Good morning, Campers! It’s Silver Cliche’ with you again. Today I’m writing from Joshua Tree National Park, California. It’s Wednesday morning and I’m not sure when you’ll see this since we have zero cell service here at JTNP.
This is a report on our travels yesterday from Cal-Nev-Ari, Nevada to here at Joshua Tree just outside of Twentynine Palms, California. We took it slow Tuesday morning. We were on full hookups, so four loads of wash got done along with other housekeeping chores. We made it official with the addition of the Nevada sticker to our Silver Cliche’ US map!
Before:
After:
We trusted Google Maps to guide us. That generally works. About 2 miles out of the campground I asked Google to tell me where along the route I might find a gas station. She pointed me 30 miles ahead... in California... where gas is priced like gold and sold in “Troy ounces”... provided you have a letter from your bank. I confirmed the stop in our navigation tool and as I looked up I flew past the last gas station in Arizona. Hmmm... she’s off today.
If Monday saw us pass through 11 USDA climate zones, Tuesday had 2. They are officially classified as “dry as a bone” and “dry as two bones”. About the only sign of dryness we didn’t see were bones of prospectors and their mules. I’m sure they were out there. We just didn’t see them.
Except for a stretch of I-40, Google routed us on state highways or Historic Route 66. That definitely connected us to the land. Given what the land looks like in the Mojave desert, we began to pine for more interstate time. Being close to this scorched place led me to the conclusion that the land here has given up... quit... thrown in the towel. I first felt that at the campground in Cal-Nev-Ari. It sits on a plain at about 2,500 feet above sea level. I was going to say that it’s ringed by mountains in the distance, but I realized that’s not accurate. In some spots on the horizon the mountains are gone. The product of their erosion in the ground I was standing on. The remaining peaks are not fighting back. They’ve surrendered. They are like death row inmates except there is no prospect that the governor’s phone will dial them up. In time that plain will be a few feet higher above sea level and the horizon will be unbroken.
As we drove we saw trains... many, long trains loaded with containers headed east. You may never have been to the Mojave desert, but if you look around you there is stuff in your presence and possession that has. Those trains carry containers that were loaded in China, sent to the Port of LA/Long Beach, unloaded onto rail cars and are headed to a WalMart, Home Goods or Amazon warehouse near you. We also saw a pickup truck belonging to San Bernardino County with a snow plow blade... in the desert! Huh? I know Californians are “out there”, but this was more than I expected. Maybe Fox News has been understating the California-thinking problem! Wait... no, that couldn’t be it. What was I thinking? Doh! Those plow blades are to clear sand drifts from the road. I turned to Zachary and paraphrased Dorothy: “Zachary, I don’t think we’re in Florida anymore.”
We stopped for gas. Here’s a pic of the sign at our first gas stop in California.
Yes, that price per gallon begins with a “6”. No, that chain link fence isn’t there to keep people out of a construction site. It’s there to keep people from defacing the sign! In fairness, This one station turns out to be known for gouging. If you don’t like it, go to another gas station within 50 miles. Oh... wait... there isn’t another gas station within 50 miles! You lose, poor planner! My bank backed me for only 10 gallons, so that’s what I pumped.
We got off I-40 as instructed by Google. The altitude was about 2,000 feet above sea level. It was 88 degrees. We immediately saw a sign that informed us that Historic Route 66 was closed ahead and traffic to Oxley would need to find a different route. Oxley? Are we headed to Oxley? All Google could say was “turn right onto Historic Route 66 11 miles ahead”. We pressed on. That 11 miles was a steady descent from 2,000 feet to about 500. The temps rose, the land got dryer. I don’t believe Dante ever visited the Mojave desert, but if he did, this place was the inspiration for the his 8th level of hell. It was the lowest place around, the driest place around and the hottest. At the bottom of the 11 mile slope was a Historic Route 66 (yes, they always include the prefix). There was a roadblock to the left. We turned right toward Amboy.
Now, if I had internet I would research and inform you of my findings. I’m not sure how close to the center of hell we were... but it was close. The road was littered with what I believe was brimstone. That should tell you something! On the valley floor at about 500 feet above sea level were lines of piles of sand. Thousands of piles. I cogitated on that and couldn’t figure it out. Then I looked at the GPS where the satellite view told me what I was looking at. The piles were overburden... the layer of natural soil that covers a valuable mineral deposit. At points we could see trenches next to each row where a snow white material was exposed. I will confirm later but I believe what we saw were the famous Mojave Desert Borax mines. I didn’t see one mule, let alone twenty. I was hoping to see some people so I could see if their whites were whiter and brights were brighter but THERE ARE NO PEOPLE THERE! (Update before posting: The mining there is table salt, not borax. Two days later — and still in the freakin’ Mojave desert — we passed “Twenty Mule Team Drive” which was literally a dirt road off a major route outside of Barstow. Evidently, that’s where the borax is. Even so, there were still no people, so no whiter whites and brighter brights to check out.)
We climbed another 1,500 feet and eventually reached Twentynine Palms (Semper Fi, Jarheads!). A stop for provisions and a top off of gas ($3.89 here) and we entered Joshua Tree. I’ll post pics of the park in detail tomorrow, but I’ll close with a pic of our space for two nights at Jumbo Rocks Campground (which was named by the people who named Death Valley, CA not the ones who named Golden Valley, AZ).
Come back for more on JTNP!
Later...
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