When we bought our campervan we agreed to not spend all our time on freeways but to take back roads and see the country. We haven't always been true to this but today we made that choice and drove through the Mojave Natural Preserve, keeping an eye out the whole time for the desert tortoise, which might be crossing the road at any turn. We never did see one. But we did stop at the Kelso Depot. Developed at the turn of the century because trains needed water and assistance completing the steep grade, Kelso became a thriving community with a restaurant and boarding rooms and about 2000 residents. But progress in train technology eventually eliminated the need for the depot and the workers it supported, creating a ghost town. The depot was beautiful and it was interesting to step back into time as we wandered through the rooms. (picture from nationalparkstraveler.org)
From there we could see the dunes off in the distance.
And then drove through such interesting and differing topography.
and up close,
as well as a cool cinder cone.
And then there was this strange apparition in the desert. There were two of them, quite large and far apart. It's not known who put them there or why. Photo (and more info on these guardians of the desert) from https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/guardian-lions-of-route)
Finally, we reached Joshua Tree National Park. It is easy to see how it sustained so much damage during Trump's government shutdown since it is so close to a heavy populated area. The trees were much bigger than I expected them to be - they were could get up to 40 feet high with a diameter of 1-3 feet!
The park also had cool rock formations and is frequented by rock climbers. It was fun to watch this guy maneuver.
We loved finding this on the message bulletin board.
Although we've run across many places named Devil's this or that, this was our first Skull Rock.
And we were sure to stay clear of this piece of nastiness - a cholla, commonly referred to as the jumping cactus because just brushing against it causes it to break off attached to your clothes.
Before we arrived at Joshua Tree we called our friends Chris and Deana to give them an approximation of our arrival later today, thinking we were giving them a several hours heads up. Chris was surprised, thinking we were coming next week but was gracious enough to say we were welcome whenever we arrived. Our initial thought was that, in the busy-ness of their own lives, they had written down our dates wrong, but when we checked our own schedule we realized we were the ones who lost track of time! We had cut out going to southern Arizona and seeing more people and sites thinking we had run out of time, and now arrived a week early to see numerous people who were expecting us a week later! Not a great way to be a guest. Luckily everyone was incredibly accommodating and welcoming despite our blunder. Cheryl has now placed the paper calendar where it can be seen daily since vacation brain has so obviously taken hold.
So after our drive through Joshua Tree we headed to Riverside and had a wonderful evening with the MarkerMorse family as they showed us all the wonderful creative and culinary things happening in downtown Riverside. The jacarandas were in glorious bloom, dressing Riverside in purple wherever you looked.
Chris and Deana's yard was a riot of deep blue morning glories, a color which was poorly captured by our phones, but which made for such a lovely view.
After lots of board games, great meals (including a fabulous vegan fast food joint called Plant Power), some manual labor, and lots of laughs we had to say goodbye to these good folks while wishing they lived closer to us.
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