Kitty left Monday morning to go back home to Yucaipa. I stayed on at Joshua Tree National Park BLM land, south, which I now believe is correctly called Cottonwood Springs.
{It’s a bit confusing. There is a town called Joshua Tree, northeast of Joshua Tree National Park, in Yucca Valley. Then, of course there is Joshua Tree National Park. I stay on the BLM land south of the Cottonwood Visitor’s Center off of Cottonwood Springs Road. For over a year I’d say “I’m heading to Joshua Tree” when in actuality I was heading to the BLM land south of Cottonwood Visitor’s Center in Joshua Tree National Park. I’ve never actually been to the town of Joshua Tree.}
Kitty and I had a beautiful site that was huge, and had a spectacular view.
I thought for a moment after she left that I would move to a smaller site, but the surrounding area is sparsely populated, and there are many other large sites to choose from, so I just moved closer to the middle (Kitty was to the far west end, I to the far east), and set up my table and chair close to a campfire ring closer to the road. It made it clear to anyone driving by that this site was already occupied.
Before Kitty left, We took a walk to explore the neighborhood. There was a couple sitting outside of a bright yellow van. They had a small dog that looked like a gremlin (from that movie). We waved and they seemed very friendly. The following morning when Cosmo and I were on our morning walk, the man and his dog (Jake and Liney) were outside and Jake waved and asked if Cosmo was friendly and would he come say hello to Liney (Liney I later found out, was named for Leinenkugel beer…a beer made in Chippawa Falls, WI.) Jake introduced himself and we talked for about half an hour. He was so nice and we found many topics to talk about. The next day, he and his girlfriend Sandy were outside with Liney and I went over and we all chatted for over an hour. They took off for Phoenix later that morning, but not before making a huge impression on me. I was reminded once again of the kindness of strangers, and how beautiful my world is (and how beautiful the whole world could become) if instead of finding things to hate, we focus on things all human beings have in common. We only had two brief conversations, but I felt connected to them in some way. When we parted, Jake said he had told Sandy he hoped we would run into each other again. I hoped so too.
The weather has been varied. We had a couple of cool days and cold nights, some days were bright and sunny, some were overcast and threatening to rain, and others were sunny, warm and windless. The sunrises and sunsets were, as always in Cottonwood Springs, Spectacular!
I’ve been starting to think about when to head north. Last year I got caught by the early arrival of summer. I had planned to move west from just outside of Phoenix and travel through Quartzsite, Ehrenberg, and Cottonwood Springs, on to Palm Springs for a stopover to see Tom and Roy, and then to Long Beach. By the time I left Phoenix area, the temperatures were already in the triple digits as were all the other potential stops, and the forecast was for them to rise constantly until most places on my route would be over 105 degrees. So I diverted and headed north at the last minute. This year, I plan to head east to El Dorado Hot Springs in Tonopah (just west of Phoenix) for a short stop-over (yep, another “vacation”) at the spa there, and then head north to visit my friends Barbara and Lark in Prescott Valley before heading up to Flagstaff where I plan to spend much of my summer. The trick is to keep an eye on the 10-day forecast for all these areas. Last year when it was 105 in Phoenix, it was still snowing in Flagstaff. This year I intend to find some stopovers between Phoenix and Prescott Valley, and if needed, a place in between there and Flagstaff so I don’t roast in southern AZ, and don’t freeze in the northern part. Timing will be crucial. I think it can get uncomfortably hot in the desert with not much notice.
I have been enjoying some time alone (for the most part) here in Cottonwood. I’ve so enjoyed the past month with the Skoolie gathering, hanging out with Kitty and Bonnie often, and meeting Chase and spending several weeks with him. So this week has given me a chance to pull in, re-group and spend some time with Cosmo just being. I’m realizing that once the weather turns hot, I’ll move, and Bonnie will go back to Ohio and I won’t see her again until at least October. Kitty and I may find one more time to meet up after I visit Prescott Valley, but then, we probably won’t see each other again until the fall. Chase will be heading back to Provincetown, MA and I won’t see him again until after summer, if he comes back this way. They have been my family for the winter. We’ve shared many meals and played dice and card games in the back of my van on cold or rainy days. It’s difficult to think about leaving them when I move north.
