Joshua Tree National Park does not have any services inside the park - no water, food, stores, gas stations or ranger stations so carry all of your supplies in and remember to always keep hydrated, it is the desert. The park does offer a variety of scenery and rock formations with elevations ranging from close-to-sea level to over 5,000 feet and the largest animal in the park are the bighorn sheep. The most impressive view is well worth the extra 20+ miles to Keys View. From the top of the ridge you can see a spectacular view of Coachella Valley, Indio, Palm Springs, Salton Sea and the most impressive, San Andres Fault. The fault could distinctly be seen as a low rising ridge through the valley below. Sadly, off in the distance you could also see the smog being blown from the distant city of Los Angeles and smoke from a current wildfire burning a little farther north.

After hiking around a few of the rock formations, including Skull Rock, we stopped for a picnic lunch and enjoyed the shade and solitude. Seeing that the time was getting late, we started our trip home and at the advise of a park ranger, we continued toward the west exit of the park and drove more than 60 miles out of our way. As we made our way to the valley floor, we in awe of the massive wind farm; it looked as if there were thousands of spinning wind generators, all powerfully turning with the prevailing winds and very impressive. However, my suggestion, if camping on the southern side near I-10, make the trip back to the south exit; it will save you time and fuel.

After we made our way back to our camp at Green Acres Mobile Park, we were two whipped dogs - tired, dusty and hungry; by the time we got cleaned up and finished dinner, it was nearly 11:00pm. We had just received a text from my cousin (Chad) saying they had just arrived in Blythe, CA but we decided since all of us had to be exhausted from the days' events, we would drive the 45 miles back to Blythe to have breakfast wtih them early the next morning (Saturday) before they had to reload and head east to Alabama and us on to Kingsburg, CA. Our visit was short but sweet.

After we returned to camp, we had the task of breaking camp; all went well in a timely manner until Dan went to see Ms. Zeller, return the restroom key and inform her of a nest of bees in the tree next to our campsite. Being full of stories of her (very interesting) younger days, our departure was a lot later than we expected. This, of course created a time constraint with meeting up a childhood friend, Gary Meade.