So we stocked up on gallons of water and supplies and started our journey into the desert.Now one of our favourite films is "Into The Wild" - the haunting true story of Christopher McCandless aka Alexander Supertramp chasing his dreams across the North American continent - and one of the areas he spent a lot of time in was the desert around Salton Sea close to the Mexican border.So it seemed right to head in that direction.We didn't see anyone for hours on the drive until we came across a bunch of Mexicans who had come over the border to fish for these beautiful coloured fish.We then didn't see anyone for another few hours until we came across the weird wonder of Salvation Mountain - essentially a mound of concrete and muck painted in all bright colours in homage to love and God.So amazing to see this explosion of colour in the middle of absolutely nowhere.Even more amazing to meet the guy who has painted it everyday since locating himself there in 1985 - possibly the greatest living folk artist, Leonard Knight.He stars as himself in the film and he was instantly recognisable - a thin, tanned man in his 70s who was so happy to talk to us and the few other travellers who had found themselves there and give us a 'tour' around his work.A Korean war veteran, he has spent the last 25 years sleeping in an old fire truck with only a cat with no name, without electricity or water, just painting the mountain with paint donations left by tourists.And without sounding too OTT, he had this amazing energy around him and it felt so humbling being in his company - a true legend.An absolute highlight of our trip, especially when he asked whether we wanted to go for a dip with him in the nearby irrigation canal.Illegal swimming in well over 40 degree desert heat with an old folk artist who stars in an amazing Sean Penn film?Random but brilliant.

From there we took our Frank Sonata to Frank Sinatra's old stomping ground of Palm Springs before going all U2-esque in Joshua Tree.Such a cool National Park with other-worldly big boulders and well, Joshua Trees.One of our favourite campsites being one of only a handful of other campers staking it out under the stars.