The Best Laid Plans - Part 1
In our time owning our two travel trailers, Arlene and now Zelda, we haven't repeated a stay at too many campgrounds. We've stayed multiple times at Ten-X, close to the south rim of the Grand Canyon, and we've now added Jumbo Rocks Campground, inside Joshua Tree National Park, to that list!
We first camped in Jumbo Rocks back in November 2020, to celebrate Chris' birthday, while the pandemic was still hanging around. After having a great time stargazing and hiking (and eating and drinking, of course), we knew we wanted to head back some day, and when the mid-March reservations opened up in September 2022, we grabbed a site. Keep in mind that we didn't even have a rig at this point - we sold Arlene a few months prior and were still one month away from taking the trip to Louisiana to pick up Zelda - but we knew we could always get a refund on our reservation if we couldn't make it happen. As things turned out, fate smiled upon us, and before too much longer, it was time to head west!
We'd be leaving home around 8am on Sunday, so while Chris was on a training hike in the Superstition Mountains (he's doing another Grand Canyon adventure in late April), I got the rig ready, cleaned the house, and dropped Zoe at daycare. While she's become a pretty good camper in the past few months, we wanted to do some hiking on this trip, and most national parks don't allow pets on hiking trails.
Taking a break from the aforementioned cleaning, I checked my email, only to find a message from a Southern California bull terrier organization, California Paws Rescue, letting me know they'd received our application (yup, we were looking for a sister for Miss Zoe and had been doing some online research). They also let me know that they had a new kiddo onsite they hadn't even posted on the website yet; she was about a year old, and she was good with other dogs. I said, yes, I would love to see her picture, and I received this:
I mean, lookattheface!!!!
I had plenty of questions about her, so I scheduled a call with Lori, the President/Founder of the rescue, which then turned into a Facetime virtual home visit. As it turned out, the rescue's location in Palm Desert was only about 30 miles from where we'd be in Joshua Tree, so it seemed kind of like fate that we should be in the same area of the country as this little girl at the same time. We made an appointment to meet her on Monday, and in talking it over with Chris (once he was within cell service again), we decided to scrap the hiking part of our trip and bring Zoe with us, so the whole family could meet Beans - that's right, this little girl was named BEANS of all things.
Since JetPet was already closed for the day, we wouldn't be able to pick Zoe up until 9am the next morning, and we spent the rest of our Saturday evening relaxing on the couch after ensuring we had everything else ready to go. When 8:45am rolled around on Sunday, I hopped in the car to reclaim our girl while Chris started hitching up the rig. By 9:30am, we were on the road heading west!
Family selfie time!
We didn't make it too far before hitting a slow-down, as part of the westbound 10 near Buckeye (on the western side of Phoenix) was reduced to just one lane, which added about an hour to our drive. Zoe handled this like a champ:
Looks comfy, right?
After stopping for lunch at a rest area just past the construction (chicken salad wraps), and then in Quartzsite for diesel and DEF, it was into California and to the water fill station in Cottonwood Springs, just inside the southern entrance to Joshua Tree NP. The park is rather large (the size of Rhode Island), so we still had a decent trek to make it to Jumbo Rocks Campground, and we eventually arrived there around 4:30. I took Zoe for a stroll while Chris settled us in, and before too long, we had a campfire going and cracked open some adult beverages! Our location in site 94 was really nice - big enough to park Zelda and Aubie without issue, sheltered by a ridge of large rocks and yucca plants, and next to the amphitheater, which meant no neighbors on one side.
Jumbo Rocks is at 4400 feet of elevation,
so it gets pretty chilly once the sun goes down.
The kiddo enjoyed her fleece turtleneck,
from the fine folks at Tooth and Honey.
Chopping time!
Before too long, we fired up the Camp Chef to grill some brats, which we enjoyed on pretzel buns with sauerkraut and mustard (and a salad on the side).
It was cloudy for most of the evening, but a few stars peeked out eventually
Time for dinner!
After cleaning up our meal, we hung out around the campfire, singing songs, roasting S'mores, and watching the night sky. It was a little on the windy side (that'll be a theme for this trip - insert dramatic foreshadowing here), but it was still enjoyable sitting outside in our warm clothes.
These logs were not chopped very well...
As I mentioned in the blog posts about our previous Joshua Tree trip, the dark skies out here are great for stargazing, and you know what that means...it's time for more of Amy's super sh*tty attempts at astrophotography! Buckle in!
Hey, that one's actually okay!
I very much enjoy the fuzzy, "Hunt for Sasquatch" quality of this one.
Kidding aside, I think what I've found that works best for me/my phone
is to have a small light source just outside the frame of the shot.
Here, the campfire is to my left, about 6 feet away,
and Chris had just wandered through the picture, walking Zoe
(that red streak in the camper window is his headlamp).
Before too long, it was time for bed - we headed inside to nod off and dream about our meeting with Beans tomorrow! Coming up on future blog posts, Beans, Beans, and more Beans! Also, terrifying weather!
Later!
Amy
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