Day 5: 'Joshua Tree National Park'

Waking up to a sunrise in the middle of a desert is wonderful!  We enjoyed a lazy start to the day and then tried out the generator for the first time.  After about 15 minutes, it started sputtering and losing oomph, which was quite concerning.  We couldn’t have run out of gas so quickly!  But Rick figured out that he had forgotten to open the release valve and the minute he did that, it was running smoothly again. 


By using the generator, we were able to power up Beamer’s heating pad and light but the weather was so nice outside (almost 70 degrees) that I tried outfitting Beamer with a harness, so he could go for a walk.  After a few trial and errors, I finally had something that worked quite well, made from the leash and harness I had brought for Kitty.  

The best part?  Beamer didn’t seem to hate it!  Granted, he was kind of scared and tried to run and hide, but we worked around it and he let me carry him back to the trailer, so it all went quite well.


The gas situation in the truck was a big concern and since we were out in the middle of the desert, options were very limited.  The gas station 5 miles away from where we were had their diesel spigots out of order, so we had to drive 30 miles the other direction to get the truck filled up.  

We were in a town called Coachella and since the gas station with the cheapest gas was in the middle of the town, we got to see some interesting sites, like this pavilion on a street corner, that was made entirely of wire. 



Our big highlight of the day was getting inside the national park and driving all the way through it.  Seeing that the Colorado Desert merged with the Mojave Desert in such a distinct way, even though it was a huge, wide open expanse, was mind boggling.  The Cactus Garden was our first stop and quite pretty!  

We tried to climb to the top of the highest peak in the park (Ryan Mountain) but my knee was giving me grief and it was getting dark, so we only made it half way before we turned around.  (I wrenched my knee wearing the wrong shoes when we tried to hike up the side of Emigrant Lake on our first day.  I just know I'm going to regret that move for quite a while.)





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