fellowship." Grubb's earliest memories are of migrating from Kansas to the Coast, walking behind a covered wagon, then back again in an early-teens jalopy. The Duchess has never tired of pulling up stakes and moving on to discover the next vista. "See ya down the road," as she would say.-Steve Seid