Day 111, Saturday, February 18, 2017, Jumbo Rocks Campground, Joshua Tree National Park, CA, Day 3

Saturday, February 18, 2017, Jumbo Rocks Campground, Joshua Tree National Park, CA, Day 3, 0 Miles, 4,319.1 Miles For the Trip

Well, last night's dinner was not a grilled anything - it was cold & windy enough that I stayed inside and had soup. A very cool afternoon & night, with the furnace coming on at 4:30PM. It rained most of the night, going between light & heavy. Light rain kept up most of the day. The low was 42°F this morning, and it never got above 46°F during the day. Heavy clouds with little solar charging - the peak was 6 amps, while most of the day was closer to 3. Here is hoping I'll recover at least 1/2 of what I used last night & today by evening.

Needless to say, I didn't spend much time outside today. I did take my usual morning walk in between rain showers, and on a later trip to dump a bag of garbage & recyclables, I stopped to talk with a Lazy Daze owner. I've always been impressed with the Lazy Daze Class C RVs - well designed & built. Herb & his wife Lorry & I chatted for awhile, then exchanged cards when we discovered that we "knew" each other. Turns out they are a family I've followed for close to 15 years, "watching" their kids grow up on their web page and exchanged email on suggested locations for camping. A well written & interesting collection of pages at Lolo's Extreme Cross Country RV Trips. It is always fun to meet people you feel like you know through their blogs & journals, but have never actually met.

After that it was back to the trailer for some reading inside. I finished Anne Hillerman's Spider Woman's Daughter, a continuation of Tony Hillerman's series on the Navajo Nations police force. If you haven't read any of Tony Hillerman's books and love the southwest, I suggest you give them a try. If possible, I'd read them in order. His daughter Anne has done a wonderful job of continuing the feel of the Navajo Nation & New Mexico in her first novel. I hope she continues to write.

You can tell it is a long weekend. People started looking for sites as early as 8:00AM. Very few became available, but as soon as someone moved out, someone else moved in. Many, many vehicles spent the morning & afternoon circling the loops looking for a spot. I don't know if all the other campgrounds are as packed, but Jumbo Rocks is the most popular of the 8 in the park.

While I'd like to get outside to grill dinner, if the weather keeps up with what it has been doing all day, it will be another inside meal.

I almost don't have the nerve to tell you what I had for dinner. I looked through the cans in my storage area, didn't want soup, and found one of Spaghetti O's with meatballs. No I haven't ever eaten Spaghetti O's that I can remember, although my kids may have talked us into them after listening over & over to the Oh O, Spaghetti O's jingle many years ago. In any case, I remember getting them as a free "dented can" at the Rio Grande Campground store in Big Bend, TX earlier in the trip. I have to say they don't rate high on my favorite foods!

Until Tomorrow -