5in29: Day 2

2024-12-12. Las Vegas to Joshua Tree National Park

Van Life:

• We found the toilet did not flush. Several other items didn’t work either. We drove back to the van company and they switched us to a different van of the same model.

• In the evening, we cooked our first meal in the van: grilled chicken breast and stir-fried vegetables. The non-stick pot worked well without any cooking oil—we forgot to buy it the day before.

• The upstairs worked well too.

Attraction #1: Mojave National Preserve

Driving through the Mojave National Preserve is refreshing—no big city noises, heavy traffic, and tall buildings with fancy designs.

Some interesting stuff we saw along the way!

How did two lion statuses end up in the middle of nowhere?

This sign tickled me!

During our stop at Kelso Depot Visitor Center, this handsome creature followed us from a fence to our van. A sign says “Don’t feed coyotes or they die.” We waved and drove away.

Attraction #2: Route 66

Route 66 is a passion of mine! Roman and I did part of it from St. Louis to Spring Field IL and to Chicago a few years ago.

Around 4 PM, I was craving my afternoon sugar, so we stopped at a gas station in Amboy, CA. To my big surprise, this is one of the original Route 66 stops!

The gas prices in the picture are for today! That is how much it costs in this part of the country.

Attraction #3: Joshua Tree National Park

We arrived at the park just around sunset. After driving for almost one hour, we found our “home” for the night at Jumbo Rocks campsite. We planned to spend at least two nights at the park.

The park protects 792,510 acres. We learned that Joshua trees can only be found in this region of the country.

Eureka Moment:

You never you what you may see when you just enjoy the here and now when traveling! We had a rough designation but were open to exploring, and we found interesting stuff!