Back East to the Desert

Sunday, March 3, 2013

We had various chores to do before we could travel very far. We drove as far as Santa Clarita and Valencia and planned to stop at a mall and look for better hiking boots for me. Sunday at the mall was no time to try to find a large enough parking space for us. We put that purchase on hold. We drove across the street to reprovision at Whole Foods. This store was like the eastern Whole Foods, but with a California twist. Everything had special accounting on it. I saw products and foods I didn't know existed. Almost all the bulk nuts were sprouted. Anything even remotely related to animal products had some sort of extra information on it. We bought two store made wraps for lunch and couldn't understand why STEP 3 was printed prominently on the wrappers. In smaller print it said Enhanced Outdoor Access. I guess the turkey and the roast beef were certified to come from animals that had some way to get fresh air. We didn't know what the other steps were. Greg joked that enhanced outdoor access could mean, “Here turkey, turkey, come ride in the back of this truck with fresh air, as you are driven to the slaughter house!”.

The next stop was Camping World. The magnet that holds our bathroom door open and flat against the wall had broken. We don't keep it closed unless we are using it. Since the RV is small and we use the shower for storage, we step in and out to get things frequently. So, now we have the door bungee corded to keep it open. We found the replacement and were able to fill our propane tank that we last filled in Roswell, NM.

Last stop was for diesel. California fuel prices are high because of their high gas taxes. We paid $4.32 a gallon, which was the cheapest we could find. Finally we drove into the high desert to head for the Mojave Desert Preserve. Kaylin had recommended Rainbow Basin outside of Barstow as her favorite stop on her Desert Geology course field trip in college, and we wanted to see it. We discovered a small Bureau of Land Management campground there at Owl Canyon, so we decided to stop for the night. The setting sun found us driving 10 miles into the desert outside of Barstow off of I 15. The road was dirt/gravel and badly washboarded. We traveled part of the way at 10 mph. The sun was down when we pulled in. Only a few other campers were there. A high wind advisory had been issued until midnight with winds gusting to 45 mph. We picked a spot with our own bathroom, and picnic shelter as it got dark.

There are no hook-ups and limited water (the campground tank runs dry regularly), but we already have everything we need. We rocked and rolled last night even though we were pointed in to the wind. We were surprised to find that we have phones and internet, but not enough to stream, so we are still working our way through Battlestar Gallactica. A roasted chicken and salad from Whole Foods made for a great meal and easy clean up given that we have to watch our water usage here.