Fill 'er Up

~Friday, December 4, 2020~

Day 173 (Travel Day)

As we leave Tucson this morning, we say goodbye to our neighbors from North Carolina (they’re headed to where we just left….Sedona), and the beautiful, unique landscape of prickly pears and Saguaro cactus. We really had a fun, relaxing time to recharge, sitesee and get a few chores done before heading back to our home state of California. After our usual 2 hour breakdown (when we have full hookups) we hit highway 10 towards Joshua Tree. We left an hour later than we hoped which is not a good thing when your next destination has to be found in daylight. And with shorter days, we need to get better about getting up earlier to make sure we meet our mark. It was all good though. We went to THE only spot to pick up water in the park, Cottonwood, which is about 8 miles from our dry camping spot offering free potable water and dump stations.

There are nice campsites in the park as well, but usually those are snatched up way in advance, and they’re not free. We found just as good of a spot and no charge. And we don’t mind mixing in some days of dry camping with the full hookup days. It certainly is easy on the wallet.

When it came time to finding the perfect site, I was at the wheel while Jeff scouted out accessibility. We definitely won’t be without company out here. I get it, as the temps are very nice and the skies as clear as a bell. Now for the backin. Jeff offered to do it, but I needed the practice. It only took me about 10 minutes of dodging ditches and firepits and I made it in with my awesome co-pilot. And we still had a little daylight to spare. Now for set up.

While Jeff set up the outside, I had a mission to begin Christmas set up along with all the other stuff. The Christmas set up will be a bit challenging as we’ll be traveling on occasion the month of December and January. The Christmas tree and some other goodies will have to be carefully managed for road travel. And one of the four weeks of December we’ll have the trailer in for repairs.

We’ll finish the rest tomorrow. In the meantime, we made a delicious Trader Joe’s Indian Food dinner of Fish Korma, Butter Chicken with Basmati Rice and Garlic Naan. When you don’t feel like cooking, these are delicious and pretty healthy. Over dinner, our topic of conversation was about the variety of places we’ve stayed and the “environments” we prefer. It’s all about your own comfort zone. I don’t mean just in terms of temperature, but other things like how long, if at all, you can tolerate not having wi-fi at your fingertips or all of the other familiar creature comforts of home. Or maybe it’s your comfort zone of needing people around you (this year doesn’t count), but in a general sense. For me, I will admit I prefer a good wi-fi signal due to maintaining our website/travel blog. I can get away with a few days, but a week really does make me bonkers. For Jeff, that aspect is not important and actually prefers being disconnected. In terms of being around others, Jeff and I have different comfort levels. I take solace in knowing there are people around me, but still having my space. Jeff is completely fine being the only one out in the middle of nowhere being one with the howling coyotes! But despite our feelings about this stuff, we enjoy the same, safe “cocoon” feeling the trailer brings. Whether we’re in a blizzard, or a scorching day, our Lance really has exceeded our expectations.