Wrapping It Up

 Here is the final map of our travels on this adventure.  We traveled 3870 miles and were gone 3 months and one day. It was a wonderful adventure.

Joshua Tree and Beyond

I have climbed the highest mountain
I have run through the fields
Only to be with you
Only to be with you...

The song played in my head as we left Anza-Borrego. I really liked that album by U2, but had no idea where Joshua Tree was located or even what a live Joshua Tree looked like. Yet, here we were on the road to our next campground in Joshua Tree National Park. We had reservations for three nights at the Black Rock Campground. Our destination was 118 miles of roads that lead us through desert scablands that looked like they were on another planet and past the Salton Sea. As we drove, Linda looked up background information on the Salton Sea and discovered that this 35 miles long, fifteen-mile wide highly-saline body of water was created when a man-made dike broke loose and spilled water from the Colorado River into this flat desert valley. After several years of dike repair, the water flow was suspended and the waters were left to evaporate which caused the lake to become increasingly saltier. In the seventies, people flocked to this area to enjoy the ocean-like waters, but as the years went on the saline concentration grew greater and the lake became highly toxic. I bet you didn't know that, did you?

Once the lesson on the Salton Sea was over Linda read me information about a place known as the Slabs. This is a closed Marine base where people go to boondock during the winter. It's said to be a very eclectic group of people. You can find a bunch of information on this area by following the link. I thought it was very cool.

We reached our destination and after a bit of frustration dealing with breaking apart Stinky Jeep and the truck, we settled into our very unlevel site.  Our first observation is that this is a rather old campground and there might be two level sites in the entire campground. It took all but six of our leveling blocks to get us close. Linda engineered a pyramid of epic proportions that got the camper close, I said close, to level.

By now, settling in is easy and takes only minutes. Linda was in the camper on her phone when we received an email from the Joshua Tree Park Rangers telling everyone that there was a severe wind warning in effect. They said that for the next few days we would have high winds and that we should be aware of the dangers that we could face.  Wow, we have had wind warnings all down the Columbia Gorge and along the Oregon coast, we hit an earthquake in California and had torrential rain as we crisscrossed the heart of that state. High winds were present several times in QV.  Now, another big warning! I am a firm believer in global warming and climate change.

I jumped into Stinky and drove into Yucca Valley and explored as the winds blew. Linda stayed put and read her book.

The winds blew hard through the night and into Thursday. We did some walks around the campground, but dust from the desert made those forays uncomfortable. Hiking on any trails was unadvisable.

Friday, the winds were gone and the sun was out so we did some hiking. The trails were very nice and we got some great photos of the area around the campground.

By Saturday we were ready to leave. Our journey started December 15th and we were now ready to turn north and head home. Our rigs were well packed and ready to roll.

Back in December when we left Post Falls, diesel prices were a little over $3.50 per gallon. As we made our final fillup in California, prices had risen to $6.60 per gallon. Looking at our route all we could do was hope that the price would get less as we continued towards our home. The war in Ukraine had hit home.

The Mojave Desert was amazing! We traveled through the desolation noticing that the Joshua Trees were more numerous than in Joshua Tree National Park! No wonder the album cover for the U2 hit was taken in this desert.

By this time we had developed our first vehicle problem. The brake system between the truck and Stinky Jeep had developed a short. The short caused the brake alarm to make a shrill squeaking sound that came and went in a random fashion.  It was very annoying and I started checking connections trying to find the short.  It drove me nuts for the next two days.  I finally figured out that it was in a plug at the Jeep connection and I was able to tighten it which made the sound stop.

We spent the night at a pull-off near Crystal Springs and then drove on the next day. Our stop for that night was Cactus Pete's in Jackpot, NV. When we arrived we found a spot and walked to the Casino to pay for the site. In the casino it was dark. Game machines were running on a generator, but the power to the entire casino and RV campground was out. The lady at the desk was not a happy soul and was very noncommital when she answered our questions about camping. We walked away with about as much information as we had when we walked in, so we went back to the camper, had dinner, and went to bed. The next morning we packed up and hit the road, leaving Pete's in our rearview mirror, hoping they were not chasing us down to get the $20 fee they failed to collect.

On the way home, we hit the big 150!

Anza-Borrego

A welcome sight!

When we first started making plans for this trip, Linda asked if there was a chance that we might visit some of the spots where she camped when she was a young child. Of course, I agreed, and this became a major focus of ours during our journey down to Queen Valley, AZ and then back home to Post Falls.

