An Epic Trip in More than One Way
It has been a difficult year for millions and millions of people. Pandemic, stay-at-home orders, economic difficulties on both personal and corporate levels, and large numbers of people struggling psychologically with all that has, and continues, to transpire.
Except for a long protracted illness that resulted in the passing of Joyce’s beloved eldest brother last month, we have fared well. For this we are fortunate.
But it was time for an epic camping trip.
Our Wedding Anniversary
September 7th was our 18th wedding anniversary. Every year, to celebrate our anniversary, we have either spent our anniversary camping or taken a trip immediately after the date. It all depends upon when Labor Day falls, because as I wrote a while back, The Best Day of the Year, is the day after Labor Day. This year our anniversary fell on Labor Day, and for various reasons, we were at home. We didn’t have any camping plans.
The State of Camping Opportunities
Just last week, the day after our anniversary, I wrote about the difficulties of finding camping spots that offered solitude :
A lot of people are camping this summer. As an indicator, the RV industry is setting all time records for sales of recreational vehicles, with a surprising majority of first time buyers.
This means campgrounds have mostly been filled to capacity this summer. Not just on weekends, but 7 days a week.
Along with heavy pressure from the sheer number of people wanting to go camping, not all campgrounds are open, plus many areas where dispersed camping is allowed on government lands have been closed to the public.
What I didn’t mention was the following day we were leaving for an epic camping trip of sorts.
To Camp, or not to Camp, that was the Question
On Labor Day evening, I was thinking we should at least take a short trip, maybe a few days or even a week. We were in the middle of a heat wave, where just two days earlier, the temperature at home had hit a September record high of 122° F. Along with the heat, air quality and visibility were extremely poor due a forest fire that had been raging for over a week only 30 miles from our home.
Checking the news I found that most of the National Forests in California had officially been closed earlier that day. Things weren’t looking good. Then I noticed a predicted cooling trend that would last for just a few days. A little more research determined that higher elevations in the Eastern Mojave Desert would see several days of daily highs down into the 78° to 85° range. Of course, there weren’t any open campgrounds in that area.
But I know of a few places that are dirt side roads to other dirt side roads that allow dispersed camping. All I needed was an okay from Joyce. Not only was she in, she suggested we take off for a least a month. She needed us to get away from home.
Enchantment
As mentioned earlier, we have been fortunate in these troubling times. Not only fortunate, but also just the two of us staying at home doesn’t cause any difficulties. We function just fine and find lots of things to do that do not include watching TV or browsing the Internet.
With the current poor air quality at the moment, it was probably not a good idea to spend a lot of time outdoors at home, even if we can ignore the hot temperatures. But the world is going crazy. Time to disconnect.
All one has to do is watch or read the news. Daily stories of people just going stark raving mad. Not only are they mad, but also they blame the world’s current problems on all sorts of imaginary opponents, simply ignoring that fortune doesn’t always smile on us.
In the famous novel, The History of Don Quixote de la Mancha, Don Quixote goes mad. He blames it on “enchanters” a recurring symbolism used by Cervantes. After his niece, housekeeper and good friends the curate and the barber destroy his library while he is sleeping, they tell him it is the fault of devilish enchanters. This is a tipping point for Quixote. From that point forward he blames misfortune, his own state of mind, anything strange or irrational, or any evil in the world on enchanters.
In his mind, Quixote’s own enchanters, who enchant him in a negative way, must be cause his obsession with chivalry versus the real world around him. Eventually Quixote must free himself by “disenchantment,” that is, the process of eliminating the influence of these enchanters in his imaginary world.
And so we began to plan our own disenchantment from the craziness around us.
The “Non-Planned” Epic Camping Trip
So where does one go when campgrounds are full in the middle of a pandemic?
Where does one go to social distance from others and at the same time enjoy the natural world around us?
For us, we travel two lane highways away from cities and towns and find remote empty spaces that are officially called dispersed camping areas. These are legal places to camp without any manmade improvements other than perhaps a dirt road. We’re pretty good at finding these places.
