World United States California Joshua Tree National Park

The Pierre Girls see the US It's in the Doing!

Joshua Tree National Park Mar 1, 2008

We left San Diego and started our trek eastward. This was a turning point in our trip because now we are headed in the direction of home. We don't know how long it will take us, how many stops we will make, or what we'll do on this leg of the journey, but we do know that we will always be heading east from now on.

We decided to check out Joshua Tree because we had heard about great rock climbing. We also found out that it was the beginning of the wildflowers blooming.

When we arrived, we had trouble finding a campsite that would accommodate our behemoth of a camper. We sort of settled into a spot, but had to quickly unhitch and move the truck because we were sticking out and the truck was blocking the road.

We finally unhitched settled in. We enjoyed the warmth, the beauty, and the quiet. We went to a Ranger talk that night and met some great folks from Louisiana who treated us to a WalMart special - hot chocolate that comes in a container and gets hot when you press a button and a chemical reaction takes place to heat up the container. Really weird, but tasty on a cool evening.

The next morning we woke up to strong, strong, strong winds. We were all awake and were thinking about whether or not to stay another day. All of a sudden, the camper shook and we were lopsided. Aisha and I ran out and realized that one of the front stabilizing jacks had come apart! All three of us shot into action; Soleil worked on the inside so we could close the sliders, Aisha put things away on the outside so we could head out, and I hitched up the truck to the camper. Once hitched, we started to retract the jacks and by the time I finished everything, the girls had the camper done and complely closed! It was unbelievable. They were amazing. I think we set a new world's record!

After driving off, Aisha and I talked about what we thought had happened. It was pretty clear that in my rush to get the truck unhitched in the first place the day before, I did not extend the forward jacks enough to allow for a secure seat for the leg. The pin was in the last slot and did not have any leverage to it. With the force of the wind, it knocked it slightly off-kilter but, thankfully, did not bend or break. With everyone's quick thinking, we managed to get out of our spot and get on our way once again... with another lesson learned!