Thursday was a near perfect day. The weather was warm, there was no wind and the BLM land was nearly empty. Cosmo and I sat outside for a long time in the sunshine. Then around 4:00 after we went inside, a crazy woman in a jeep pulled into our campsite. She was driving way too fast, and passed very close to my van. She drove back behind us, and I thought she was looking to continue down an off-road path, but instead she turned around and passed by on the other side of the van. She crossed the (minimal) road and drove through the neighbor’s site before stopping on yet another road, pulling up next to a huge Class A RV, towing a big “Toy Hauler” (a big box for people to keep all their shit in that won’t fit in their rigs. The rig was huge and so was the tow-behind box. These were clearly people who brought everything they owned with them and hadn’t spent much time “editing.”) They chatted and pointed. They were together, so to camp for a weekend they brought a Jeep, a large RV and a Toy Hauler to a free campground. They ended up parking in the space across from me which was already occupied. There was barely room for them, and the “rule” is that it’s BLM land; Anyone can park anywhere they want. MY rule is “don’t be an asshole.” When there are many, many large open spaces, don’t pull in next to someone who has already claimed a site. These people soon unpacked, pulling out a large outdoor carpet, chairs, firewood, cooler, propane tank, generator, etc. They let their dog run off-leash, and seemed oblivious that they were disturbing other people. Soon, many others were coming in, I assume for the weekend. The same thing happened last week: People came in on Thursday to get a jump on the weekend. Or perhaps, with all the snow in California, and the weather for this weekend being so warm and sunny, more people than usual decided to take a camping trip. The campground was filling up quickly and it occurred to me that the people that come in for the weekend are like those gentrifying poor neighborhoods where they can buy up property cheap. They come in with no regard to those who are already living there. They have (for the most part) no desire to fit in or get along. They mostly never come out of their rigs (which makes me wonder why they don’t just stay home in their own driveways since the view from the inside of their trailer would be exactly the same) and often run generators late into the night so they can watch their TV’s and play video games. Kitty always tries to calm me when I get mad at these people, reminding me that everyone has a right to be here, in whatever they choose to be in. We all have different needs and tastes. I try not to be bothered by them, but I’m seldom successful.
I’d texted Chase on Thursday morning and his plans were up in the air, but he was staying in Palm Springs at least until Monday. I decided to go back to Ehrenberg where it was warmer, sunnier and way less crowded. I left early Friday morning, and even with the time difference, I made it “home” before noon. Speaking of “time difference,” welcome to Daylight Saving Time. AZ and Hawaii are the only two sensible states who stay on this. It’s been confusing to go back and forth between AZ and CA (I’m camping near the Colorado River on the AZ side, which is the boundary between the states, so sometimes my phone picks up a cell tower in CA and my laptop thinks it’s in AZ. I can change time zones by walking from the front to the back of my van.) By the time you read this, CA and AZ will once again be in the same time zone, at least until the fall.
Lessons From The Road: I think human beings are quite territorial. I know I am (and I’m not always proud of that fact). When Kitty left and I had a huge, beautiful site all to myself I wanted to keep it that way. The site I occupied could easily be occupied by a group of 5 vans. But when Kitty left, I moved closer to the center and set up my chair and table and Cosmo’s dog bed at a campfire pit a bit to the west so it would be obvious that the spot was occupied. In my defense, there were many, many open sites, and most of them were quite large as well. I didn’t feel like I was depriving anyone of a spot as much as I was encouraging people coming in to find their own space. The day Kitty was packing up to leave, a large pull-behind trailer parked directly opposite us on the other side of the road. It felt totally invasive to me. There were dozens of wide-open, mostly level spots surrounding us where they could have pulled into, still leaving 2 or 3 sites between us and other campers. Why would they pull immediately in front of us and our view? It is BLM land. Anyone is welcome to park anywhere they want, but to me, it feels like an unwritten rule that you leave as much space between you and other campers as you possibly can. When the camp is crowded, you may have to set up camp adjacent to someone else, or maybe even share a site, but when there are few people, the rule of thumb (for me) is to park farther away. Clearly not everyone thinks this way. My neighbors set up about 50 feet from me even though on either side of me is a quarter mile of empty space between me and the next campers. I’m not sure why I feel this way. Maybe it’s territoriality, or maybe it’s a control thing. I want to visit neighbors on MY terms. Park far from me; When I walk Cosmo we can meet and both decide how much time we want to spend visiting. It’s not a big deal for me, but it is something I’m conscious of. I noticed Chase seems even more cognizant of it than I am. When a rig would come down our road, he’d say as they got close to us “Oh, no. Don’t stop there. Keep going. There’s plenty of space farther down.” When I was visiting with Jake yesterday, we talked about how I am not good in cities anymore. We talked about how people spread out on BLM land are so much kinder while people in cities often seem brash and a bit rude. I suggested that it was because of territoriality: Maybe people in large cities feel a strain on resources while we out in BLM land have all the space we need? I am reminded of studies of rats and how their behavior changes for the worse when they are crowded in their cages. I myself, love being a rat with lots of space around me.
