October 24, 2021
The fun never stops!
Hurricane, UT to somewhere in the NV desert
Today was another travel day, and we were packed up and on the road by 10 am.
It was an interesting drive through varied countryside. We were both amazed at all of growth and new homes being built around St. George.
Where is all the water coming from for these people?! We saw on the news that Utah and St George in particular want more of 'their share' of the water in Lake Powell. Haven't they ever heard of water conservation?? Maybe they need to put a halt to building along with planting green grass everywhere in yards and gold courses! But that's just my opinion.
Anyway we were headed south toward Las Vegas on I-15. I know we've likely driven this way before, but sure didn't recall traveling through the impressive Virgin River gorge. The tall rock walls towered above us as we wound our way through the mountains. Then it just ended in the desert. Amazing!
Las Vegas was its usual madness and we didn't bother to stop to site see. Just not our thing now.
We continued further south on Highway 95 to Searchlight where we turned west on 164 to our destination - a boondocking camping spot out in the desert. Don had found reviews and pictures from other campers of the area which is in a Joshua Tree Preserve.
Amazingly our truck's GPS guided us to the turnoff and we located the gravel road that took us a short way to our parking spot. No one else was around which was nice.
We pulled the trailer around to a fairly level spot that had views of a thick forest of Joshua Trees. It looked beautiful with views of the mountains surrounding us but it was incredibly windy with gusts of over 30 mph. It looked like no grilling outside tonight.
I had had visions of sitting outside sipping a glass of wine and enjoying the sunset. But that wasn't happening either. Don barely was able to get the bikes out of the trailer and unhitch.
Oh, and to add to the misery were the literally MILLIONS of goathead thorns that covered the ground and stuck to our shoes everywhere we walked. I looked on the trailer tires and they totally covered the rubber. While we weren't planning to bike anywhere, even just parking the bikes outside will require us to clean off the tires before we leave.
This was going to be an experiment in dry camping out in the sticks, relying on our water/waste tanks on the trailer and trying out the portable toilet. Don said he wasn't going to try pitching the little tent around the bucket as the wind was too fierce. Great - just great! I sure hope nobody shows up to camp nearby.
Overall at this point, I wasn't too happy about the situation. It was already stressful enough just doing a travel day and then arriving here in a wind tunnel/goathead factory was just icing on the cake.
Frankly, I was very upset and ready to move somewhere else but we had made no other reservations and it's difficult right now to get into RV parks. They're packed with RV'ers headed south for the winter.
So I just decided to make do for the couple of nights we'll be here. Don said he would cook on the stove.
But the straw that broke the camel's back came shortly after we got settled in for the evening. I had gone outside and was trying to take off my shoes when a wind gust caught the door, slamming it into the side of the trailer. In an effort to grab it, I stepped wrong off the steps and twisted my ankle!!
Oh, just wonderful!!! Now I have a bum foot and we were planning on doing lots of bike rides in Borrego Springs - our next destination.
The ankle was very painful, and instantly started swelling and turning purple. I told Don we needed to head back to Denver RIGHT NOW!!!! I mean, how was I going to bike or even dance on a sprain?
As it was after 5 by now, Don said he was willing to drive somewhere to get out of the wind, but this wind is from a large storm front moving through the area bring rain to the north with high winds to as far away as El Paso.
He pointed out that it would be dark by the time we set up camp elsewhere which he preferred not to do. It took a while, but he calmed me down and said let's check how your foot feels tomorrow, then decide on what we were going to do. Go home now or continue with the trip, whatever I wanted.
He pointed out that I had sprained my ankle (other foot) the first night out on a several month long bike tour we did down the Mississippi River. With icing it every night when I could, taking copious amounts of vitamin I, and wearing a spandex ankle support when I rode, I was able to complete the tour. I could bike and the ankle eventually healed.
Fortunately we had just bought a big bag of ice before we left Hurricane so I was set for that. The evening was a quiet one as we listened the wind howl around us.
By dusk, the wind had died down and we were able to step outside to watch the sun set the sun set over the trees. The clouds were beautiful as they continually changed color.
Hopefully I'll feel better both mentally and physically tomorrow.
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I’m so sorry about your ankle! Good luck on. Quick recovery. Borrego Springs has some wonderful cycling.
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