As you might have guessed we lead a somewhat nomadic style of life. We are continually looking for new, suitable campgrounds to stay at. The operative terms are new and suitable.
New: We are still in what we tend to call the “Wanderlust” phase of our retirement. After a full week in one place we get this irresistible urge to move on. Some stretches of the route between the Desert Southwest and the Pacific Northwest are getting more challenging to find places where we haven’t stayed before.
Suitable: When your rig is 53 feet long this is something you have to be sensitive to. Of course the big resorts are always “big rig friendly,” and they have all of the amenities; water, electricity, sewers, swimming pools, cable tv, wi-fi, Laundromat and club house. They have row upon row of long pull through spaces that are packed in as tight as they can arrange. We seem to thrive best in “barely suitable” camp sites; Sites that are about a foot too short and are a real challenge to get backed into.
This weekend is a perfect example. We are camped in Joshua Tree National Park. This is the second time we have stopped here, but we found a new corner of the park to explore. The campground is called Jumbo Rocks. The campground is packed into the relatively level spaces between jumbo rocks along a ¾ mile roadway that ends in a barely navigable loop. We are parked in a wide spot that is barely wide enough and long enough to get out of the travel lane. It actually turned out to be a pretty good spot. In fact we had reached the loop and the end of the road without finding anything suitable. Just then a motor home the same size as Arcturus started leaving their site. We slid neatly into their spot. They made their way around the loop and stopped for a chat. They were indeed leaving and assured us that it was a wonderful spot.
Joshua Tree National Park is in the southeast corner of California. It is sandwiched in between Twenty Nine Palms Marine Base to the north and the Salton Sea to the south. To the East are Rice Air Base and eventually the Colorado River and to the west is San Bernardino and Palm Springs. The area is rather mountainous varying from about 2,000 feet to over 5,000 feet. Jumbo Rocks Camp is at 4,400 feet, so the furnace was running a lot last night.
The park is rather large, nearly 800,000 acres, and it encompasses portions of the two great desert areas of Southwest California, the Mohave Desert and the Colorado Desert. It is interesting to watch the transition from the Creosote Bush dominated Colorado Desert to the Joshua Trees and Yucca as we climb to the higher Mohave Desert of the north western portion of the park.
We were out riding and hiking yesterday afternoon and it was scary trying to ride in winds that I estimate were twenty miles per hour and gusting to perhaps thirty five. Fortunately we were riding with the wind, but the road was curvy and we were riding cross wind much of the time. The hiking was really nice. The temperature was in the seventies and everything was blooming.
The winds continued blowing ferociously even into the night. We were nicely sheltered by the jumbo rocks that surround us and are a good 100 feet higher than the coach.
Actually we have it pretty good. We are roughing it, comfortably. It is spring break in California and around us we see young people sleeping for example in sleeping bags in the open bed of a pickup. We layered up about three layers deep and brought a blanket with us to attend a Ranger Talk at the Amphitheater. It was cancelled for the wind. As we walked back we saw one campsite with a big tent that looked like it was demon possessed. The wind would alternately flatten the tent and then let it spring up and shake its rain fly like a parasail in the wind.
There are places to visit and things to see. It is time to end this and start moving along. Today we will probably hike the mile long Skull Rock trail amid all of these Jumbo Rocks.
We send our love to all, Gary and Judy.
P.S. Check out our web-site for a photo of our camp and some desert wild flowers blooming.
