2016 - 2017 Trip to the Southwest

Day 110

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Friday, February 17, 2017, Jumbo Rocks Campground, Joshua Tree National Park, CA, Day 2, 0 Miles, 4,319.1 Miles For the Trip

I had planned to take some night time photos last night, but heavy clouds made even the moon disappear. Around 4:30AM a very light rain fell for about 15 minutes. I had set the furnace at 57°F and it came on twice over night. I shut it off around 6:00AM, and the inside temperature got down to 55F before the hazy sun started to warm things up.

After a long walk around the campground, I made breakfast, eating some cereal & the last of my blueberries. On the walk a number of RVs & tenters had already left. As far as I could tell, the campground was full last night, with RVs & cars stopping at each site without a vehicle & checking the post tag to see if it was still valid. On a long weekend, the only way I've found to get a site in a state or national park is to arrive a day or two before, or very early in the morning. There were many RVs & cars that were looking for sites a dusk; by then everything, particularly the large RV sites, were taken.

After getting back to the trailer I dug out the portable solar panel. While I was only down 5 amp hours overnight, I planned to make coffee, and run the computer for awhile, so with the hazy sky, the additional power was helpful. I went from 1.8 amps to 5 with the overcast, and as high as 17 amps when the sun peaked around the clouds.

After breakfast I defrosted the refrigerator. I had put it off for a bit too long, but wanted to wait until I had cooler days so it would recover more quickly.

Other than in the trailer where there isn't any wind, it doesn't seem to be warming up very much this morning. I went for another walk around the campground with my camera to take some photos showing the typical sites and vehicles and it felt colder than during my morning walk. Again, it may be the wind - lots of fairly strong gusts. The guy next to me with a motorcycle didn't stake his tent - it is now in a tree next to his site. There is quite a variety of RV types here. Few large class A's, but just about everything else. Again, there are only a few sites that will fit a large trailer or motorhome, but lots of tent sites.

On the walk I met a guy with a nice home built teardrop. For the last couple of years he has been a stagehand. Small world! Across from me are 3 walk in tent sites, one of which is still empty.

He Didn't Stake the Tent A Large Trailer A Rental Class C A Hard Sided Pop Up
 
A Large Class C A Nice Teardrop 3 Walk In Tent Sites  

I drove to 29 Palms for an internet connection, and discovered that the nearest Allstate agent was in Yucca Valley, about 19 miles west on 29 Palms Highway. Since the nearest Walmart was near by & I needed plates & batteries, I hit the trail. No problem getting my new insurance cards (or, of course, paying the bill). By the way, for the first time in all my travels, I managed to log on to a Time Warner WiFi channel. I was expecting a cable connection to be faster than my Jetpack, but unfortunately, is was so slow it times out posting the large images; I gave up and switched to the jetpack, which worked well.

I'm only guessing what will be for dinner since it is 2:00 right now, but I need to post a couple of day's pages since there is no internet at the campground. The guess is a grilled chicken patty, and Bush baked beans.

Until Tomorrow -

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Last Update: February 18, 2017