Category Archives: Camping

The Fourth Day after the Day After

Camping,

8 Sep

Early in the morning, as I am outside enjoying a cup of coffee and surveying the world around us, Corky comes to the camper door and lets me know he is ready for our morning walk. Something we have done together a few thousand times.

I began to reminice.

Corky, our wonder dog, has been our constant camping companion since we rescued him from a shelter in 2006. To say we “rescued” him isn’t fair to his previous owner. He was in fairly good health and had been well cared for. From what I was told, his owner had to move to a location that did not allow pets and he was given up for adoption.

The decision to get a dog was somewhat scary – both Joyce and I came up with the decision independently – that was the scary part; we were both on the same wave length, a conjunction of Mars and Venus. At the time I was traveling frequently away from home and a dog would make us both feel more secure in my absence. Both of us have had dogs before, but we are in complete agreement that Corky is special – the best dog either of us have ever owned. Perhaps part of this is that we are older with more life experience and our kids were grown and on their own.  Continue reading The Fourth Day after the Day After →

The Third Day after the Day After

Camping,

7 Sep (Our 16th Wedding Anniversary)

We have spent almost every one of our anniversaries camping.

Today’s high temperature at the campground was forecasted to be 107F. Not high by our standards, but we decided a change of scenery was appropriate for celebration.

We are camped in the Mojave Desert. At just under 50,000 square miles it isn’t the largest desert in North America. In total area is ranks only 9th largest. It is, however, the driest desert in North America with an annual rainfall of less than two inches per year. The Mojave is also a rain shadow desert; meaning was created by mountain ranges that prevent precipitation for reaching the area. In our case, the Sierra Nevada and the Spring Mountains created the desert we are camping in. Rain shadow deserts usually mean there is a large mountain range near by – for us that means the Spring Mountains, with its topographically prominent peak Mt. Charleston at 11,916 feet elevation, is only an hour’s drive from our campground. 

Continue reading The Third Day after the Day After →

The Second Day after the Day After

Camping,

6 September

After the early morning coffee brewing ritual, which Joyce performs, I go outside to survey our playground. Incredibly, there are two motorhomes in the campsites adjacent to ours. Out of 140 empty sites, these folks chose to camp right next door! They must have come in during the night while we were sleeping. Why on earth would they want to do this? I don’t have the answer.

Perhaps these folks thought we had picked the best location and they wanted to enjoy our expertise without the effort of making their own conclusions; a type of herd mentality. “Man,” as Aristotle observed, “is a social being” and perhaps these folks felt a need to camp as close as possible to other people. Perhaps they felt safer being close to someone else. There are many thoughts I could expound on, but there is no need because I didn’t go ask them why. 

If you are a regular reader of this blog you might have the perception that I don’t like people. Sometimes that would be an accurate statement. But generally, if they are well behaved and quiet, I do like most campers and backpackers. Our new neighbors, by their actions, did not know each other. By noon both parties had packed up and left the campground. Perhaps my appearance scared them. Perhaps they only planned to spend a night and leave. Who knows? The good news is that we were again alone in our little corner of the world and solitude returned. The Third Day after the Day After –>

The Day after the Day After

Camping

5 September

I awake to a beam of sunlight streaming under a partially closed window blind. Opposite the window, the door is open and the screen door provides a filtered view of the world outside. The early morning sun, low in the horizon throws an amber glow onto a cottonwood tree. Not completely awake, my brain signals that it is early morning. There is no need to know what time it is or what day it is. Hence there is no hurry to get up. I watch the sunlight creep up a tall eucalyptus tree and the day begins. Once I am completely awake, I get up. It’s coffee time.

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The Day After

Camping,

4 September

Just north of Palm Springs, Interstate 10 enters the Coachella Valley skirting most of the area’s communities on its journey through the southernmost states until it ends in Jacksonville, Florida. Soon after entering the Coachella Valley from the San Gorgonio Pass, Highway 62 splits off from this major transportation artery. Heading north Hwy 62 meanders up a small canyon that travels through a gap in Little San Bernardino Mountains and then heads east. Here, for about 10 miles, the San Bernardino Mountains tower above the north side of the roadway, while the Little San Bernardino Mountains to the south complete the Morongo Basin – the beginning of a Mojave Desert drive that Hwy 62 will take travelers another 144 miles to Parker, Arizona on the Colorado River.

Early in the morning, on the best day of the year, we found ourselves on Hwy 62, camper in tow. Continue reading The Day After →