November 27, 2012

Joshua Tree National Park

I didn’t sleep very well last night because I was COLD.  You don’t realize how much you take warmth for granted until you don’t have it.  I was surprised to see it was 8am when we woke up considering we went to bed at 10pm.  The morning generator hours are from 7-9 so we lost an hour of usage.   It was very cold in our rig so Monte ran outside and got the generator going while I set my coffee up.  As soon as the generator kicked in I brewed my coffee and plugged in my laptop so the battery could charge.  When my coffee was finished brewing, I shut off the machine so we could turn on the fireplace (we found out we couldn’t have both on at the same time) and in no time we were toasty.

When I was ready for my second cup of coffee we had to turn off the fireplace so I could use the microwave.  It sounds like a lot of bother but like anything else new, it just takes getting used to. 

We set out on our hike to Cottonwood Springs. 

 There is a trail leading to the springs from our campground.  After we arrived at the springs we started to take the path to Lost Palms Oasis but after a mile or so we came upon a fork in the trail and decided to take the shorter hike to Mastodon Peak instead because my feet were hurting and I didn’t think I was up to the longer hike. 

The trail we took was pretty challenging but well worth the view when we made it to the top where we stopped to have lunch.  We took a different trail to return to the campground. 

I read for a while and Monte puttered around with “things”.  I’m not sure what things because I didn’t ask as I was very content to sit with my book and enjoy the slight breeze.  We took a walk around the campground loops just as the sun was presenting us with another spectacular sunset. 

 

Back home Monte turned on the generator while I made dinner.  We had a big campfire because knowing it was our final night we used all the wood we had.  We saw a kangaroo rat dart by but no jack rabbits tonight.  We also heard the howling of a coyote in the distance.  We watched a DVD on my laptop and went to bed early.  Tomorrow is moving day as we head into Arizona.