Last Monday, my new traveling buddy Deb and I decided to take a couple of nights and explore Joshua Tree National Park, which is only about 160 miles west of Quartzsite. The name Joshua Tree was given by a group of Mormon settlers who crossed the Mojave Desert in the mid-19th century. The tree's unique shape reminded them of a Biblical story in which Joshua reaches his hands up to the sky in prayer."
There are literally huge forests of Joshua Trees in this park and in addition to the amazing rock formations it gives the place a very other-worldly feeling. The tree is a Yucca plant, take 50 or so years to mature and can live to about 150 years. I was poked by a Joshua Tree spine and experienced it's wrath - my knee swelled up immediately and apparently will last for about a week.
With no air pollution, I've never seen bluer skies or so many stars. One of the things I love about the desert is the vast expanse of landscape with no human presence or impact. Other than perhaps a small electrical grid running through it, which is fairly easy to ignore visually. These amazing rocks in Joshua Tree were made by molten lava underneath the surface. They are hiding under most of the hills and mountains in the area, but the ones that are exposed come from erosion of the top layer of soil. The exposure of the lava rock to rain and other impacts over millions of years has created a sculpture garden full of incredible and unlikely shapes. And these boulders are pretty huge. My camera died in the park, and I lost about 200 photos so I don't have the photos with people climbing the formations, but they would look tiny atop them.
Our beautiful campsite.
Cactus forest.
We took an enchanting walk through "Hidden Valley" which used to be a horse and cattle thief hideout. Nature is an astonishing landscape architect. Gorgeous rock formations and perfectly placed vegetation elements everywhere.
Spent the second night outside of the park in 29 Palms, had a great dinner that night in the town of Joshua Tree, then in the morning, headed over chic Palm Desert where my good friend and client Kelly lives during the winter months. Wow, that's another stunning place, and is a mostly man-made and sustained oasis for the stars and other celebs from Hollywood. Like Asheville, the mountains are incredible. The water shortage in the nearby lake has created a "dust" effect that often hazes out mountain view, which is too bad. A lot of what municipalities talk about here is water, water, water. I wonder how long the population growth of these towns can sustain these practices of perfectly green lawns and the lush palm landscapes.
Kelly's lovely condo complex. A hot shower, warm meal and bed were my gift from her! Thank you Kelly.
After some shopping in Palm Desert and two hours of practicing my guitar in Whole Foods at 7 am in the cafe (with earphones), I headed back to Quartzsite to wind up the Rubber Tramp Rendezvous. I think I'm going to make a habit of publicly practicing my travel guitar in cafes, it's a great way to meet people. Someone came running out to the parking lot to ask me about my travel guitar.
Randy leads a morning meeting of Q and A. Usually about 150 or more people attend.
Deb rides in the back of my car with Choochi in the "lounge chair" on a run to town.
In case you need one.......
Now that the Rubber Tramp Rendezvous is winding down, the next challenge is to figure out where to go next and with whom! Some ideas are Algadonas, Mexico where people go for cheap dentistry and other medical things, the "Slabs" (a wild culture of artists and outcasts) or Sedona. Or maybe all three!
