The Newport Family: Joshua Tree National Park, CA

We traveled through a wind storm to southern California to get warm ... but the wind storm brought cold weather with it and we missed 90's by one day ... oh well.

The Twilight Zone

When pulling a camper and only getting 8 mpg its important to make sure you have enough gas before traveling to remote locations. When we got off the exit for Joshua Tree we had half a tank, next gas station was 30 miles further than our exit and we would be passing a small town on our way... sounds reasonable! The sun was beginning to set and there was no sign of habitation for miles. Came to intersection that said campers turn left, gas turn right - 6 miles. We turned right onto historic route 66 - good, because we're down to a quarter of a tank. As dusk settled we could see two small buildings in the distance .... that's it ... nothing else ... maybe an occasional abandoned mobile home or burned out shack - desert as far as the eye could see. No lights on in either building ... oh boy ... but wait ... as we get closer there is a small neon "open" sign lit in the window.

Now is when you begin to play the twilight zone music.

The two buildings are a flashback to the 50's. All polished and shiny. There are several high-top tables with chairs around the first gas pump next to the building. Inside the gas station building is a diner with a counter - all it needed was Laverne and Shirley. A young kid comes bopping out (reminded us of our nephew Ryan) all talkative and happily pumped our gas (he did not look like Fonzie).

As we pulled away into the night, we kept looking back to see if the building was still there. We continued on for another 60 miles into nothingness ... the full moon rose ... looked really cool ... finally pulled into Joshua Tree in complete darkness around 9:30 and tried to find a site and set up as quietly as possible. Fell asleep listening to the wind ... still wondering if that gas station really exists.

The address of the gas station: 6666 Route 66, Amboy, CA

Really cool campsite - lots of Josua Trees and huge rocks ... but kind of chilly ... neighbor camper told us about the Oasis in the other end of the park - was 90 degrees yesterday and tons of wildflowers in bloom! That's where we headed!

Joshua National Park contains two desserts - higher (Mohave Desert) and lower (Colorado Desert) that have different kinds of vegetation and wildlife.

These are teddy bear chollas. They look fuzzy and cuddly - but they are covered with tiny hooked needles that are hard and painful to remove.

Ocotillos were also in bloom.

We did an 8 mile hike from Cottonwood Spring to the Lost Palms Oasis. The desert was in full bloom - so beautiful. We were hoping to see some wildlife ... tortoise or rattlesnake ... no luck, but we did see tons of birds, humingbirds and lots of different lizards.