Linda's family had been a very active camping family when she was young. They would load up many a weekend and drive down into the desert to Anza-Borrego State Park and enjoy the solitude of the desert. 

We knew it was a bit crazy to stay in QV and then drive south to Kartchner Caverns and loop all the way back over to Anza-Borrego before returning home but in our view, it had to be done. 

After our stay at the caverns, we followed highways 8 and 86 into the desert. Linda had gotten us reservations at the park where she and her family spent many weekends relaxing and exploring. As we drove through the town of Borrego Springs, Linda's eyes filled with tears and she began to tell me the stories she remembered of this unique area. 

Linda and her family had visited so often that they knew all the names of the park rangers. Her father, many times, would drive the family down to the park, spend the weekend and then leave the family and return to Alhambra for the workweek. Mom and the kids would spend the week enjoying the desert and then he would return on Friday after work. She told me about the many hikes they took. One, in particular, was the Palm Canyon trail into the oasis. I loved hearing her memories and the look in her eyes as we entered the park. 

As you can imagine she was excited, but she also realized that it had been almost 50 years since she had been there. We talked about what she remembered, and that, other than modern upgrades in the park, the layout of the campground was much the same as she remembered it from her childhood.

We found our campsite and settled in and for the next four days we hiked and drove around the area exploring our first real desert.

Linda's favorite memories were of the hike up Palm Canyon to the oasis. She had told me the stories of those hikes. On one occasion the entire family was sitting under the palm trees on the sands near the water when a photographer approached and asked if he could take pictures of the kids playing by the spring. With the parent's approval, he shot photos. When he finished he said that he produced postcards from his shots and that he may create one of the kids. Our hike up this trail was a bit different. We were unable to get right down into the oasis as there'd been a fire two years ago and they were allowing restoration to take place. They were also a bit concerned about falling palm trees. The native palms in this area were noted for their "skirts" of palm fronds that form up and down their trunks. 

Sure enough one of the photos was used to create postcards and were sold in the gift store. The family was able to get several for their memories. 

Scan of the original postcard.
Linda's dad with Linda and
her sister

On one of the days, when we weren't hiking, we drove to an area where an artist had created metal sculptures of animals and prehistoric creatures. It was amazing!  

The artist was a Mexican bootmaker who created a metal elephant for his daughter's birthday.  The work was discovered by a millionaire, the heir to the Avery Labels fortune, and the bootmaker was commissioned to build other statues for an exhibit on the outskirts of Borrego Springs.  As it turned out, he created over 130 different metal sculptures. These beautiful pieces of art are called the Galleta Meadows Sculptures.

Linda's Notes:

Though I spent just the first 11 years of my life in southern California, those years had a huge impact on me. They were the years that fostered my love for sports and the outdoors.

My family went camping as often as possible - all 5 of us in a pop-up tent trailer. One of our very favorite places to go was Anza Borrego State Park.

Our campsite in the park.

I have regaled Dean with our exploits at Anza Borrego for the last 40 years. When Dean and I decided to spend this winter in Arizona I knew we HAD to visit Anza Borrego on our way home.

My memories of Anza Borrego aren't only specific details of our times there though I have many of those - Dad hiding a penny in a palm tree to find on the next hike of the Palm Canyon Trail; Oscar, the roadrunner (and his descendants); having us kids' picture randomly taken by a professional photographer who then got permission to make it into a postcard to be sold at the gift shop... Mostly, the memories are emotional memories, memories of how I felt when I was there.

As we passed the sign welcoming us to Anza Borrego State Park, I started crying. I was really surprised by this reaction. Dean asked if I was ok and I was. My tears were tears of gratitude for being able to share something that had been so important to me as a kid with someone I loved so much. There were also tears of remembrance - for my dad who's no longer here and with whom I couldn't share this. They were also for my mom. She has been sad to not be there with us to see this "family place" again, but also so excited for Dean and me to experience this together. She made us promise to tell her all about it while we were there. I shared all of our adventures with her - the changes (not as many as you'd think in the 50 years since I'd been) and the things that had remained the same.

Dean will do his Canyonwren Travels blog entry and fill everyone in on our wonderful stay here. Dean's already made a slide show to share with Mom. I just felt the need for a small introduction to this very special place.

Hike Photos:

The desert was green,
and blooming plants were everywhere.

Hiking to Palm Canyon oasis.

We passed an artist painting the canyon.

The Oasis where Linda played.

Metal sculptures in the desert.