1/17 - 1/19/05 Joshua Tree Cut Short
Our stay at Joshua Tree National Park started out so well. As we headed
up into the park from the Twentynine Palms area, the terrain quickly
started taking on the quintessential Roadrunner & Wiley Coyote look:
piles of boulders, big boulders in seemingly impossible piles,
widely dispersed across the desert landscape. And as we got farther
in, the namesake Joshua Trees, that we had been seeing occasionally
for quite some time, increased in size & density. Of course even
dense Joshua Tree "forests" are open and widely spread, with
many other kinds of desert plants mixed in: yuccas, creosote bush, various
smaller cactus & other shrubs. Some are downright vicious. We parked
next to what I can only call razor-wire bush & it reached out and
grabbed me twice!
At the gate the ranger told me that to find room for a rig the size of Gypsy we'd have to go to the Jumbo Rocks campground, 17 miles in. We enjoyed the drive; a good road winding through the fantastic rock formations, highlighted by the lengthening shadows of the afternoon light. It probably took us 40 minutes to reach Jumbo, another half hour to settle on a site, and then the usual set up time. I could only briefly admire the reddening sky, as it gets dark early here in the farthest east part of California in January. I took Timmy on his evening walk just at dusk. He had earned a nice walk after patiently enduring 2 days of driving.
As I was mentally taking stock that evening, I came to realize how different this was going to be from our earlier stays. Our first true self-contained camp, no hookups at all. This was going to require diligent managing all of our resources: fresh water, waste water storage, power, and propane. At least we were starting with all in good shape.
That night was the also first since our few days in the Diablo range
that we didn't have street lamps and/or neighboring rigs nearby, although
there was a tent camp across the road from us. So it was a quiet and dark
night, with the waxing quarter moon overhead. At one point I heard a quail
cock crowing in the night. Next morning as we took our early stroll, a
cotton tail rabbit ran across the road. Timmy lunged for it, but abruptly
hit the end of the leash. He was not happy to continue on our way leaving
the rabbit in peace.
OK, morning, time to finish the solar & satellite dish setup. Got both done fairly efficiently, however, my transmitter would not synch up with the satellite. This has happened before & a call to support has always resolved it eventually. Oops, we're out of cell range. And I can't use the Internet phone because I need the satellite to work. (Chicken & egg dilemma there.) I'm screwed. I need to go to work again tomorrow. Crap, we'll have to move. But I decide to stay here for the night since I've paid for it & it's still a holiday & if I get my act together I may be able to get connected elsewhere in the morning. We take a hike on a 2 mile loop trail to Skull Rock & back & then I take down the solar panels & dish so we can make a quick move in the morning. Then I tried to relax & enjoy the rest of our stay there. At bedtime we hear coyotes yipping not far off.
We're on our way out by about 9 AM next morning & by 11 we are settling in at a different park campground that is just on the edge of cell range. I set up solar & dish again, then spend about 2 hours on the phone with Direcway support. Finally they diagnose a faulty transmitter. They arrange to send a replacement to my home address. So I'm looking a probably a week of being offline. Not acceptable, I need to get to work. I get on the phone & find an RV campground in Blythe, CA, a couple hours away, that advertises wireless service. I make a reservation, take everything down, leave a voice message for my boss explaining my no show status & head east. Oh, one other thing: after spending 3 hours running the computer, satellite modem, etc, I had noticed my batteries showing empty on the power controller, but on the solar charge controller that regulates the power going to the batteries, it shows them charged. Something is amiss.
We arrive at Blythe after dark & set up minimally. In the morning I try their wireless network; no go. A half hour of phone time later, I find out their internet gateway is not working. Sheesh! We're only a couple of hours from Phoenix now, so I locate another RV park there, near Scottsdale, which happens to be where I got my solar equipment from. Maybe I can take care of two problems at once. I leave another voice message for my boss, take Timmy for a walk on the banks of the Colorado River, pull up stakes & head east again.
Soon after crossing into Arizona we pass by Quartzsite, which just happens to be RV Mecca this time of year. It is famous in RV circles with free camping on public lands for many miles around. Large fleamarkets & rock/gem shows are scheduled for the snowbird crowd. There are mobile businesses catering to RVers needs. As we drive by I can see thousands of RVs gleaming in the sun in all directions, stretching to the horizon, many clustered in various sized groupings like so many villages..
We arrive at the Eagle View RV park about mid-afternoon & as I'm setting up, I find that my slide-out won't slide. Great...Satellite is broken, solar is broken, Gypsy is broken. I'm an incurable optimist, but this is getting crazy!
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