Just leaving Joshua Tree National Park. Camped out under the stars last night amid the big rocks and a sky so clear that if you watched closely, you could spot satellites. I wasn't even going to put the tent up but my site was home to numerous kangaroo rats and the little suckers aren't exactly shy. One kept coming up onto the rock that I was sitting on while I ate and he was the second-boldest little critter I ever saw as he tried to get the food while I was eating it. The boldest one came by a little later and actually nibbled on my hand as I sat in front of the fire reading my book. That was enough to convince me to put the tent up. The last thing I needed was to wake up in the morning with rat bites on my face. Cute little suckers though.
As if to affirm that the tent was. A good idea, about the time that I tired and turned in, coyotes started barking/howling on both sides of me, and they didn't sound far away. Yeah, tent. Good idea.
Today, it's a drive up through Mohave and into Henderson, NV. I'll spend my last travel night in style in a cheap casino room and at least be able to fly out tomorrow night freshly showered.
Oh, and Hoover Dam. Gotta see that before I go.
Rental SUV is still running, but it's making more than a few funny noises now. Ran it for thirty miles in 4WD on old mine roads in the park yesterday and scraped bottom more times than I cares to. No dents or other damage that they can put back on me though, so life's good. Those little Jeep Liberties are pretty nifty--good mileage and good off-road performance.
Time to roll before it gets too hot. More later if I can find wifi.
Living on the edge as usual. Kind off reminds me of folks renting performance cars, taking them to the drag strip, running hell out of them, then returning them on Monday. Yep. For sure used to happen. Bit harder to hide the four wheeling with Jeeps and such though. Why I've never purchased rental cars.
ReplyDeleteHere's hoping you tent was made of tight chain mail! :-)
ReplyDeleteUsing newly-reinstalled Chrome. Very hinky, though. Unable to open
Hotmail/Outlook in it.(?)
Firewall adjustment didn't help.
Onward and upward.
Stay safe, and watch out for the rats!
gfa
And then there's the whole thing about plague being endemic to the southwest (thank you San Francisco for that little problem...)
ReplyDeleteGlad you're having fun! Looking forward to the pics and the full AAR....
ReplyDeleteI spent 3 years at the Twenty nine Palms Marine base. We spent a lot of nights up in the monument. I loved it out there. To bad it's in the middle of a commie state.
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