Spring Western Trip 2017: Winslow to Joshua Tree, California

Tuesday, 4/11:  418 miles, camped at Joshua Tree Lake Campground, Joshua Tree, California.

With 418 miles, this was our longest single day drive of the entire trip.  It was 85 and sunny when we arrived.  The campground is very large, with a huge open tenting area.  In fact, because of spring break here, there were many families camping in the tent area.  It was fun to see so many kids out playing, riding bikes, and sitting around campfires.  Everything here is on sand.  The RV sites were large and had shrubbery between the sites.  It's a very nice campground that happens to be located in the desert.  And on top of that, there were lots of places to walk the dogs.  After the long day, we just crashed for the evening.

The next morning, Wednesday, we made a quick shopping run, and then drove up into Joshua Tree National Park.  The park is located at the transition zone between The Colorado and Mojave Deserts.  Joshua trees are the main attraction, but the "boulder like" rock formations are equally fascinating.  We entered the park at the west entrance at the town of Joshua Tree and exited at the north entrance at the city of Twentynine Palms.  We stopped part way through the park and had a roadside picnic lunch.

After spending several hours at the National Park, we stopped at a pub in the town of Joshua Tree for a brew.  It resembled an old time western bar.  Cool.

Thursday, 4/13:  295 miles and parked at the Visalia, California KOA.

It was much cooler today and a very pleasant drive for most of the way.  We started out with a quick shopping stop at Walmart in Yucca City.  Then we took Rt 247 north over the rolling and barren Mojave Desert to Barstow.  Then Rt 58 northwest to Bakersfield, where we dropped down into the flat and fertile Central Valley.  At Bakersfield we picked up RT 99, which is a major north/south artery, and boy, was it busy.  We arrived at the campground by 3:30, and we no sooner had set up, and it started to pour.  Fortunately, it cleared a couple hours later and we were able to grill outside.  

Tomorrow, its on to Oakland, California to visit with my sister Karen and her husband, Bob for a few days.