Spring Break 2023 Road-trip
To prepare for one of this year’s road trips, Spring Break 2023 we’ll call it, I parked the runabout in the front yard the weekend prior. Gives us plenty of time to slowly pack during the week. Do the grocery shopping, etc. I left the task of filling up the fresh water tank to the day of. Keep that water fresh. Just our luck the fire department decided to play around with some of the hydrants in our area, turning the water murky. We had to let that run clear, but eventually still shoving off before 5PM, Friday, March 10th. I enjoy traveling in around 200 mile increments. Keeps it fun without being exhausting.
Final destination for this adventure was Black Rock Campground, Joshua Tree National Park, next to Yucca Valley, CA. The plan was to slowly and comfortably make our 733-mile trek for a Monday check-in. I refer to our travels as jumps. I travel someplace in the Lance, park, slide out, stay at least one night, slide back in, and go. That’s a jump in my books. This adventure consists of Jumps 191-197.
Jump 191. Friday night was to be in a nice New Mexican rest area with shelters. Pretty much a campground built into a rest area just west of Deming, NM along the I-10 corridor. It’s a perfect stop for the night if we leave El Paso in the evening. Gives us a good 150-mile head start on the trip instead of leaving Saturday morning. This time around that west-bound rest area was shut down due to highway construction along I-10. The east-bound counterpart was still open and spaces available so we ended up turning around at the next exit and a spending the night on the I-10E rest area. Waking up whenever we do, usually around 7AM thanks to the fur-babies who have an internal clock. Pour-over brewed coffee with a toasted bagel smothered in some garlic cream cheese for breakfast. Leaving Saturday morning we only had to backtrack about 4 miles before making forward progress again.
Jump 192. Saturday’s plan was to stay at Picacho Peak State Park, AZ, just north of Tuscan, AZ. No such luck on this Saturday of Spring Break. I figured. Tried to make reservations a few months ago online but no dice. They do have some sites that are not for reservation and we can usually get one one of those. When we turned off the exit for Picacho Peak, it was an immediate line to get into the park. Then we noticed the sign that said the campground was full. Went down the road to an RV-Resort only to be met with a “No Vacancy” sign. Back to I-10W. About 10 miles down the road there was a KOA. Exited. Made our way to the kampground. There wasn’t a sign that said No Vacancy. The office was closed for lunch. Ended up getting the last site available. The staff told us it was only a 20amp hookup, no water or sewer. I said that was perfect. Had no intention of using any electricity or water. First time readers can get an idea of our solar array/battery power here – we don’t require any power, fully self contained. We just wanted a nice spot to stay for the night. It’s an award-winning KOA. All the usual amenities you’d expect from a $50/night KOA. Same morning scenario – wake up when we wake up. Pour-over brewed coffee with yogurt then hitting the open road again.
Jump 193. Sunday was supposed to be around Quartzite, AZ, and didn’t disappoint. There is plenty of BLM (Bureau of Land Management) area here. I had intended on staying at the Hi Jolly BLM (top-rated, according to google maps) but somehow had saved the coordinates in the GPS for the next one north – Plomosa Road BLM. Even better. Disbursed camping. This left us about 160 miles to our final destination. The campground host was off until Tuesday. We were only there for 1 night. I guess it’ll be like we were never there. You’d think they’d have a self-registration table set up for when the campground host is off. Beautiful sunsets in Quartzite. Woke up with the dogs. Pour-over coffee with pancakes for breakfast and back on the road.
Jump 194. We were at our final destination before 1300 on Monday. Confusing layout of the campground, especially when they publish the map with north pointing downward. The fuck is that all about? Site 76. Larger RVs with slides are not recommended due to the Joshua Tree in the site but we fit perfectly in our 23 foot Lance. Site is not level but easily leveled with our Anderson Levelers. Dumpsters are conveniently located throughout the park as are fresh water spigots. Roads are very narrow but passable. It rained Tuesday night through Wednesday but Thursday was a beautiful day. Plenty of hiking opportunities abound. There is a dump station with fresh water. We dumped and filled to 2/3 on the fresh water side to last the rest of the trip.
A few years ago we stayed at the interior of Joshua Tree at the Cottonwood campground. A whole different experience. That was a sandy desert. At the spot we stayed this year at the most north-western portion of the park, the elevation is much higher. More moisture. Cooler temps. The Joshua trees are the biggest in the park. We were able to get some good hiking in – between 4-6 miles per day.
Jump 195. We began our journey back home Friday, March 18. Allowing for a 3-day travel instead of 4, like we took to get here, these stops were a little more than my usual 200 miles per day self imposed limit. 1st night was Constellation Park Campground in Wickenburg, AZ. 243 miles from Joshua Tree. Seemed like a nice spot to stay based off All Stays app. Designated as a community/city/county park with 32 back-in sites I think. First come, first serve. No hookups or even central water but many spacious, beautiful sites. A couple big trash bins at entrance and exit from the park to conveniently dispose of your trash on the way out. There are a few sites designated as equestrian. $8 and $12 per night for the regular and equestrian, respectively. I thought I saw a sign that said there was a 7 day limit. I could see easily charging double what they do. It’s that nice. Most sites appeared almost level. We managed to be level enough without any assistance from the Anderson Levelers. The road through is certainly not. Ups and downs!
Jump 196. 2nd night traveling back home was the longest by far, and that was back to our regular New Mexico Rest Area we stayed at on our way to Joshua Tree. That was 363 miles, setting us up for an early arrival back home the next day. That night was windy and cold.
Jump 197. Sunday we rolled into our home city of El Paso. RV dumped, drained, and stored by noon. Another successfully planned/executed road trip across this beautiful nation of ours at 10 days/9 nights.
Time to start planning the next big trip as well as prepping for an additional component to the power system – a 60 amp DC to DC Converter. Happy Camping!