Joshua Tree has always been special and we have visited here once before. This time we booked into Jumbo Rocks, one of the campgrounds located in the park and it was a much more joyful experience. We were able to hike the Cholla Cactus Garden Loop and also the Skull Rock Loop. We drove by the Oasis of Mara which didn't look any better than when we saw it two years ago shortly after the arson fire.
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| Cholla Cactus Garden - Joshua Tree |
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| Joshua Tree |
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| Joshua Tree National Park |
We have lights we use to keep the pack rats out of our engine area but one night while here we woke up to something snooping around under our hood. I stayed in the van due to my unlove of anything rodent and Lyle was hoping to lure it out of there by shining a bright flashlight in it's eyes and swearing at it. Nothing seemed to work so we started the engine and drove out of the camp and down the road at 4am. It either got away or died. Either scenario worked for me.
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| Jumbo Rocks Campground, Joshua Tree |
Heading our of Joshua Tree National Park we passed through the town of Borego Springs. We were there before but it was so crowded with people trying to see the super-bloom of 2019 that we didn't stop. On this day it was a sleepy little town that was just hanging a very well curated plein art landscape show. Lots of inspiration there. We spent the night at Tamarisk Grove Campground. This place has an interesting history. It was a San Diego County prison camp which built roads in this once remote area.
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| Tamarisk Grove |
We left there and headed to the Agua Caleiente County Park which is one of San Diego's regional parks. This place has three geothermal pools with the warmest one housed indoors. This is however what is considered a family park. It was by far the noisiest park we have been to, filled with families and children. In addition there was a Winnebago Travato club gathering which also contributed to the noise factor. A couple of Travato owners stopped by because our van is also a Ram Promaster and they were more than curious to see a custom build and compare it to their manufactured RV with the very hefty price tag.
After two days we are headed to San Diego its and easy drive, about 100 miles to the park that was to be our "home" for the next 21 days. During our first week, it rained 4 out of 6 days. As news started to creep in regarding the pandemic we could see stress levels rising and it was then that we realized people were starting to horde food. We spent the weekend not really going anywhere and looking at what our options could be. We made the decision to return all the way back home to Minneapolis. We felt is was safer for us to ride this out in our own home instead traveling for 6 more weeks in a van with an unsure calendar of booked lodgings scattered in California, Nevada, Utah and Colorado.
We drove 2170 miles home over the next 4 days, eating our own food, loading up on non perishable foods, sleeping in rest stops and a small motel in Des Moines on our last night. On the day we returned home the camp we had been staying at in San Diego closed and evicted all the campers. Since that time many of the other places we had scheduled to visit either closed or remained open with no services. We made the right choice to return home. We are thankful for all the businesses that kindly relaxed their cancellation policies for reservations and refunded our money.
We are most definitely missing our view to the west. Missing sunsets and adventures. We are disappointed that our travels ended somewhat abruptly. It was definitely a California teaser. We missed our last two weeks in Sand Diego and our time scheduled for Death Valley National Park.
In addition we missed out on planned time on BLM land near Lake Mead and time scheduled for hiking at Bryce Canyon, Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, Utah. Lastly, we didn't get to Glenwood Springs and Denver. And so it goes...
Minneapolis is mostly gray and dreary but we made the right decision to end our travels. Spring will get here eventually. It's all humbling. For now we are safe at home which makes things a bit easier.
Wishing everyone we know, good health and happiness. Stay tuned for future adventures whenever and wherever that may be.
"The Future is unwritten." ~ Joe Strummer
We are most definitely missing our view to the west. Missing sunsets and adventures. We are disappointed that our travels ended somewhat abruptly. It was definitely a California teaser. We missed our last two weeks in Sand Diego and our time scheduled for Death Valley National Park.