So we filled our camper with food, filled the freshwater tank with 100 gallons of water, and took off for the Mojave Desert. Our plan was to find a dispersed spot and camp there until we ran out of water, or until it got too hot again, or until it just struck our fancy to move on. We would probably stay in the Mojave for a week or so, then travel eastward towards Utah where open spaces and remote dispersed camping opportunities abound.
Our Campsite
A few years ago, I had hiked past a spot that would be the perfect spot for us. Access was via a single lane dirt road. Should this site be occupied, I knew of another one about a mile or two further down the dirt road. Much beyond this second site, we would have to turn around because the dirt road would be too difficult to pull our trailer, although our new Ford F-250 Super Duty truck could easily handle the terrain.
We were in luck no one was there. In fact, it would be several days before we would even see a single person, which was the point. No cell phone coverage was an added bonus, meaning it was less likely anyone would want to visit this place.
Somewhere in the center of the two pictures below is our camper.
Nights
Ah, the desert nights! The temperatures got down into the 50s, which we haven’t experienced in months. Being in such a remote location affords wonderful views of the night sky, to include the Milky Way.
Days
Each day the high temperature moved slightly closer to 90° F. The weather was still pleasant, and we spent each morning hiking around our temporary desert home.
Afternoons were mostly spent under our awning talking, reading, and just enjoying all that unfolded before us all the way to the horizon.
Next Phase of the Trip
Monday morning we discussed our next steps. We decided that Tuesday night we would pack away most of our equipment and prepare for an early morning departure on Wednesday, which would complete eight days in the Mojave. Our next destination would probably be near Zion National Park or maybe Bryce Canyon National Park.
Again, we would be searching for dispersed camping areas. For many people, the thought of just traveling without detailed plans might be a bit unnerving, however for us, this is the best way to operate. No timetables or specific places to be. That decided, we departed for our daily morning hike.
Fortune
Towards the end of the Don Quixote novel, when the knight-errant is about to retire, Sancho Panza reflects on their past adventures together and on fortune.
Great hearts, my dear master, should be patient in misfortune as well as joyful in prosperity. And this I judge from myself. For if I was merry when I was Governor now that I’m a squire on foot I’m not sad, for I’ve heard tell that Fortune, as they call her, is a drunken and capricious woman and, worse still, blind; and so she doesn’t see what she’s doing, and doesn’t know whom she is casting down or raising up.
Misfortune, the capricious woman, was about to visit us.
Walking over a small sandy berm, I heard Joyce whimper. Turning around, she had slipped on the soft sand. One of her feet wasn’t pointing straight ahead as it should. As it turned out, and we would find out later, two or three bones in her ankle were fractured. She wasn’t going to get out under her own power and I wasn’t going to be able to help her get out.
Appraising our situation, the best thing would be for me to hike back to the truck (less than a mile) and drive to a Cal-Fire/BLM remote fire station that wasn’t too far away. Should no one be at the station, I would have to drive 10 or 20 miles to get cell phone reception and then call 911. The closet town was 60 miles from our location, and medical services there would probably less than minimal. I marked the location on a map, in case I needed to communicate our position, and set out.
There was a crew at the fire station and five men got into their fire trucks and followed me to the where the road would dead end, still a half a mile from where Joyce was waiting. What a great crew!
Joyce had to be carried out on a stretcher and was able to get into our truck. We drove back to our campsite, grabbed a few items, and took off for the nearest town that had an urgent care facility, which was almost 80 miles away. And so we passed the state border of California entered into Arizona and finally got to our destination.
X-rays confirmed the damage would require surgery. Neither of us was comfortable being stuck in a small town and concerned about adequate medical facilities and care, we decided to go back home. A splint was installed on the injured limb, and we drove 230 miles back home, stopping along the way to hook the travel trailer to the truck. That was two nights ago. Tomorrow Joyce has an appointment with a orthopedic surgeon.
Bad fortune indeed. Not due to any evil enchanter, just simple bad luck.